Could an Exocet get away with a civic half radiator?

I was trying to free up some room on the intake side of my NA 1.6 and was wondering if a thick civic half radiator could take care of the cooling needs of it? I know that exocets cool a ton better than miata/other derivatives - since they're pretty much holes all the way down.

What say ye of the hive?

I don't have an EC (even though I'm dying to build one), what are you trying to make room for? 

No problem with turbo motors, V8s, etc, in the chassis, so what is the end goal?

Give it a shot.  When we built the Wartburg all those years ago we have the Subaru 2.2 in the back and an aluminum “racing” version of the Civic half radiator in the front.  Similar power and setup to an Exocet.  We never had any overheating issues in a few thousand miles of street driving including in the hot ass Deep South, or in a lemons race in June.  Make sure to do some ducting so that air actually goes through the radiator and not around it.  

I think the answer involves knowing how long you want it cool.  Autocross?  Sure.  Roadrace? Not likely.

If it's a naturally aspirated engine, I think you could get away with it pretty easily. Don't go for the thickest, go for the one with the highest fin density.  If the radiator reseller doesn't know, go buy from someone else.

I'm not familiar with Civic half radiator but Datsun 1200 radiators are pretty small (18" tall 15" wide thereabouts) and you can get a 3 core aluminum one off ebay for $100. They weigh 11lbs.

I use one in my car and it's making 99WHP, which is pretty close to a stock 1.6

Locost builders use the civic half radiators alot when using miata engines 

Exocets cool a lot better than Miatas.  If you're running near stock I bet it would work fine.  Turbo - not likely.

In reply to z31maniac :

Dealing with the intake side of a miata or exocet is knuckle busting/clamp breaking fun. It's terribly cramped over there, from a maintenance standpoint it's obnoxious - the slowest part of my most recent timing belt was getting the radiator removed and intake clamps undone - there's so little space up there - it drives me nuts. My exocet runs on the cool side anyways, and they shed so much heat, if I does not need a full sized radiator I'll avoid it. 

Thanks for the info!

I have run them in many a turbo car, and had no issues as long as they are bled. 

The civic aftermarkets come in 2 and 3 row versions, so be aware of that as well as fin density as keith mentioned. Also look out for ones with smaller hose fittings, as many were (seemingly) made for ef swaps with smaller diameter outlets. 

FWIW I have been running a 30$ amazon special 2-row aluminum civic halfie in my hoodless crx for 3 years, and only had heat issues once when my rad fan died with a pinhole in my oil/water cooler on a mountain pass at 9000ft, cruising at 5000rpm(yay short ratio gearboxes!). It is still going strong. 

I would expect a quality 3-row to perform flawlessly in your use case. 

Ninjaedit: Be sure to toss the cheap sketchy rad cap that comes with it after noting the style, and replace with a name-brand of your preferred pressure rating. 

If you get a 3-row, 3-pass radiator, even at half-width you'll have cooling capacity to spare.

In reply to Sonic :

This. Been running one in my EJ22 Beetle for 8 years/40k-ish miles with no issues, aside from breaking them on speed bumps because too low. I do not drive that car gently, and the radiator is not as well suited as it should be.