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View Full Version : Civic 1/2 rad into 4th gen


twokexlv6coupe
08-02-2006, 08:03 AM
Warning: DO NOT DO THIS IF YOU HAVE DRIVEN YOUR CAR WITHIN
THE PAST HOUR!! THE COOLANT WILL BE HOTT!!!
if your dumb enough to do this... stop reading now.:tdown:


what you'll need:
-civic radiator from 92-96 or 97-00
-civic radiator fan from matching year (i'm not sure whether there's any
differences between them, but just to make sure)
-civic lower radiator hose
-10mm ratchet and/or open-ended wrench
-power drill and bits
-screwdrivers
-new coolant (not needed, i used my old coolant)
-common sense


steps:
-take off lower splash sheild, held in with 6-8 bolts (don't forget one in
each wheel well)
-undo radiator cap
-drain coolant into bucket by turning the drain valve on the bottom of rad.
-take out the 4 bolts holding the 2 rad. brackets on the top of the rad.
support
-take out the 2 bolts holding the AC line bracket on, and remove the bracket.
-shake radiator to drain excess coolant.
-slide coolant reservior off of battery housing.
-take off upper rad. hose by sliding the spring hose clamps down hose and
prying the ends of the hosing off w/ a flathead
-unclip the 4 connectors for the fans.
-undo the spring hose clamp on the lower rad. hose on the end attached to
the block.

-take a beer break :partay:

-slide the lower rad. hose under the AC lines so you will be able to pull
the radiator out.
-pull the radiator out.
-spill excess coolant onto self.
-take 4 bolts off the prelude rad. and fan assembly, and use them to
attach the civic fan to the radiator.
-take reservior off prelude assembly, put onto civic assem.
-lower civic rad. + fan into car, and place on the left-side radiator support.
-use one of the stock radiator brackets to hold the civic rad. on. you should be able to line the left hole in the bracket up with one of the holes for the AC line bracket on the rad support, but your gonna hafta drill out the second hole.
-take the civic rad. hosing. one end should be bent perfectly to be able to use as the entire upper rad hose. figure out which end you can attach to the top hose nipple on the rad and to the end on the block. trim excess hose.
-put stock PRELUDE lower rad. hosing on, but only attach to the block. see how the other end bends away from the lower nipple on the radiator?? trim about 3-4 inches off the hosing. cut a 5-6 inch section off the remaining civic hose, and attach into prelude hosing via silicone glue, hose clamps, whichever you prefer.
-make sure all ends of radiator hosing are secured good with hose clamps.
-make sure drain valve is CLOSED. on mine, i had to spin it all the way OUT to close it, not IN like i thought. this resulted in spilling a couple ounces of coolant :D
-fill coolant
-put rad cap on
-wedge the coolant reservior on the right side of the rad, in between the thick cross member on the bottom, and the AC condenser.

*edit* lastly, if you wanna keep AC, connect these connectors back together. i forgot to. teeheee heehee
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a56/esedulerp5tenin/ACconnectors.jpg


-stand back and stare at all the room you just opened up for a turbo. mwaaahahahaha :D :partay: :tup:


for the most part, this entire install was common sense, NOTHING too hard at all. on a scale of 1-10, its rates like a 2.5 for hardness

this is the before shot showing the bolts you gotta take off.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a56/esedulerp5tenin/radiatorinstall.jpg




and this is the after.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a56/esedulerp5tenin/civicradiator.jpg



where my reservior is...
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a56/esedulerp5tenin/civicradiator2.jpg


look at all that room
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a56/esedulerp5tenin/civicradiator3.jpg




NOW!!! to make the hood rod clip work.... find it. it looks like this:
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a56/esedulerp5tenin/hoodrodclip4.jpg



turn it 90 degrees, like this...
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a56/esedulerp5tenin/hoodrodclip2.jpg


now notch out the two sides of it, so it turns out like this...
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a56/esedulerp5tenin/hoodrodclip.jpg


now just shove that sumbitch in the square hole, and your all set!!

sleepyH22
08-02-2006, 09:23 AM
dam it i wanted to see an h22 under there... but yeah if you go b00st just stay h23...

Qwest
08-02-2006, 10:21 PM
Awesome writeup.

