Has anyone fitted one of these?
http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/coolant-reroute-mk1-p-3950.html
Is the coolant flow really a problem in MX5 engines?
Depends on how much you listen to the hype and what you take in, leave her as she is, spend the money on something else for her where better spent and go give her a blast out, and enjoy, i am sure the negative collective will be along soon.
M-m
If you go to the Blyton event this is the man who gets everyone back out on track if they push their car too far. If he says you don’t need it then that’s good enough for me.
The answer to that really isn’t as black and white as yes or no.
Yes the coolant route is compromised by the re-plumbing Mazda did to turn the usually transverse engine into an inline engine. That’s undeniable.
However, probably helped by Mazdas addition of a larger radiator than that used in the transverse application, the standard MX-5 cooling system is really quite adequate for a standard engine in standard use.
If the engine is exposed to the extra stresses of forced induction (Turbo, Supercharger) then a re-route is probably a good option. If only for that extra bit of peace of mind.
If the car is being thrashed on track quite often. Put it this way, you would probably upgrade the brake pads, which are quite adequate for road use, to some ‘yellow stuff’ or similar? So maybe you would view a coolant reroute in the same way. Not essential, but worthwhile? It certainly won’t make anything worse.
It is interesting to note that when Mazda redesigned the cylinder head for the MK2.5 car they also took the opportunity to redesign the head gasket in order to specifically address the issue of uneven coolant flow through the block. So Mazda themselves decided it was a system worth improving.