Nissan 370Z Forum - Radiator: CSF or Mishimoto?

Nissan 370Z Forum (http://www.the370z.com/)

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- - Radiator: CSF or Mishimoto? (http://www.the370z.com/engine-drivetrain/70708-radiator-csf-mishimoto.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.Squeeze (Post 2476136)

Yesterday it was 80 degrees outside during the day when I decided to take the car out for some pulls. I started out at 181 degree coolant temperature and did 3 back to back pulls with about 20 seconds or so for between pulls due to space . The first pull was to 120 MPH coolant went up to 186 next pull was to 140 MPH 190 coolant temp. Now the last pull I had a good bit of room and did a pull to 160MPH . After all this my coolant temperature went up to 208 degrees and then came down quick to about 190. The recovery on this radiator is night and day compared to the CSF. Once I pulled over and for off the highway let the car sit for less than 5 minutes my coolant temperature went down to 177 .

I agree with you on this. To set the stage, I've never owned the CSF Radiator, therefore I can't make a comparison between the two. However, I too log my Z with Uprev, And I'm hard pressed to get Mishimoto coolant temps over 205 with many back-to-back 0-60 runs along with very spirited driving on remote roadways in my hometown. All this in 92 degree weather and still the water temp averages 201 and oil around 190-195. Mishimoto radiator performs very well. See my regression charts below, proof is in the pudding (as they say).

Having said that, anyone having temp issues with the Mishimoto or for that matter any radiator install, please read. MAKE SURE YOU PROPERLY FILL ANY NEW RADIATOR INSTALL BY RUNNING THE CAR WARM WITH THE HEAT BLOWING ON HIGH WHILE POURING ADDITIONAL COOLANT INTO THE ENGINE. DOING IT THIS WAY WILL REMOVE THE AIR BUBBLES WITHIN THE COOLANT. THEN AFTER 15 MINUTES TURN CAR OFF THEN BACK ON AFTER 10 MINUTES AND DO THE SAME UNTIL FANS COME ON. I HAVE READ MANY FORUM POSTS REGARDING TEMP RELATED ISSUES BECAUSE OF NOT PROPERLY FLUSHING THE COOLANT. Sorry for the bold caps, I just wanted to make sure forum members looking to replace their radiator see this important caveat. :)

http://www.the370z.com/members/stino...ant-temp-f.gif

http://www.the370z.com/members/stino...ant-temp-f.gif

http://www.the370z.com/members/stino...oil-temp-f.gif

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.Squeeze (Post 2476136)

Mishimoto hands down over the CSF raditor it's not even close. Over the past few days I been testing the Mishimoto radiator in some of the same codintions as the CSF and I will tell you its a night and day differnce .

All the testing I've done with both radiators has been with Uprev because the stock gauge is pretty much useless for this type of testing. The stock gauge has a normal operating temperature of about 160 degrees and doesn move one dot tell above 220 witch is hot .

Yesterday it was 80 degrees outside during the day when I decided to take the car out for some pulls. I started out at 181 degree coolant temperature and did 3 back to back pulls with about 20 seconds or so for between pulls due to space . The first pull was to 120 MPH coolant went up to 186 next pull was to 140 MPH 190 coolant temp. Now the last pull I had a good bit of room and did a pull to 160MPH . After all this my coolant temperature went up to 208 degrees and then came down quick to about 190. The recovery on this radiator is night and day compared to the CSF. Once I pulled over and for off the highway let the car sit for less than 5 minutes my coolant temperature went down to 177 .

Now in these same type of conditions the CSF unit would have been well over 220 and would take much longer to come down in temperature.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stino (Post 2479897)

Thanks for the awesome feedback guys! It's great to see people taking the time to test our products, in order to come up with their own conclusions. :tup:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mishimoto (Post 2480499)

Thanks for the awesome feedback guys! It's great to see people taking the time to test our products, in order to come up with their own conclusions. :tup:

I'll leave this right here:
http://www.the370z.com/engine-drivet...ich-plate.html

They posted here, but still haven't responded to that other thread. Hmmmmm...