It is now featured on the homepage.

ogsmakdade
08-02-2006, 10:55 PM
very nice write up, but will that offer sufficient cooling for that motor?:confused:

nenalokey
08-02-2006, 11:07 PM
i was gonna ask the same thing but i love the write up so helpful

twokexlv6coupe
08-02-2006, 11:09 PM
there's plenty of H22 hatches running the stock civic radiator, plus plenty of boosted H22's and 23 ludes with the civic radiator..... in texas and arizona heat.... no overheating problems what-so-ever.


but MY personal experience: it used to take an hour of driving for the second bar to light up on my temp gauge, but now it only takes 15-20 minutes of driving. it doesn't go past the second bar tho. and i've been driving in like 90-100 degree weather this week, in very heavy traffic.


so far its :tup: :tup:

Si Speed
08-03-2006, 03:05 PM
How does your hood stick stay in place while driving now?

twokexlv6coupe
08-03-2006, 03:13 PM
good eye :tup:

it doesn't YETTT, but i just hafta modify/dremel the hood stick holder a lil bit, then just put it back in the square hole in the rad support.

i'll take pics/tell how to do that later ;)

Si Speed
08-03-2006, 05:11 PM
Next project: paint the valve cover. Mine is peepling like yours :/
I also see no cruise control :partay:

sleepyH22
08-03-2006, 06:06 PM
there's plenty of H22 hatches running the stock civic radiator, plus plenty of boosted H22's and 23 ludes with the civic radiator..... in texas and arizona heat.... no overheating problems what-so-ever.


but MY personal experience: it used to take an hour of driving for the second bar to light up on my temp gauge, but now it only takes 15-20 minutes of driving. it doesn't go past the second bar tho. and i've been driving in like 90-100 degree weather this week, in very heavy traffic.


so far its :tup: :tup:

so you are saying that your temp never goes over the second chip? mine always stays right on normal temp and the only way it would stay that cold where you are at is because you must not have a thermostat in there...im just confused... i know alum rad's cool great but they dont keep it under full temp unless no thermostat is in there, seen a h22 lude with no thermostat and full size fluidyne wont go over 2nd chip or bar whatever you wanna call it, put the stat back in and it was great. he got bad bad gas milage and wasnt even at right temp for vtec.

twokexlv6coupe
08-06-2006, 08:35 PM
no cruise control FTW!!!! :D :tup: :banana:
i'm also in the process of doing a battery relocation, so it'll look even more sexier :banana: :banana:


and sleepy, i do still have the thermostat in there, but i'm prolly gonna take it out soon to keep it a lil colder, cuz its running a LITTLE too hott for my liking right now

sleepyH22
08-06-2006, 09:10 PM
where is your temp gage at? at full temp when hot outside.

twokexlv6coupe
08-07-2006, 10:05 AM
last week when driving for an hour in rush hour traffic in 100 degree weather, it was at the third bar :tdown:

twokexlv6coupe
08-16-2006, 06:43 PM
i have just added how to make the hood popper holding clip work :tup:

ogsmakdade
08-16-2006, 07:59 PM
lookin good. I asked about the temp because I have a dual core koyo alum rad and my car still gets hot as ****

Si Speed
08-16-2006, 08:09 PM
last week when driving for an hour in rush hour traffic in 100 degree weather, it was at the third bar :tdown:

Not good :o

ogsmakdade
08-16-2006, 08:19 PM
I'm having overheating issues at idle for extended periods of time. The car will smoke out of the muffler and start to idle funny. If I shut the car down, I have to wait till it completely cools down (which takes hours) until I can start her again.

Si Speed
08-17-2006, 09:03 AM
Do you have any coolant in your reserior?

twokexlv6coupe
08-17-2006, 09:20 AM
i didn't even know you were supposed to have coolant in the reservior, i thought it was there for as an overflow tank.

but then my friends re-informed me, and i topped that sumbitch right off :tup:

Si Speed
08-17-2006, 10:07 AM
I try to keep mine about least half full... i usually just put water in it and a lil coolant

sleepyH22
08-17-2006, 11:08 AM
last week when driving for an hour in rush hour traffic in 100 degree weather, it was at the third bar :tdown:


sooo...you are letting the beautiful SE get that hot?!

jezus man....buy a gallon jug of ice kool stuff so it'll run cooler...with that in mine and having no headlights....my SRI gets forced air in it and i got the koo stuff so i stay on 2 bars for a LOOOONNNGG time and then it goes to full temp(middle) when i come to a stop..but when i start rolling again at about 35+ it goes back down:tup:

heat is a engines enemy!

na93prepre
09-08-2006, 02:56 PM
hey everyone. I have a Koyo Alum Radiator and that b*tch gets hot has sh*t like OG mentioned. You'll literally get burned touching it. You can't even hold your hand over the Valve cover. It's nuts. It's a pretty fresh swap so maybe I can get a 160deg state to fix this? Any tips guys???? thanks

twokexlv6coupe
09-10-2006, 07:57 PM
the whole point of a radiator is to cool the engine off, so obviously, its gonna get rather hott.


i would recommend not touching anything engine-related while its running. but i thought this was common sense.

