Aluminum Coolant Swirl pot

I got a chance to test one of the new King6Fab swirl pots along with his 3D Designed bracket. Out of the designs he sent, I went with the V2HighBracket. At first glance this was what I was looking for. After different version and tries, the V2Rev4 was a perfect fit for my setup.

The King6Fab 1st design Aluminum Swirl Pot. "It is a quality replacement to the plastic OEM swirl pot, Utilizing the same size hoses that the OEM swirl pot uses". https://www.king6fab.com/

The rear mounting bracket (main mount)

The 3D Print Stats

3D Printer = Prusa MINI +

Filament = PolyLite(brand) ASA 1.75mm

Fill Density = 25

slicer settings = Prusa ABS default detailed settings with support on build and enabled brim

The front mounting bracket cover(glow in the dark)

The 3D Print Stats

3D Printer = Prusa Mk3 & Prusa mini

Filament = PLA 1.75mm

Fill Density = 50

slicer settings = Prusa PLA custom settings with support on build and enabled brim

I printed the green glow in the dark on the Prusa mini.

The glow in the dark blue was printed on the Prusa Mk3

I found some m6 hex socket fasteners and I taped out the plastic to a perfect fit. They fit nice and snug in the mount.

Temperature Threshold modification for PLA only

For the PLA plastic I took extra precaution and used some heat barrier between the plastic and swirl pot. The white glow in the dark PLA plastic has a lower temperature rating threshold(melting point/breakdown) than the ASA black plastic. I did not use it on the black ASA.

Mounts to the OE radiator shroud with ease

I used the OE mounting bolts to secure the bracket.

Longer top hose "from radiator to swirl pot"

After cutting a cut-to-fit hose, the hose is about 8mm longer than the OE in total length(4mm to swirl pot + 4mm to radiator)

Why: The OE hose was screeched so tight it was causing the mount to pull to one side. You can put the hose at the very end of each fitting were it is barely hanging on but I wanted a cleaner look. Note: I did cut the hose a little to short to get the perfect 90 degree angle.

Matching my billet aluminum theme

My setup vs. stock; the OE fans have been replace and the shroud was also cut down to allow room for my intake/supercharger plumbing. Due to the previous test fits and tryout of previous versions of the swirl pot bracket, I had modified my original radiator shroud mount even more. With my understanding, King6Fab is making a direct OE factory replacement with little to no modifications needed for the install

My OE swirl pot F.A.I.L. story

Swirl Pots have been a known FAIL issue for the KL series coolant system. My swirl pot FAIL has been the biggest and most embarrassing experience on my Mx6 career.

Durring one of the largest car meet in Knoxville TN, my Swirl pot ripped apart as I was parking the car. It resulted in a big cloud of steam and a coolant leak trail for everyone to walk through.

As it happened one of my friends shouted out, "looks like you blew the welds on the intake"

Luckily a ran into the KL Crew that day and Jim gave me a loaner swirl pot later that afternoon to get me by. Later on that week I purchased one of the last few swirl pots that Mazda of Knoxville dealership could order me. I can't get the idea out of my head how the OE swirl pot is a ticking time bomb waiting to fail again.

Below are notes from the Test and F.A.I.L. for the first 3 attempts

The biggest problems that I have encountered so far is the swirl pot does not clear the bottom radiator shroud and radiator fan mount(for the low mount design only). If you extend it out 5mm or more it doesn't look good and starts leaning downward. Also the extension is going to make you have to replace the upper hose to it with a longer cut to fit 90 degrees hose.

1st design

From the first design I think you can move swirl pot holder up 3 mm. The fitment of the pot was much better when it was higher.

1st design

From the 1st design you can see i have mounted it in the highest position and I am holding the swirl pot has high as it will go. It does clear the cooling fan mount for the most part.

3rd design

From your second design you match the bolt holes up perfectly. The lower and upper mounts were perfect.

From a combination of the 2nd and 3rd, cutting out the extra support underneath the mounts clears the radiator shroud for the most part.

From the 3rd attempt Extending the swirl pot out 5 mm was a mistake.

The 2nd and 3rd design hold the swirl pot sits way to low unlike your 1st design.

The test and start of the King6Fab Swirl Pot

Switched out the bracket.

My current swirl pot is mounted on radiator shroud which has been modified to function as just a mounting location for the swirl pot.

swirl pot comparisons

For the width of the brackets match up great.

For the height, the top bracket is in a good location, but the bottom bracket is about 20mm to far down.

With it bolted down, the top overhangs just by 2mm but looks ok.

The lower bracket on the swirl pot lays on top of the edge of the radiator shroud's curve

I could easily cut down the radiator shroud curved edge so the swirl pot bracket lays flush. Or I could cut off below the black marked line of the swirl pot lower bracket edge