Show me your coolant routing with Mikunis

[Matthew Abate]

I’ve been trying to figure out an elegant solution to connecting the coolant bypass tube to the thermostat water connector, and while I have some ideas, I thought I would ask to see how other people have done this.

Right now I’m thinking I might be able to find a molded coolant line that has the right question mark shape for the front to connect to the thermostat, but then has a long straight segment that can go straight into the bypass tube in the back. Ideally it would be some Nissan OEM thing so it has the braided look that the other hoses on my engine have.

I’ve also considered using fittings and braided tubing, but I’m not super into that idea.

Another option is to run a long piece of stainless tubing between the factory hoses that are already there. That would function similarly to the tube that connects the two haves of the OEM manifold for the SUs, but I’m concerned about the heat from the headers boiling the coolant if I did that.

Other considerations on my mind are…

…hanging it from the carb heat shield to keep the hose from sagging and touching the headers

…the material of the hose being melted by the headers, even if it stays up flush to the carbs

…reducing the number of connections to the fewest possible (two) to prevent leaks or ruptures

…OEM style looks

Anyway, I would love to see how others have closed the look on the coolant system when they removed the SU manifold.