Mountune Radiator vs Mishimoto Radiator

[Crv]

Also-you do not need to take off the entire front end to do the mountune radiator-(un like mishi’s process) not sure if someone said that already...just get that front end about 20-24 or so inches off the ground-leave the protective shipping covers on it and slide it right up in...pull the covers off and it’s done...no dismantling the subframe...


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[Nessal]

I wouldn't recommend a 160 thermostat anyway. Proper engine temperatures are important to remove moisture from the oil and other things. 180 is fine. 160 is cold.

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I totally agree with this. In the Lotus world, those cars actually cooled TOO well. The Exige came with two oil coolers stock and the oil never came up to temp. This caused excessive wear on the camshafts where it would grind down the lobes pretty bad. I had to replace mine because of it. You want to keep temps up even above 180F. I would say that around 210F-220F is the ideal temperature.

 

[The Cuzi]

I totally agree with this. In the Lotus world, those cars actually cooled TOO well. The Exige came with two oil coolers stock and the oil never came up to temp. This caused excessive wear on the camshafts where it would grind down the lobes pretty bad. I had to replace mine because of it. You want to keep temps up even above 180F. I would say that around 210F-220F is the ideal temperature.

I would tend to agree with you. Specifically the warmer heat range of oil. The catch to this is that the oil and coolant temperatures are correlated on the FiST unless you transition from OEM to an aftermarket oil cooling system. Normally, my oil and coolant temperatures are within 10-20 degrees F of one another (passive observation, not a scientifically tested and metrics based opinion - so take it with a grain of salt). If my oil is 220, my coolant is at a minimum 200 and likely ~210F. Last summer highway speeds would see oil at 235-240f with coolant going into the 230's.

The correlation of coolant and oil usually isn't a problem except in gridlock. I get it, my fault for living near DC or some other sh*thole that requires gridlock. In non-moving or low airflow driving, the coolant system capabilities are quickly maxed out and the engine begins an upward hike to unsafe temperatures. I was resorting to the oldschool - heater on max temp and flow, windows down, and monitoring temperatures to keep her happy and alive. By the way, if you've never done 105F ambient in DC traffic with your heater on max you don't know what you're missing in life.

I love my FiST but I would say that the engineering team who designed the cooling system either let us down or the penny counters struck down the appropriate design.

 

[shouldbeasy]

I would tend to agree with you. Specifically the warmer heat range of oil. The catch to this is that the oil and coolant temperatures are correlated on the FiST unless you transition from OEM to an aftermarket oil cooling system. Normally, my oil and coolant temperatures are within 10-20 degrees F of one another (passive observation, not a scientifically tested and metrics based opinion - so take it with a grain of salt). If my oil is 220, my coolant is at a minimum 200 and likely ~210F. Last summer highway speeds would see oil at 235-240f with coolant going into the 230's.

The correlation of coolant and oil usually isn't a problem except in gridlock. I get it, my fault for living near DC or some other sh*thole that requires gridlock. In non-moving or low airflow driving, the coolant system capabilities are quickly maxed out and the engine begins an upward hike to unsafe temperatures. I was resorting to the oldschool - heater on max temp and flow, windows down, and monitoring temperatures to keep her happy and alive. By the way, if you've never done 105F ambient in DC traffic with your heater on max you don't know what you're missing in life.

I love my FiST but I would say that the engineering team who designed the cooling system either let us down or the penny counters struck down the appropriate design.

Definitely the latter.

 

[Nessal]

I would tend to agree with you. Specifically the warmer heat range of oil. The catch to this is that the oil and coolant temperatures are correlated on the FiST unless you transition from OEM to an aftermarket oil cooling system. Normally, my oil and coolant temperatures are within 10-20 degrees F of one another (passive observation, not a scientifically tested and metrics based opinion - so take it with a grain of salt). If my oil is 220, my coolant is at a minimum 200 and likely ~210F. Last summer highway speeds would see oil at 235-240f with coolant going into the 230's.