Well I cant bash on Mishimoto radiator after we got Mr.Squeeze's approval stamp but as for company itself I'll try to stay away for good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DEpointfive0 (Post 2480577)

I'll leave this right here:
http://www.the370z.com/engine-drivet...ich-plate.html

The only Mishimoto product I purchased and installed is their radiator and silicon hoses. Having said that, I'm very satisfied with the quality, performance and overall ease of installation. I can only go based on my experience not others.

However, let's be fair, in the automotive performance part industry, product defects and part failures unfortunately come with the territory. NO COMPANY IS EXEMPT TO HAVING THEIR PRODUCTS FAIL EVERY NOW AND AGAIN. I'm not a huge fan or hate any one company per say, but lets call it like it is.

I came across this CSF Radiator Review when looking to replace my radiator. Click here to read. This review honestly did not have any impact on my decision to purchase the Mishimoto Radiator, it was the Mishimoto size and two cores that sold me. Please note: I have absolutely nothing against CSF as I always read nothing but great things regarding their radiators. It's just that anyone searching can find a post/thread regarding a product failure with almost every company that sells performance car parts.

:tiphat:

yes and even the best companies have things made in Chinese factories, OEM's do it all the time, it really just matters how short of a leash you keep on your suppliers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DR_ (Post 2478801)

Well I am not happy with my results with the Mishimoto radiator after getting over 240 degree temps this weekend at the track. The ambiant temps got up to close to 100 but even in the morning when temps were in the 80's it still got too hot. I even went so far as to drain most of the radiator and add back just water and water wetter (estimate 75/25 water/coolant) and that didn't really help. If I slowed down for half a lap the temps would go back down to 220 pretty quickly but that is still too high IMO. My stock radiator got up to 235 temps in similar condition, which was why I went with he Mishimoto. There is no doubt that Mishimoto should be much better than stock but I am starting to thing the condenser is the limiting factor.

I run mine without condenser to optimize air flow. It was about 90 degrees yesterday at the track, and I think coolant got to about 230F during a flat out run but I will check the logs.

I suspect that a properly designed vented hood would help quite a bit in that regard as there is most likely a bit of back pressure behind the radiator if the air has nowhere to go.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisSlicks (Post 2482286)

I suspect that a properly designed vented hood would help quite a bit in that regard as there is most likely a bit of back pressure behind the radiator if the air has nowhere to go.

I'm convinced this would solve everyone's problems.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuck33079 (Post 2482291)

I'm convinced this would solve everyone's problems.

I tell a lot of the 370Z drivers I see at the track this same thing, and we've seeing up to ~10 degree drops in temps with vehicles with vented hoods. Exit airflow is key in a proper cooling system.

On another note, I'm currently sitting at my factory, and I'm discussing with my egineers several ways to make our unit even better. Perks of manufacturing your own product :tiphat:

We'll be testing our current unit against our new innovative design through MotoIQ.com.. Stay tuned for results...

I was approached by a CSF Canada rep at Mega Meet car show in Toronto on the weekend. He was wondering if I was running a CSF rad. I'm not yet... He offered me a deal but, I'll wait to pull the trigger until you guys come out with your new design. :tup:

Quote:

Originally Posted by CSF Inc. (Post 2483528)

I'll take another radiator and test it out ;-)

Quote:

Originally Posted by CSF Inc. (Post 2483528)

Curious to see the new design, and been doing data logging myself as I am adding a vented hood soon.
http://www.the370z.com/forced-induct...s-testing.html

Plenty more data coming, been stuck as excel is running into data limits and such.

Quote:

Originally Posted by theDreamer (Post 2484079)

If I can help, my excel at work is limited to... 1.3M rows and god knows how many columns

Quote:

Originally Posted by DEpointfive0 (Post 2484148)

If I can help, my excel at work is limited to... 1.3M rows and god knows how many columns

The issue I am having is we have excel 2007 (plenty of rows/columns) but when trying to graph the data points it limits me to 30k points. We are in talks to upgrade the office to office 2013 which "should" solve this problem.