Saturday, April 4, 2020

Miata NA radiator replacement

videos available on youtube so just highlighting a few specifics that would have helped me

i got a standard one from o'reilly's locally as did not want to wait for amazon or ebay.   $117.  probably could have saved $50 if bought on line.

original radiator lasted 16 years (165K miles), replacement 13 years. (70K miles)

i was able to re use the fans, grommets and stop bolts.  came with the 8 metal clips that thread the bolts for the two fans.  i did need to replace the bolts as they were rusted (metric size 6 20mm) from hardware store.

removal and replacement was straight forward and can be done alone.  was able to access all the bolts to remove the plastic bottom guard shield and radiator by just jacking up the driver side.  i did wind up having to jack up the passenger side when reinstalling the plastic guard as turned out a couple of bolts were missing.











removing connector on passenger side fan.  insert small flat head screw driver underneath tab  in center to remove











i was able to reuse.  needed to sand the rust off in order to fit the bolt thru the opening of the new radiator










you need to re use the grommets.  remove the center metal piece that allows you to squeeze them in and out