This is a work in progress, I will probably be editing and adding to this alot.
None of this is tested yet, my car is still up on blocks while I finish the manual swap and wait for parts.
I am putting each segment in a different post because sometimes I end up hitting the "maximum number of images per post" limit.
Please post any questions or comments you may have.
Backstory:
While I was working on my manual transmission swap, I noticed that my old radiator was looking pretty tough:
I went looking for a stock replacement radiator, but realized that…
1. Stock Civic half size radiators can be found cheaper.
2. High performance Civic half size radiators are readily available from many suppliers.
3. A Civic half size radiator would leave a lot of extra space for a turbo.
I guess its time to make a 92-95 civic half size radiator fit into my 3rd generation Honda Accord...
Part 1: Making it fit
Parts I Used:
Radiator $35 shipped (eBay)
Eventually I plan to get a better radiator, but this should work good for testing. I went for a copper core 1 inch core radiator. The cheap radiators on eBay are all 1 inch or 5/8 inch, if the auction says differently they are most likely measuring something other than the core thickness. All the cheap radiators have plastic tanks.
Radiator cap $7 (Checkers/partsamerica.com)
3 foot long piece of angle iron $6 (Menards)
2 1.5 inch PVC end caps with short segment of pipe and PVC glue $5 (Menards)
Make sure the PVC caps are not rounded. They must be of the flat type. Check your local hardware stores. Copper end caps can also work, but they are more expensive, harder to cut, do not fit as well, and will change colors from being in the elements.
Some bolts and nuts
Need Picture
12 inch 1550 CFM slim radiator fan $35 (E-Bay)
1 top radiator mount from a Nissan (unsure of year) (Junkyard)
These are used in sets of two as top radiator mounts for many Nissan vehicles.
Building the mounts:
My goal was to install this radiator without cutting up my car. This way if I really screwed something up, or found that it would be impossible for this idea to work I could go back to using my old radiator.
This is what the lower mount looked like when it was done:
To build it I first cut down the angle iron to the required length, and then mounted it hanging from the old stock mounts. I used large nuts as spacers, and used washers to make sure nothing could pull through.
(I need to cut off the lowest bolts so they don’t hang so low)
Then I took the 1.5 inch PVC caps, and glued the 1.5 inch PVC pipe inside them. I let the glue dry, and then cut the pipe off flush with the cap. The stock lower Accord radiator mount rubber supports sit cradled inside this perfectly.
Next I drilled a hole slightly off center in the bottom of these caps. These holes in the should allow the PVC caps to bolt up to the angle iron so they just touch the frame in the front of the car.
Now I trimmed down the height of the PVC cap. I kept cutting down height of the cap until the rubber mount just touches the bolt. Then I bolted both mounts in place, and was done with the lower mounts.
For the upper mount I just grabbed an upper radiator mount off a Nissan at the local junkyard. I drilled one hole in the crossthing (find name later) and bolted it on.
(Mount with chalk on it)
To make sure the top mount wouldn’t hit the hood; I covered it in chalk, and carefully closed the hood on it a few times. It seemed to clear the hood just fine. Since my engine happened to be out of the car, I was also able to look at the radiator from inside the engine bay with the hood closed and make sure it all fit.
Finally, I will be mounting the fan to the radiator with the included through core mounting kit.
(I have not yet done this, waiting for fan to arrive)
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Originally Posted by Bglad420
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