The correlation of coolant and oil usually isn't a problem except in gridlock. I get it, my fault for living near DC or some other sh*thole that requires gridlock. In non-moving or low airflow driving, the coolant system capabilities are quickly maxed out and the engine begins an upward hike to unsafe temperatures. I was resorting to the oldschool - heater on max temp and flow, windows down, and monitoring temperatures to keep her happy and alive. By the way, if you've never done 105F ambient in DC traffic with your heater on max you don't know what you're missing in life.

I love my FiST but I would say that the engineering team who designed the cooling system either let us down or the penny counters struck down the appropriate design.

The thing is, a quality synthetic oil doesn't even begin to break down until it reaches into the high 300's and low 400's. Just as a reference, in my Exige I actually removed both oil coolers so that the temps can hover between 220F to 240F. This is considered the ideal temps to ensure that the water is evaporated out of the oil as well as keeping the oil flow rate up. At any rate, just from my past experience having to deal will temps that are too cold and causing damage to the motor, I think it is something to consider. My 2 cents.

 

[The Cuzi]

The thing is, a quality synthetic oil doesn't even begin to break down until it reaches into the high 300's and low 400's. Just as a reference, in my Exige I actually removed both oil coolers so that the temps can hover between 220F to 240F. This is considered the ideal temps to ensure that the water is evaporated out of the oil as well as keeping the oil flow rate up. At any rate, just from my past experience having to deal will temps that are too cold and causing damage to the motor, I think it is something to consider. My 2 cents.

Makes sense, I have similar issues with my MV Agusta. If you're not thrashing on her the coolant system drops the temperatures well below the 'normal' range. But the reason for that, and likely the same as your lotus, is that it was designed for the excessive heat of racing. When I'm not asking much out of the vehicle the coolant system outpaces the need. I wish the FiST had that problem. It is easier to warm something up then it is to cool it down.

 

[The Cuzi]

Just mounted the Mountune radiator. It was shockingly easy to install. So easy in fact that I was convinced I must have done something wrong. The paranoid side me had to triple check everything because I didn't run into any 'gotchas' during the install. Who has ever heard of that?

View: https://media.giphy.com/media/ANbD1CCdA3iI8/giphy.gif

Kickoff to touchdown was just over two hours by myself. Took a set of pliers, a panel puller, a socket set, and a flat tip. I feel like Audi could take a lesson in this simplicity.

It's a cold day so testing is more or less limited to making sure I didn't divide by zero somewhere. The only noticeable and observable change so far is the pace at which the coolant temperatures drop. I'm still on OEM thermometer so I wasn't looking at 180f across the board. But in about a half-hour of driving, I would say the approximate temperatures of coolant and oil were ~10f lower than usual which I consider a win.

 

[SrsBsns]

Just mounted the Mountune radiator. It was shockingly easy to install. So easy in fact that I was convinced I must have done something wrong. The paranoid side me had to triple check everything because I didn't run into any 'gotchas' during the install. Who has ever heard of that?

View: https://media.giphy.com/media/ANbD1CCdA3iI8/giphy.gif

Kickoff to touchdown was just over two hours by myself. Took a set of pliers, a panel puller, a socket set, and a flat tip. I feel like Audi could take a lesson in this simplicity.

It's a cold day so testing is more or less limited to making sure I didn't divide by zero somewhere. The only noticeable and observable change so far is the pace at which the coolant temperatures drop. I'm still on OEM thermometer so I wasn't looking at 180f across the board. But in about a half-hour of driving, I would say the approximate temperatures of coolant and oil were ~10f lower than usual which I consider a win.

Haha. I blocked a day off with 2 friends and we were ready to spend a ton of time getting this done.

Including a break to get donuts, we finished in about 2 hours and had the same feeling... uh, this was easy... did we mess anything up?

It's been a few months since the install and everything has been great.

