When it came time to replace my radiator hoses again I decided I should look in to upgrades. I have seen Rx-7s pop hoses on the track and if it happens fast it can cause the loss of your engine. The most popular upgrade to the stock rubber hoses are silicone ones. This is a nice choice but when I saw that I could get metal ones I figured it would be even better. Additionally corrugated pipe can be bent in any direction, which was great because I was able to use a more direct path for the upper hose. Corrugated pipe should also promote cooling due to the added turbulence and the simple fact that metal is a better conductor of heat energy. It is probably a negligible amount of added cooling though.

Well you could easily argue that the $170 or so that I paid for this conversion wasn't worth the extra money but I will probably never have to change out my hoses again. It isn't hard to do so but it is no oil change either. To install this kit I bought one 36" length of pipe, which you cut to length. The ends are connected to the pipe ends with rubber couplings and adapters. The adapters are simply rubber rings that are glued to the inside of the rubber couplings to reduce the diameter to the proper size for the pipe ends. I bought 2 extra couplings for the lower hose but I did not buy extra end covers. They are only for show. The lower hose was very difficult to install due to the limited radius that the pipe can be bent. It is possible though without removing the radiator.

There are several brands that offer this sort of pipe but I picked Cool-Flex because they appeared to be the best. They offer a lifetime warranty and the pipe is copper instead of stainless steel. I have also seen the coatings on the other brands at car shows chip off very easily. The coating on this pipe, in my case blue, is very strong. They also have red, black, purple and chrome.