Jason Cuadra's Coolant Reroute

Here are pictures of my setup:


I bought two radiator hoses, some 1.25" copper piping (around two feet maybe more), several feet of 5/8" heater hose, and several clamps.

One hose is a 1.25" x 20" long flex hose (with a metal reinforcement spring inside), the second hose is a short hose with two 90-degree bends.  I picked it off a wall at Kragen's and they couldn't tell me what car it was for.

To choose the hoses I brought a short length of 1.25" copper piping and the thermostat cover so I could test fit the hose.

The short hose I cut in two pieces, so I could have two sharp 90 degree pieces.

Procedure is: swap front and back thermostat cover.  Thermostat goes to rear too.  I scraped the old gasket off and used silicone sealant without a new gasket.  For those with the factory coil pack it will have to be relocated.  Another problem is the EGR tube, you may have to fab a tube that goes way down below the rear cover.

Use the new hoses and pipe to route water from the back of the head to the radiator inlet (top).  Use new heater hose to route the coolant from the front to the heater.

I spliced in some wire to extend the connector for the thermosensor that also gets relocated to the front.

I bought a Prestone "flush and fill" kit to use its heater tee with a fill port.  I spliced it into the new long heater hose at its highest point.  I filled the rad then put the cap back on.  Then filled it from the Prestone tee.  For those with turbos make sure this tee is away from the exhaust manifold, else it will melt and ruin your day/week/month.