 

[The Cuzi]

Haha. I blocked a day off with 2 friends and we were ready to spend a ton of time getting this done. Including a break to get donuts, we finished in about 2 hours and had the same feeling... uh, this was easy... did we mess anything up? It's been a few months since the install and everything has been great.

Ha, exactly. Sure as hell glad I didn't have to remove the bumper as some tutorials call for.

 

[WutApex]

Figured I'd tag on to an already existing, relevant thread as opposed to starting a new one -

Since I plan on occasionally tracking this car, I'm looking to improve cooling based on folks that have run these on the road course. Planned upgrades:
- Whoosh V3
- Mountune radiator
- Whoosh coolant hoses
- Motorcraft (orange) coolant, 2 gal

Any other bit & pieces to upgrade while i'm in there?
Are the clamps that come with the Whoosh hoses adequate?
Suggestions on different parts, e.g. Mountune hoses?

Lastly, any potato head instructions available for the radiator removal from the bottom?

 

[Rocketst]

Figured I'd tag on to an already existing, relevant thread as opposed to starting a new one -

Since I plan on occasionally tracking this car, I'm looking to improve cooling based on folks that have run these on the road course. Planned upgrades:
- Whoosh V3
- Mountune radiator
- Whoosh coolant hoses
- Motorcraft (orange) coolant, 2 gal

Any other bit & pieces to upgrade while i'm in there?
Are the clamps that come with the Whoosh hoses adequate?
Suggestions on different parts, e.g. Mountune hoses?

Lastly, any potato head instructions available for the radiator removal from the bottom?

Just remove the entire front man it'll make shit so much easier. Unless of course you have access to a lift. I'm running engine ice coolant, mountune radiator, mishimoto 160 degree thermostat, bravoalpha intercooler, and motul 5w40. Oil temps never exceed 170 degrees, coolant temps never exceed 190. On a hot day I see 190 every other day I see 170ish. I have the cpe hot and cold side pipes and love them. The t clamps are amazing also. I always had issues with the wormgears but if you double them up it almost always fixes them.

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[The Cuzi]

Figured I'd tag on to an already existing, relevant thread as opposed to starting a new one -

Since I plan on occasionally tracking this car, I'm looking to improve cooling based on folks that have run these on the road course. Planned upgrades:
- Whoosh V3
- Mountune radiator
- Whoosh coolant hoses
- Motorcraft (orange) coolant, 2 gal

Any other bit & pieces to upgrade while i'm in there?
Are the clamps that come with the Whoosh hoses adequate?
Suggestions on different parts, e.g. Mountune hoses?

Lastly, any potato head instructions available for the radiator removal from the bottom?

The Mountune radiator rocks. I kept OEM coolant and thermometer and my temps dropped drastically. Highest coolant I’ve seen since the change was 202f. Only other cooling related thing that comes to mind is an oil cooler. I just bought/got my Airtec from @ron@whoosh but am yet to install. Looks easy enough though I’ll need to get creative with the mounting.

 

[SrsBsns]

Figured I'd tag on to an already existing, relevant thread as opposed to starting a new one -

Since I plan on occasionally tracking this car, I'm looking to improve cooling based on folks that have run these on the road course. Planned upgrades:
- Whoosh V3
- Mountune radiator
- Whoosh coolant hoses
- Motorcraft (orange) coolant, 2 gal

Any other bit & pieces to upgrade while i'm in there?
Are the clamps that come with the Whoosh hoses adequate?
Suggestions on different parts, e.g. Mountune hoses?

Lastly, any potato head instructions available for the radiator removal from the bottom?

The V3 will be good and is nice to have if you are planning on running a bigger turbo. If you're planning on staying stock, afik, a V2 will do just fine. I have the Depo which is basically the same as the V2. Even in hot weather, it keeps temps ~8-10 degrees over ambient.

The radiator is a HUGE upgrade. Made a huge difference on my '15.

I've heard that the hoses don't make a difference as the stock ones are actually sufficient unless they're damaged in any way. From what I understand, the silicon hoses are largely cosmetic.

