The top of my radiator just cracked. I plastic welded it and it's holding for now, but I really should replace it.

Has anyone installed one of these in their 5.5?



Megan Racing MR-RT-NM00

They can be had for around $150. It seems like this would be much better than any of the plastic-capped aftermarket radiators out there.

I called Megan and they couldn't tell me whether or not it would work with the stock fan shroud. They said it might not because this is thicker than the stock radiator. This is my main concern. Does anyone know if the stock shroud will fit?

Any other input on this rad?

Thanks

 

Megan said that?LOL.
Then why the fk do they sell it then?
But yes,I bought one and it went in. Good thing I didn't call them first.

The fan is close to the exhaust manifold but still clears it.
The radiator holds twice as much coolant as the OEM ,so keep that in mind.
Also,the slots at the bottom didn't exactly line up due toe excess metal from the radiator ,I had to do some chiseling to fit.
And the cap goes on with effort and you have to make sure it sits right,if not ,evaporated coolant will come out of there.
Other than that,I say it's better thann OEM and their plastic crap .
I put it in Feb of 2020.No problems thus far.

 

That's a really good reply. Extremely helpful. I appreciate it. I'm going to order one.

Thanks for the reminder to increase the amount of coolant. I wouldn't have realized that until I installed the thing. Great tip. I'll have to get more green stuff.

Are you referring to the cap that came with the radiator or did you re-use your old one?

Do you have any idea if the new radiator has lowered your coolant temps? My car hovers between 195 - 205 F right now. I wonder if that will change.

Thanks again.

 

Post some pics of the finished install. Would love to see what it looks like.

 

The radiator arrived today. Looks pretty good, but I can't believe there is no drain plug. WTF?!?!

Mind boggling. Truly unbelievable.

It's like making a toilet without a flush lever.

SMDH

 

I went with a Mishimoto.

https://www.mishimoto.com/mishimoto-...ima-95-99.html

 

There is very clearly no drain plug in the pictures on the site you linked.

 

I've had one on my 4th gen for some time now. I haven't had any issues..

 

Having no drain plug might be a good thing! If you have a lower hose then drain it there! Or take the New Megan Radiator to a machine shop and have a drain plug installed....Are the Trans oil cooler nipples AN or normal nipples for rubber hoses? I like the fact there's a Trans Oil Cooler designed in for the A/T guys. I don't think Mishimoto hasTrans Oil cooler provisions?

 

It appears the the OEM fan shroud lower brackets are present and the upper mount bosses are present! They use OEM Test Fit vehicles to design their parts for fitment so it should fit without any issues. The trans oil cooler fitting look like AN4 fittings. I looked at their site and even send in a few questions to info@Meganracing.com. I have an A/T 03 Nissan Maxima and I like the fact there's a trans oil cooler provision. This will be done ASAP and I'll keep you guys posted.

 

Nope, I ran a separate trans cooler

https://www.mishimoto.com/heavy-duty...ctric-fan.html

I have yet to hook up the fan, however. No problems.

 

Tap one in if you need to.
My wifes Jetta was the same way OEM as are many newer cars.
They don't want people under their cars.
As far as Megan doing that......they are just stupid.

 

I’ve installed the Megan Racing Radiator and I love it! It’s 1-7/16” thick core versus the OEM 1” thick core. No drain! So what, it has a lower radiator hose. Everything fit the only minor issue is the upper support pegs are slightly lower than OEM & the filler cap is slightly to the right causing the overflow hose to have a little less slack. That’s it fan shroud is closer to my Cattman Headers but they’re ceramic coated so and they don’t really radiate that much heat so applying some of that thermal barrier tape might be a good idea. Function tested it and it works great!

Megan Racing Radiator top view installed.

Megan Racing Side view installed.

frontal view with oil cooler nipples installed.

Side by side view with OEM radiator.

 

Looks great! I would recommend buying the factory Nissan hose clamps. They expand and contract with heat. I used the T-nut type the first time when I installed my Mishimoto and right away had a small leak at the thermostat connection right above the alternator. Tightening didn't help. May have just been my luck, you may be ok. Factory clamps been holding up ever since.

 

That’s suggestive...SS worn clamps since I bought this car off the showroom floor! Especially after my first coolant flush! American worm clamps are easier but the flexing with the expanding and contracting may be true? The heater hoses expand and contract with their steel pipes as well maybe not as much Aluminum. Thanks for heads up I’ll keep an eye on it.

 

Cool, if it works keep doing what you're doing.

 

Are you referring to the cap that came with the radiator or did you re-use your old one?

Do you have any idea if the new radiator has lowered your coolant temps? My car hovers between 195 - 205 F right now. I wonder if that will change.

Thanks again.


