When there's about 100k miles on a cart, the coolant should be changed. I was noticing that it was running hot during the summer when I had the AC on. The following winter revealed some weeping of coolant from the water pump and the radiator was also showing some signs of weeping where the plastic tanks on the right and left side meet the aluminum in the middle. I decided it was time to bring the cooling system up to date before there was a failure.
I won't get into too much detail on the fan. It had failed in the past and I had already replaced it with the equivalent ebay version of the fan. Nothing to upgrade, just remove and replace.
I went to www.summitracing.com for the radiator and water pump. I ordered stock replacement parts and They delivered the parts in two days. I picked up the gasket from my local parts store. The removal of the water pump is pretty straight forward. Remove the belt, then remove everything attached to the pump. Then remove the pump. I used a thin seal of blue RTV to hold the gasket in place when I bolted the new pump up to the timing cover. The radiator is also pretty straight forward. Drain the coolant, disconnect the lines, unbolt the brackets, unplug the fan and everything comes out. Unbolt the fan from the old radiator, and bolt it up to the new one. I jacked up the rear of the car which causes all the coolant to move to the front lower part of the motor. The majority of it will drain out of the water pump (which is not connected to any lines as of yet since the rad is out). I also hooked up a shop vac to the lower coolant line to get as much out as I could. I lowered the car, happy that I got the majority of the old coolant out.
I went down to the parts store and picked up two gallons of antifreeze. On the way back I stopped at the drug store and picked two gallons of distilled water. I have a few of the home depot 5 gallon buckets. I poured the antifreeze into the bucket, then followed with the distilled water. I now had four gallons of 50/50 mix.
Installation is the reverse of removal. I'm pretty sure I replaced the radiator cap too. They are inexpensive, so it was worth it. Once everything was hooked back up, I filled the radiator with fluid and checked for leaks. I started the car up and after a short while, when it warmed up, it seemed like all the antifreeze disappeared. I filled it up, filled up the overflow, let it run for a while longer and that was it. I think I maybe had to top off the overflow a day or two later after driving it regularly. I did all this using the 5 gallon bucket. When I was done, the excess fit in the two empty straight antifreeze containers. I labeled them as 50/50.
Some other Misc Stuff: Seats, stereo system, etc.
The driver's seat was ripped on the bolster by the door. The driver's seat is also power, so there is a lever / button that actuates a motor to move the seat forward and backward, up and down. The problem is that the down doesn't work, so the seat is stuck in the 'all the way up' position. I found an identical set of seats that someone was selling and went to pick them up. Before I left, I took out the passenger seat, and the back seat and left them in my garage. I also brought the tools with me to install the seats. I bought the seats from this guy and found that the rear seats are not the same. His seats came out of a coupe and I have a convertible. Live and learn. I still took them home. I was really just interested in the driver's seat.
I installed the new driver's seat and it worked. I was able to lower the seat down. I got home and gave all the seats a really good cleaning, and let them sit in the sun for a bit to dry out. You wouldn't believe how dirty the tweed seats can get to be.
Not too long passed and the motor died on the seat again. I found a set of manual seat tracks, CHEAP and installed those. They are lighter, and they will NEVER fail. Now the driver and passenger side seats are the same height, always!
Next was the stereo. Since I have an iPhone, I wanted something that had integration. I also wanted to replace the door speakers with some up to date models. I found a good set of Sony xPlode speakers on eBay. It was about 100 for 4 speakers, not a bad price. I also picked up a sony head unit that had iPhone and PANDORA integration. The installation was very straight forward. The vendor that I bought the stereo from (Sonic electronix) also gave me the correct wiring harness to install it in my car, no extra charge. I think the head unit was just over 100 shipped. I also ordered Sony's slimline xm1 mono amp, and installed a small subwoofer box in the trunk. The box is sealed, with two 8 inch drivers in it. I bridge the two drivers into a mono load and push it with the mono amp. It hits pretty hard for just 8's back there! I can't hear them too well with the top down, but when the top is up, it sounds really good!
This was not a competition stereo system. I did not go 'all out' with the wiring. I used a bunch of the stuff that I had laying around to do the install. I think that I ordered only one small installation kit for 20 dollars and didn't even use all the pieces.
The last piece that I installed was the Valentine V1 Radar detector. I actually hard wired it to the fuse box. It is allegedly the best detector on the market, and after having it for some months now, I totally trust it! Having it hard wired allowed me to put the detector wherever I wanted in the car. I ran the wire up along the A pillar and across the top of the windshield. I mounted the detector just above the passenger half of the rear view mirror. It works well up there!
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