Page 6 - radiator | Mishimoto

BMW E36 Aluminum Coolant Expansion Tank R&D, Part 2: Initial 3D Model and Prototype

Posted: April 30, 2015

Categories: BMW 3-Series E36 Expansion Tank 1992-1999

Tags: turbo, track, scca, radiator, race, mishimoto, m54, featured, expansion, cooling, #bmw

Interested in picking up this aluminum E36 expansion tank? Check out our product page linked below!

BMW E36 Aluminum Coolant Expansion Tank!

Time to break open the stock tank and see what lies within. If you follow some of our other development projects, you would know that we recently split an E46 3-series expansion tank and found quite a complex system including both internal and external features. Although this added some complexity and difficulty to the project, it seemed like our engineers enjoyed the challenge.

Stock Expansion Tank Internals

First, before we slice this guy in half, a look inside the tank from the cap.

Keeping The E36 Cool, Part 3: Final Prototype

Posted: April 17, 2015

Categories: BMW 3-Series E36 Electric Fan Shroud 1992-1999

Tags: turbo, track, scca, s52, radiator, race, m50, m20, featured, euro, e36, e30, cooling, #m3, #bmw

Interested in picking up our E36 fan shroud? Check out the full details on this kit on our product page!

Mishimoto BMW E36 Performance Fan Shroud Kit!

Our final prototype is complete and looks fantastic. The fan mount is constructed from 1/8" steel that has been cut to a specific shape allowing for additional airflow through the radiator core at speed. Additionally, the mount is powder coated black to provide a durable finish. As noted in our last post, we tested this unit extensively with our 16" fan to ensure that coolant temperatures were properly regulated during both idle and all driving conditions.

Check out a few shots of the mount!

Final prototype

BMW E46 3-Series Intake System R&D, Part 1: Initial Design

Posted: March 31, 2015

Categories: BMW 3-Series E46 Intake 1999-2006

Tags: turbo, track, scca, radiator, race, m54, intake, featured, expansion, cooling, 3-series, #bmw

Interested in picking up our E46 intake system? Check out our product page for more information!

Mishimoto BMW E46 Performance Air Intake

Stock E46 intake system

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Mishimoto E46 3-Series Aluminum Radiator R&D, Part 2: 3D Models

Posted: March 26, 2015

Categories: BMW 3-Series E46 Radiator 1999-2006

Tags: turbo, track, scca, radiator, race, m54, featured, expansion, cooling, #bmw

Interested in purchasing our E46 aluminum radiator? Check out our product page linked below!

Mishimoto BMW E46 Non-M Performance Aluminum Radiator!

3D Modeling

After some serious 3D modeling work in Solidworks, our first prototype unit is complete. Let's check out a few of the renders!

Mishimoto E46 3-series aluminum radiator 3D model

Mishimoto E46 3-series aluminum radiator</body>

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Mishimoto Ford 6.4L Powerstroke Aluminum Radiator: Version 2 Details

Posted: March 18, 2015

Categories: Ford 6.4L Powerstroke Radiator 2008-2010, Ford 6.4L Powerstroke Essential Protection Bundle 2008-2010

Tags: turbo, radiator, powerstroke, mudding, mishimoto, ford, featured, cooling, 6.4l, 4x4

After jumping into the diesel truck market a few years ago, Mishimoto designed and released an aluminum radiator engineered specifically for the Ford 6.4L. We identified a serious concern with stock radiator failure. Numerous enthusiasts on a variety of online boards were experiencing extremely frequent failures, with some folks replacing as many as 3 radiators within the first 60,000 miles. In fact, this issue in combination with others that plague the 6.4L were enough to make a few truck owners revert to the previous 6.0L or upgrade to the newer 6.7L, swearing off the 6.4L after repeated issues with their trucks.

Being experts within the automotive & diesel cooling world, we immediately saw an opportunity to provide a solution for this problem. Our engineers designed an aluminum replacement radiator which provided a far more rigid construction, full aluminum, and still incorporated all of the stock quick-disconnect fittings. Our initial investigation regarding the stock

E46 3-Series Aluminum Expansion Tank, Part 1: Stock Tank Evaluation

Posted: March 13, 2015

Categories: BMW 3-Series E46 Expansion Tank 1999-2006

Tags: turbo, track, scca, radiator, race, mishimoto, m54, featured, expansion, cooling, #bmw

Enthusiast groups' feedback plays a massive role in our product development process. Not only is it a great way to bounce ideas off our potential customers, but it also allows us to see exactly what our customers want and need for their vehicles. This project is no different. Due to a substantial amount of demand via forums and social media, we decided it was time to get the ball rolling on this coolant expansion project.

Stock Expansion Tank

In typical BMW fashion, this tank was quite unique and featured some very interesting components, both internally and externally. First, a look at the exterior of the tank. Many of you are very familiar with this, based on the rate of failure reported for this plastic tank.

Stock E46 3-series coolant expansion tank

Keeping The E36 Cool, Part 2: Second Prototype

Posted: March 06, 2015

Categories: BMW 3-Series E36 Electric Fan Shroud 1992-1999

Tags: turbo, track, scca, s52, radiator, race, m50, m20, featured, euro, e36, e30, cooling, #m3, #bmw

Interested in picking up our E36 fan shroud? Check out the full details on this kit on our product page!

Mishimoto BMW E36 Performance Fan Shroud Kit!

E36 M3 on dyno

First Prototype Testing

When we left off last time we were exploring our first prototype design. This unit is a traditional aluminum fan shroud with air flaps to improve core airflow at speed. Once we had a working prototype, we decided to perform some idle testing to see how well our single electric fan would perform on a mostly stock E36 M3.

To get started, we began removing the stock setup.

Mishimoto E46 Non-M Aluminum Radiator R&D, Part 1: Stock Radiator Evaluation

Posted: March 06, 2015

Categories: BMW 3-Series E46 Radiator 1999-2006

Tags: turbo, track, scca, radiator, race, m54, featured, expansion, cooling, #bmw

Interested in purchasing our E46 aluminum radiator? Check out our product page linked below!

Mishimoto BMW E46 Non-M Performance Aluminum Radiator!

E46 325ci test vehicle

A peek under the hood reveals a clean and entirely stock engine bay. This would be helpful because we know what components we will need to incorporate into the design of our radiator. It will also help provide clearance information in regard to how much we can increase the size of our radiator.

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BMW E36 Aluminum Coolant Expansion Tank R&D, Part 1: Intro and Factory Tank

Posted: March 02, 2015

Categories: BMW 3-Series E36 Expansion Tank 1992-1999

Tags: turbo, track, scca, s52, radiator, race, m50, m20, featured, expansion, euro, e36, e30, cooling, BMW E36 Coolant Expansion Tank 1992-1999, #m3, #bmw

Interested in picking up this aluminum E36 expansion tank? Check out our product page linked below!

BMW E36 Aluminum Coolant Expansion Tank!

Historically, BMW vehicles have been plagued with rather frequent cooling system failures. A majority of these failures are a result of the use of plastic components in a high-temperature application. Although failure isn't immediate, over time the frequent heat cycling of these plastic components results in increased fragility, fatigue, and eventual failure.

A few components we see failing on E36 models include the radiator end tanks, radiator expansion tank, and the mechanical fan. We already offer two aluminum radiator options, and we have an electric-fan conversion kit in the works. An expansion tank is our last stop for product development on the E36 (for now). We have had numerous requests