na93prepre
09-10-2006, 08:56 PM
im not touching it like o wow i justgot burned i guess your notsupposed to touch that.... my last h swap i used nothing but royal purple and the engine stayed cool. you could hold your hand on the valve cover for hoursso to speak. One time someone saidoil is oil so i ran WOLF head @ the track. One run and it was hot. you could feel the heat comming out of the hood and the valve cover was smoking hot and the motor was clicking. so needless to say i ended early that night and early the next morning swap back in the royal purple and the beast ran great with no pings and no heat comming from under the hood besides the normal amount you would feel. so i thought o cool i will get this koyo now and use this and it shuld run really cool. but obviously it doesn't. that is why i replied... o and i remember one time before on my last h swap i put my hands down on the core support over looking the motor talking about it to a bud and 2 minutes or so later i looked down and o sh*t my hands were on the radiator the whole time... so unless b/c the koyo is aluminum then no it really shouldnt be getting that hot...

ogsmakdade
09-17-2006, 08:26 AM
I think what he means is the RAD itself gets hot. The aluminum disipates the heat far better than the stock rad so it feels hotter. My engine temp has remained way lower after the install of the aluminum rad and mugen t-stat. That friggin thing just feels like it's on fire. I do however want a better fan, and plan on using some additive to cool her down even more....... hmmmmmm

na93prepre
09-17-2006, 01:39 PM
I think what he means is the RAD itself gets hot. The aluminum disipates the heat far better than the stock rad so it feels hotter. My engine temp has remained way lower after the install of the aluminum rad and mugen t-stat. That friggin thing just feels like it's on fire. I do however want a better fan, and plan on using some additive to cool her down even more....... hmmmmmm

thats what i ment og. Thanks. Also isnt there a diffrent stat that will fit our car providing the same thing the Mugen stat does? IT just seems so much to pay for a 160deg stat... Just let me know b/c I want to get a 160 stat and fan switch asap. thank you

InvaderTrax
09-19-2006, 12:38 AM
How much does the stock Prelude radiator weigh? I just put an aluminum radiator into my friend's Civic and that thing couldn't be more then 10lbs

twokexlv6coupe
09-19-2006, 12:52 AM
sh*t, good question. the aluminum civic one was like 10lb's, as you said, but the 'ludes.....

prolly around 15-20 w/o the fans. i did this more for the room it freed up than weight.

ogsmakdade
10-08-2006, 08:03 PM
jesse it looks to me too that the original rad is still in place. that will cut down on the cooling effect of the new rad lol.

twokexlv6coupe
10-09-2006, 01:26 PM
thats my AC condensor thingy-majig flux capacitor you dum-dums.


and that radiator looks identical to mine.

twokexlv6coupe
10-09-2006, 03:10 PM
yea, about 2 inches wide. the same exact as yours.

i forget the ebay sellers name i got it from tho.

InvaderTrax
10-13-2006, 12:56 AM
I don't understand how you guys are keeping your temps so low. On my stock radiator, I hit the 3rd bar in about 10 minutes of driving (outside temp of 60 F). On my bad thermostat, it would take about 30 minutes to get that far. We put an aluminum radiator into my friend's Civic a few weeks ago and it still warms up to normal temp in about 10 minutes

twokexlv6coupe
10-16-2006, 11:04 PM
so i just had my first over-heating experience with this radiator. i was sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic going NOWHEREEEE in GWB traffic for about 30 minutes, til i started smelling burning coolant and the temp gauge was @ the 3rd bar :eek:
checked under the hood, saw the coolant BOILING out of my over-flow tank, so shut the car off for about 20 minutes (thats how bad the traffic was!)

then as soon as i had some air flowing through the radiator again (aka, no more traffic) the temperature gauge stayed on the first/smallest bar :banana:

absntmnd69
10-20-2006, 12:56 PM
dude....if it was boiling then theres too much water in the resovoir....try a 30% water/ 70% coolant mix. mine was doing that too so i put more coolant in the mixture and havnt had a problem since

InvaderTrax
10-20-2006, 04:50 PM
I think we've all got different defs of which bar is which #. When I say 3rd bar, I mean 3 lights are light up, and the temp is right in the middle (90 degree angle). I've never been to the 4th bar or 5th bar (5th bar is red, others are blue/green)

absntmnd69
10-20-2006, 10:00 PM
i was on 4th bar for maybe 1 minute when my coolant was boiling

twokexlv6coupe
10-21-2006, 11:21 AM
I think we've all got different defs of which bar is which #. When I say 3rd bar, I mean 3 lights are light up, and the temp is right in the middle (90 degree angle).



thats what i mean too.
my car rarely ever shows that it gets that hot, so when the third bar lights up, i get a lil scared :redface:

hotrod
10-21-2006, 12:26 PM
dead smack in the middle and you're scared? :tongue: mine always stays in the middle. after the koyo, it takes longer to get up there, but still settles around there.