Man my bad. I totally missed your question.
But no,still in the middle of the gauge.
I can use my thermal gun to actually measure though if you hadnt already installed it.
Did you register 195-205 with a gauge reading or thermal gun on the engine?
And yes,the cap that came with it.
I got it to close right.
Must have been user error.lol.

 

The conversation was regarding clamps but I used the Megan Racing cap and my water temp gauge is running lower than the middle now. My main concern was getting away from the plastic tank design of the OEM radiators! I wanted a larger core and a full aluminum radiator for it's ruggedness not necessarily to lower my water temperature (which wasn't an issue). I've been performing annual antifreeze changes and flushes since I've owned this car which I bought it New off the showroom floor 18 years ago! She's still my girl!

 

Honestly I wouldn't trust the gauges they're not exactly what I would call precision gauges. Why not install a racing instrument cluster with real numeric gauges and sensors? Water temperature, engine oil temperature & pressure gauges with calibrated transducers? If you really want to know what it's doing. My car isn't a race car, so as long as it's not overheating I'm good! My 4th Gen instrument cluster had an issue with everything water, fuel, the speedometer as well! The replacement has a water temperature gauge that reads hot or on pinged out or in the middle and I know it's the gauge cause tapping it changes it! These Nissan instrument cluster aren't the best especially if you're a long term owner or it's a high mileage car! The vibrations from years of driving usually cracks all those small solder joints so I'll experiment with a junkyard cluster and see how hard it is first!

 

Thanks for the follow up wellshii19.

CMax03, perfect timing! Thanks for the info and the pics. Looks great!

I know it's overkill, but I really wanted a drain plug. So I bought a bung, drilled the bottom of the radiator then had a local guy weld it in. Then I got an aluminum elbow, plug and a pvc valve for draining. Now, it's pretty slick. I'm going to do the install this week.

I did a test to see how everything would work this afternoon and I think it's going to be nice. I was surprised to see that the Megan radiator only holds 1 gallon. I thought it would hold more. I think the original radiator only holds about a gallon also, but I'm not positive about that.

I'll post some pics when it's done.

 

Beautiful, squid.

 

i thought about getting one but the stock radiator has never given me any issues in the 12 years i have owned my maxima. the only cooling issues i ever had was stock clamps letting coolant seep out and fan motors going out. i replaced my radiator, cap, and thermostat once just in case since i got the car with 175 ,XXX miles, it now has 296,XXX. I also drain and fill the coolant every year..

 

I just finished installing the radiator. Overall, I'm pretty happy with it.



Here are some observations I made in the process:

1. I wasn't very impressed with the AN6-5/16 barb fittings that came with the radiator. They looked like leaks waiting to happen so I used some nicer aluminum fittings. Add 5-10 HP minimum per fitting.




2. I had to file down the welds on one of the fan brackets to allow the fan shroud to fit. Not a big deal. Add 1-2 ponies due to weight savings.




3. The 2 screws that hold the fan shroud on the original radiator thread into plastic and are basically sheet metal screws. You can't reuse these screws, you will have to get some M6 x 1.0 screws for the new radiator. These cool red screws easily freed up 15 ponies each.




4. The drain plug made the 7-8 drain & fills much easier. Really too bad they didn't include one. The plug was good for at least 15-20 ponies.

5. This is the most important. The original radiator cap is rated at .9 bar (13 psi). The Megan cap is 1.1 bar (16 psi). With the Megan cap there was no exchange between the radiator and the reservoir at all. None, no fluid nor air. I decided to re-use the original cap and this restored the function of the reservoir. -10 ponies for reusing old cap.

6. I decided to dissect the old radiator mainly because I was curious to see how the trans cooler works. I thought it would be just an aluminum pipe immersed in engine coolant. However, it's actually a pretty ingenious design. It's a hollow cylinder that the ATF flows through. This allows coolant to cool the inside and outside of the cylinder. I looked inside the Megan radiator with a scope and it has the same design.


Original ATF cooler.


ATF Cooler side view.


Megan ATF cooler

7. I did the intake manifold coolant bypass while I had the old radiator out. When I pulled one of the hoses off, some black liquid came out. This is strange because all of the coolant looked immaculate when I flushed it. No idea how this could happen. Any ideas? I blew out the coolant lines in the manifold with compressed air then looped one of the spare hoses to the other port of the manifold to plug them both.

8. During a 30 mile test drive, I noticed that the coolant temps now range between 190 and 208. Previously, it was 195-205. It probably doesn't mean much, but it's interesting.

9. Easily 50-60 HP gained on the butt dyno. Easily. Probably way more. WAY MORE. Definitely.

 

Awesome! Great post, thanks for the inside view of the trans cooler! Nice work! Careful with the speed after all those hp gains!