I don't think you need 2 gals of coolant if you're mixing with water. Depending on where you live, you can go 30/70 to water, which is what I did. I'm in SoCal and don't have to worry about cold weather.

Removal from the bottom is what I did. I did a little write up here: https://www.fiestastforum.com/threads/thoughts-from-mountune-radiator-install.23121/

There's a couple good youtube videos that show you the basics of how to do it without pulling the front clip. With a couple of friends, it took me less than 2 hours to drop the stock one out of the bottom and get the new one buttoned up. That includes a break for donuts.

 

[danbfree]

The V3 will be good and is nice to have if you are planning on running a bigger turbo. If you're planning on staying stock, afik, a V2 will do just fine. I have the Depo which is basically the same as the V2. Even in hot weather, it keeps temps ~8-10 degrees over ambient.

The radiator is a HUGE upgrade. Made a huge difference on my '15.

I've heard that the hoses don't make a difference as the stock ones are actually sufficient unless they're damaged in any way. From what I understand, the silicon hoses are largely cosmetic.

I don't think you need 2 gals of coolant if you're mixing with water. Depending on where you live, you can go 30/70 to water, which is what I did. I'm in SoCal and don't have to worry about cold weather.

Removal from the bottom is what I did. I did a little write up here: https://www.fiestastforum.com/threads/thoughts-from-mountune-radiator-install.23121/

There's a couple good youtube videos that show you the basics of how to do it without pulling the front clip. With a couple of friends, it took me less than 2 hours to drop the stock one out of the bottom and get the new one buttoned up. That includes a break for donuts.

Just to clarify, I believe the Whoosh V1, not V2, is the same as Depo and Monster/Pwnall... I hate to state something as absolute fact, so anyone in the know feel free to correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure the V2 was an exact clone of the CP-e, so I'm pretty sure Ron doesn't sell the V2 anymore as it undercut CP-e so he moved on to a V3 that has his own tweaks to be different from that other one out of respect to CP-e and also have a version even better.

So, on to the original topic, if both are $500 I'd take the Mountune in a heartbeat but I found an exact Mishimoto radiator clone for half the price from a reputable seller and it's arriving today... It was actually stocked in the US and had free shipping. Now, the same seller is offering them shipped from China with an extra $50 for shipping so I feel fortunate! The problem is that I'm almost positive it doesn't have the fan shroud included, I hope I can maybe trim and mount the factory one, anyone possibly know if the OEM shroud will work on a Mishimoto?

 

[danbfree]

Also-you do not need to take off the entire front end to do the mountune radiator-(un like mishi’s process) not sure if someone said that already...just get that front end about 20-24 or so inches off the ground-leave the protective shipping covers on it and slide it right up in...pull the covers off and it’s done...no dismantling the subframe...


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True of the Mishimoto too, they clarify their install video is for people who don't have a lift but fail to account for that most home mechanics have a jack that can create enough clearance anyway!

 

[WutApex]

Is $475 a decent price for the Mountune? It's currently on sale direct from their website but I'm not sure if bigger sales are available, e.g. Independence Day, Black Friday, etc

 

[Alkoran]

475$ is a good price but the lowest I've personally seen is 419$. When I bought mine it was at 475$ and 2 weeks later it was 419$, so I contacted their customer service to see what could be done and they gave me the difference in store credit.

 

[TyphoonFiST]

Got mine for $420 after opening a PayPal credit card with a $50 off/credit promo of first purchase and Mountune discount also. Cant complain here.

 

[Dpro]

Got my Mountune new in the box from someone else who had bought it but not installed along with Mountune rad hoses for $425 shipped sold the rad hoses for like $50 and wound up at $375 .

 

[The Cuzi]

Is $475 a decent price for the Mountune? It's currently on sale direct from their website but I'm not sure if bigger sales are available, e.g. Independence Day, Black Friday, etc

Yes - I paid considerably more for mine.