CSF Radiator fitment on 2012+ 370z
 

I did a search and didn't see anything on this, so I thought I'd share what I found today. I just got done installing my csf radiator that I purchased from z1 on my 2012 z. I found that the plastic radiator housing is totally different on the 2012's, causing the radiator to make contact with the housing and not fit properly without modification to the housing. After grinding down a few tabs on the housing, I found it fit, but just barely. They probably changed designs of the housing on the 2012's to accommodate the different coolant reservoir design.

Just a heads up to anyone with a 2012+ z, be prepared to make some minor modifications. Fitment is fine after modifying, the install just takes a little bit more time. Like I said, it's no major modification to the car, nothing you can even see without taking out the radiator and even then if done properly, not very noticeable. Maybe csf can chime in?

Just so that you know, the radiator shroud/housing has to be modified on the 09-11 370z as well. I am having a hard time thinking that it would be vastly different, but it was never a bolt on affair if that is what you were expecting.

I had to do some modifications to my G to get it to fit too. I just chalked it up to an aftermarket part

Interesting. I was under the impression they fit well... Oh well, disregard this post then I guess. Nice radiator, but poor fitment if you ask me. They could have easily fixed the problem by moving the mounting points about a half inch toward the inside of the radiator... All good, it's in there now lol. Time to install the turbo kit!

I wouldn't go so far as to say "poor" fitment. "Mediocre" might be more accurate. If you want to see what poor fitment looks like, there's always Mishimoto. :rofl2:

Yea good call. That's why I didn't go that route. Plus the quality is just as poor as the fitment on those... Lol. Overall I'm very happy with the csf, just wanted to post this for anyone that wasn't aware (like me).

Yeah, it's a good thing the surround is plastic. A little filing and it pops right in.

I think it caught most of us that have one by surprise, but it wasn't really a deal-breaker when I got mine. I just chalked it up to it being a rushed aftermarket part. Looks like they haven't made any revisions since I got my first one. Kinda sad.

Make sure you keep an eye on the upper hose neck area. I have had 2 leak from that area. Some others have had similar issues (maybe just a few). They blamed my motor mounts, so they wouldn't replace the last one I had. I have solid motor mounts now, so that excuse won't hold any water (no pun intended) next time. I really hope that it was blown or sloppy motor mounts that caused my issue.

The product really does its job, even though it is the only part that I have had problems with in my build so far.

My failure was originally a failure of the crappy washer they put on the drain plugs, and then I made it much, much worse trying to fix it. OP, go buy a better washer. It'll degrade and leak.

Good to know. I will check that out today while I'm working on the turbo kit. Thanks!

I ended up finding some from McMaster-Carr that were a metal crush washer with an internal rubber seal rated for both the pressure and temp. I'd start looking there.

Hi Guys,

We've had both positive and negative feedback on the fitment. I've personally installed some myself with perfect fitment, and I've seeing others that needed a little work to get installed correctly. We've measured all of our units mouting points on a jig to be the same, but they are all hand welded so +-2-5mm can happen..
We've sold over 250 of these units since they came out, and I would say 75% of them have had zero fitment issues. I pride my company on making sure that we acheive perfect fit with no modifications.. I will look at this again.

I will aim to improve our fitment after reading this post.. Sorry I haven't really been active on the forum as of late due to other applications taking off this year.

As far as the drain plug goes, we're using a harder type of aluminum alloy as well as upgraded washers. I know this was a problem in the past.

We've had a couple warranty issues come up this year with some tube/header leaks, and the proper mounts and washers are critical. As well as making sure that excessive pressure is not run through the system which would cause the life span of the radiator to fail.
Honestly, the warranty rate on this product is higher than any of our other models, and I'm a little puzzled why? They are all made to the same standards, same inspection and testing, at our same factory by the same people. Normal warranty rate is >2%, but this unit is about 3.5-4%

Any feedback on issues or problems with the unit, please PM me or email me at ravidolwani@csfradiators.com..

thanks for the support of a family business, true cooling system manufacture.. I will aim to make our product better

It's all the Fr-s's fault first they take ecutek, now they want our radiators too?

Lol^



And I had no issues with my CSF's fitment, I did have the trans line slip off the radiator, but that won't be an issue anymore

It's nice that you guys come out here on the forums and talk openly about this stuff, kudos for that :) Some notes:

Keep in mind a lot of people probably never report the fitment issues. I bought mine through Z1 Motorsports, had to dremel the hell out of the rad core support to fit it, but figured it was normal based on the forums. I suspect the rate of fitment issues is a lot higher than 25%, given how much dremel cutting and grinding I had to do.

I haven't had any issues with my drain or airbleed plugs. The washers appear to just be fat black rubber ones (I guess this is the older washer?) which squish out when you tighten them down, but the threads on the aluminum plugs seem to seal well enough to make it a non-issue (and/or the rubber Just Works for now).

If I had to guess, I'd say the fitment and warranty-rate issues go hand in hand. When you have a sizable chunk of the users cutting on the rad core support for fitment, that creates two warranty-inducing issues: (1) They have to take the rad in and out of the car 10 or more times during one installation for test fitment trying to get the posts to line up and doing more filing and cutting, etc. This probably increases stress and damage potential right off the bat during install. (2) Even when they're done, the fitment probably isn't perfect, it's just as close as they could get it when the posts + mounting bits finally barely fit together. Basically part of your design is now coming from random customer fitment work, so that's a huge source of randomness there.