As the car had done ~94k miles I thought it would be time to refresh the cooling system as part of the build project. It also gave me an opportunity to remove the viscous clutch fan, as I have never liked these. This is similar to my dislike for sleeving engines that aren't low-revving V8's, I have no science to support why I don't like them, I just don't.
My main driver here was to upgrade to something better than stock with increased reliability. As with my other parts decisions I also wanted to stick to something that for the most part came as a ready to install kit specifically for the E46 M3.
Fortunately (or unfortunately) there was a lot of options to chose from when it came to cooling upgrade for the E46 M3. I compiled a list of some of the options I reviewed / considered:
Now during my review it became clear that the consensus was that if you were going to depart from a true OEM refresh then the Zionsville radiator was the best option. Unfortunately it was also the most expensive, and whilst it came with the option to be paired with a shroud and fan, it did not have an accompanying oil cooler. This is despite the fact that it was priced at a similar range as the other companies with their oil cooler included.
In general I found the reviews and feedback for the Fluidyne, C&R and CSF products to all be very similar. Comparable prices, comparable offerings and similar fitment. They all offered radiators and oil coolers, but did not have a fan shroud / fan package that I found at the time. Now had it not been for the development I will discuss next I would have investigated these brands further to distinguish between them and potentially make a purchase.
Instead I moved on to review Mishimoto's offering. This caught my eye very quickly for no other reason than the fact they have everything ready to go; radiator, fan, fan shroud, wiring and oil cooler. Investigating further I found that Mishimoto seemed to be generally well regarded by anyone who bothered to try them over at M3Cutters but extremely polarising and derided by many over at M3Forum. It turns out that there was some serious design flaws in the initial radiator offered which made them a lot of enemies, despite the fact they had subsequently revised the design to address the issues.
The oil cooler on the other hand seemed to be liked by most who had used it and the fan shroud and fan were used widely by people who even decided to go with another brands radiator.
With this in mind I started looking at prices and managed to find an Australian distributor of Mishimoto, Car Mods Australia. When enquiring through them I was able to get them to offer me a package price (ordering the radiator, fan shroud, oil cooler and radiator hoses) which I could not match when pricing up the other company offerings (CSF, C&R, Fluidyne). Admittedly this had a lot to do with shipping and GST on these products after import as I could not find an Australia distributor for them.
Given the unbeatable price I managed to get and reasonable reviews from the community. Admittedly not the greatest reviews but it is at least considered an upgrade from OEM now with the redesigned Radiator. Which makes it worthwhile when you consider that price I got them for was cheaper than OEM replacements so I decided to go ahead with a purchase.
My main driver here was to upgrade to something better than stock with increased reliability. As with my other parts decisions I also wanted to stick to something that for the most part came as a ready to install kit specifically for the E46 M3.
Fortunately (or unfortunately) there was a lot of options to chose from when it came to cooling upgrade for the E46 M3. I compiled a list of some of the options I reviewed / considered:
- Zionsville Radiator
- Fluidyne Radiator and Oil Cooler
- C&R Radiator and Oil Cooler
- Mishimoto Radiator and Oil Cooler
- CSF Radiator and Oil Cooler
Now during my review it became clear that the consensus was that if you were going to depart from a true OEM refresh then the Zionsville radiator was the best option. Unfortunately it was also the most expensive, and whilst it came with the option to be paired with a shroud and fan, it did not have an accompanying oil cooler. This is despite the fact that it was priced at a similar range as the other companies with their oil cooler included.
In general I found the reviews and feedback for the Fluidyne, C&R and CSF products to all be very similar. Comparable prices, comparable offerings and similar fitment. They all offered radiators and oil coolers, but did not have a fan shroud / fan package that I found at the time. Now had it not been for the development I will discuss next I would have investigated these brands further to distinguish between them and potentially make a purchase.
The oil cooler on the other hand seemed to be liked by most who had used it and the fan shroud and fan were used widely by people who even decided to go with another brands radiator.
With this in mind I started looking at prices and managed to find an Australian distributor of Mishimoto, Car Mods Australia. When enquiring through them I was able to get them to offer me a package price (ordering the radiator, fan shroud, oil cooler and radiator hoses) which I could not match when pricing up the other company offerings (CSF, C&R, Fluidyne). Admittedly this had a lot to do with shipping and GST on these products after import as I could not find an Australia distributor for them.Given the unbeatable price I managed to get and reasonable reviews from the community. Admittedly not the greatest reviews but it is at least considered an upgrade from OEM now with the redesigned Radiator. Which makes it worthwhile when you consider that price I got them for was cheaper than OEM replacements so I decided to go ahead with a purchase.
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