How to fit a 205 heat exchanger in a 165
- Thread starter at3619
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saved_1992 did it...
http://alltrac.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2136
though not too much info in that post about the intercooler swap
http://alltrac.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2136
though not too much info in that post about the intercooler swap
:lol: No way would I spend over $4k on the front clip and not use the engine! Trust me, im working on it. But anyway, I got the Wta ic heat exchanger, pump, and lines to fit. Cant say it was easy though. I was able to leave the Ac rad in place also. First you will need to remove the pusher fan that is bolted to the ac rad, and replace it with a thinner aftermarket one. Trust me, the fan is way to thick, and will not fit any way you try. What you will have to do for the heat exchanger is make two 90 degree brackets and use them on the top two eyelets used to mount the heat exchanger to bolt to the flip up headlight frames. You will need to make the drivers side longer and the passenger side as short as can be so that the HE is as close to the passenger side as possible. This is because the water tubes go into the HE on the drivers side, and there are definitly some clearance issues. I had to cut away part of the driver side flip up frame on the bottom so that the top hose would clear. And the hose is still only about 3mm away from the headlight! Fortuneately, The hose I used takes a 90 degree turn down, so with the material cut out of the driver flip up frame it clears, and the headlight has enough room in travel. I also had to cut away a large amout of material out of the middle brace thingy that is directly under the hood latch. So much in fact that I had to lay down a fat bead of weld to strenghthen it. Before I did this it would have snapped if I just looked at it! I guess if someone wanted to, they could just leave this piece out instead of modifying it. But I would not recommend it. I was going to make brackets to fasten the bottom of the HE, but it seemed sturdy enough, and making brackets for the bottom seemed very trickey. If you use the IC pump and lines off of a 205 like I did, you will have to modify the brackets out of the JDM car to work(there are two. A bigger one that mounts to the pump with two bolts, and a small one that mounts to the pump with one bolt). The big one has to be flipped around in order to work. So a bunch of excess metal that prevents the bracket from fitting flush will need to be cut out. And a new hole will have to be drilled to line up with the bolt holes. Before I did this I had to weld on more metal and grind it flush, one because after cutting metal away fron the bracket It was weakened. And two because where the hole needs to be drilled is too close to the edge of the bracket. and only about 1mm of metal was left. With the other smaller bracket from the 205 for the pump that I used, all I had to do with it was Knock out the plastic screw retainer on a bracket for the fenderliner ( I am guessing that it was for the fenderliner, I dont have one) and fasten this bracket there using a nut and bolt. As far as the lines, I did not route them through the same hole as the stock 165 lines. Instead I just routed them under the rad support and zip tied them into place. The lines fit well this way. Any questions? hope this helps anyone who does this in the future 
There are a few more things anyone who uses the 205 heat exchanger (also called an IC radiator) will need to know. I had to bend the bracket for the 165's power steering cooler ( I tried and I tried, but I could not make the 205's ps cooler to fit without a large amount of fabrication) so that it was closer to a right angle and further away so it ends up in front of the heat exchanger. Had to spread the lines out so the drain screw for the heat exchanger and the connector for the right fog lamp would fit in between the lines. Then I had to pull the rubber lines further out. It was pretty easy. Also, even though I was able to fit the ac condenser (ac rad) with the heat exchanger installed, I ended up having to take it out anyway. Reason being that with the 205 engine/trans installed the turbo is way too close to the radiator, and due to this, I cant fit a fan on the engine compartment side of the rad. Not even an aftermarket one... So my solution to this is gutting the ac, and running two low profile aftermarket pusher fans on the front side. Im soooo close!!! Just have to do the wiring, and figure out what to do for the hood (think I may have a 185rc vent fabbed onto my hood) and the swap is completed!
