Ok, another coolant reservoir discussion

[stanglife]

I missed the posts showing how the OE ones failed? I vote for a simple, clean OE engine bay.

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should but someone will happily sell you a part to put anywhere you like.

Sponsored

 

[Angrey]

I missed the posts showing how the OE ones failed? I vote for a simple, clean OE engine bay.

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should but someone will happily sell you a part to put anywhere you like.

It gets slightly more complicated than that, the OE takes up a large space, so anyone wanting to run more junk on the front of the motor has a dimensional squeeze. The smaller or more compact units provide additional clearances for a multitude of modifications (10 rib, crank supports, etc). I had planned to simply hold my nose and spend $85 for a piece of plastic that covers the grenade, but having the additional dimension was necessary so I went with an aftermarket unit.

So in a sense, the OE units fail by being unnecessarily big, bloated and ugly. The new S650 moves it to the side and while they still chose to make it clear poly (instead of painting it and providing it with a sight window) it's much less of an eye sore and not really as much in the way.

 

[ChipG]

I missed the posts showing how the OE ones failed? I vote for a simple, clean OE engine bay.

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should but someone will happily sell you a part to put anywhere you like.

My OEM reservoir degraded and sprung a leak, so I went with metal. Likely a combo of heat from track days and UV from sunlight through the hood vent.

 

[stanglife]

It gets slightly more complicated than that, the OE takes up a large space, so anyone wanting to run more junk on the front of the motor has a dimensional squeeze. The smaller or more compact units provide additional clearances for a multitude of modifications (10 rib, crank supports, etc). I had planned to simply hold my nose and spend $85 for a piece of plastic that covers the grenade, but having the additional dimension was necessary so I went with an aftermarket unit.

So in a sense, the OE units fail by being unnecessarily big, bloated and ugly. The new S650 moves it to the side and while they still chose to make it clear poly (instead of painting it and providing it with a sight window) it's much less of an eye sore and not really as much in the way.

You make a good argument for use cases where specific funtionality is required but most people who buy these are just catalog surfing and replacing stuff because they can (it's the Mustang aftermarket way) and sometimes under the marketing or fear-factor guise from a vendor, that the product is somehow better than OEM across the board. Sure, anything can fail but this part, at least as far as I've heard, is not a common issue.

I enjoyed my GT350R and the hood only opened for service or detailing after a wash. I admit, in previous years, I did some dress-up stuff so maybe I'm just being a hypocrite (but it WAS to weld up holes in a foxbody engine bay, of which there are hundreds! haha) but mostly just like motorsport-related changes now.

 

[Lorne34]

Just to wrap up my experience. I ordered a replacement Motorcraft Radiator cap when I installed the Steeda Coolant Overflow tank thinking the original cap was somehow defective. It turns out the original was fine, but the fitment was different on the Steeda tank vs the Ford OEM. I did end up putting silicone on the threads when reinstalling the cap to keep the plastic threads from drying out. I also installed the Steeda Vinyl logo on the tank which I think works well with the black/silver theme of the engine bay.
.

 

[skinnyb]

Not a Shelby, but I just installed the new style Mishimoto today on my car. It has a new sight glass design that screws in like a plug. I found it was only hand tight so I removed it and found it does have an O ring. I put some thread tape on it and screwed it back in and snugged it down, hoping it works well for a long time. Only did mine as a cosmetic upgrade, my factory one was still working fine..

 

[NPTR]

Greatly appreciate this thread for pointing me to the simple JLD cover, which for guys like me who aren’t worried about heat-related failure accomplishes my goal for cosmetic clean up with minimal headache and OEM+ spec!

Sponsored