I have looked in the Tech Archive and this Message Board for this info. I am mounting my radiator behind the cab of my pickup. I need to know what type of tubing can I use to get the coolant from the eng. to the radiator and back. I am thinking galvanized pipe. Bob
aluminumised exhaust tubing will work. inch and a half will do the job just fine, Stainless would be best but cost is three times what steel tubing is.
you know what that copper idea would look nice. I want to add any place where a rubber hose is clamped to what ever tubing you use. bead that tube so the hose will not slide off. We use a bead er built in the 50's to do that ...if you don't have access to a bead er weld a few little dots so the clamp can't slide off. might save you from scalding someones kid or your self.
I plan to also use a rear or trunk mounted radiator in one of my projects. I was thinking of the proper way to fill it? Mine will lay flat so it will be below the engine height. My idea was just to install a verticle tube for the cap and vent? Are you using a stock water pump or? Steve Hosting- Sunday April 11, 2010 8th annual Nostalgic Show & Go! Phoenix www.nostalgicshowandgo.org
we got a guy in the Tucson Over The Hill Gang that did it off a flatty,it was copper tube but rumor is he got something running thru the frame now
Interesting you should mentioned The Over The hill Gang. This is where I got the idea. http://www.gerlecreek.com/willys/index.htm I am running the tubs thru the frame. I like the idea to use tail pipe. I have access to a tubing bender. I am going to try using the stock water pump, may have to add an in line elect. pump. Bob
Disregaird if drag only car;Prob's happen to rear rads in street rods,best to not do it at all,but at lest if I list a few prob's,you can try and avoid them. #1. air pockits in water lines or even in motor and or rad,only real way is that top hose never goes below line from top of motor to top of rad. #2.rad not big enough for air it gets or fans not enough,or no air scoop,or air scooping up crap off road. #3 some rods haven't the space to put big enough rad in rear to cool with out looking ugly. There is other stuff too,but there is the main prob's. I've seen it tryed so many times over my many years of building cars,and see it work great for drag only cars at the track,but very very few that ever work for the street and even then poorly,that I can't fig why this rear rad idea keeps showing up. Hope that keeps ya out of over heating.
my kid ran his behind the cab of his off-road truck and always had issues with bleeding the air out ,mount a remote rad cap (summitt ,ect)at highest point and air bleeders(we used 1/4"ball valves) anywhere air might get trapped
early 60's fords had remote tanks that were small enough to conceal in a small space. this would work for filling and bleeding the system .
Pontiac tried it with the Fieros only the opposite. Rad in the front, engine in the back with tubes running under the car, 1 in each rocker panel. Nothing but trouble from day one with air pockets that couldn't be purged without alot of trouble. I worked at a Pontiac dealership in the 80s when they came out and remember service bulletins about jacking the car up so high on one end it was supposed to burp the air, drilling a hole in the thermostat, etc. It was a stupid idea and still is in my humble opinion.
Use Exhaust tubing, Have the muffler shop bend up some pipes that will fit the car and be routed so that they fit and look decent. A short piece of hose on each end just like the flatheads ran and you are in business. They should last for more years than you will want them to if you run a 50/50 mix of antifreeze. +1 on using a high mounted expansion tank and air bleeds. I think that if the radiator is installed pretty much the same height as stock it will help though. Stainless would be nice but is expensive and every time I see a lot of copper tubing on a rig all I can think is ratrod. House plumbing belongs in a house and not on a car or truck.
I´ve owned a lot of Skoda´s. Czech rearengined car. They have the radiator in front, and 1½" thinwall tubing running underneath. Worked like a charm There is at catchtank/ bleedertank higher than the engine(highest point in the system), and a bleedervalve on top of the radiator. You filled the catchtank, bleed the radiator, ran the engine until hot, and bleed it again. You can easily have the catchtank mounted at the radiator, and the bleedvalve at the engine instead. Cooling system was ok, but engineblock in cast iron with cylinder sleeves, head i aluminium. If you forgot to retighten the studs . . . you "sank" a sleeve and had to pull the crap apart:-(
Send a PM to Retroridesbyrich. He built a '29 roadster a few years ago and can give you first hand info.
How are you going to prevent air that's gone through the radiator (and now 195°) from turning the corner and getting in front of it again (you need a shroud that completely encloses either the inlet side or the exhaust side). The obvious path is "hot air rises", meaning the fan pulls from above, but it's also pulling air heated by the exhaust up into the radiator. Advantage: a shroud only covers the upper side, and since there's no engine in the way, it ends in a big hose pointing out the back so the air can't recirculate. In fact, if the shroud fits well the fan can be at the other end of the hose!
exhaust pipe will turn your water/coolant to rust fast. ive tried it with aluminized pipe and rust in about 2 weeks.
There are "automatic" air bleeders available from any HVAC supplier that are normally used in radiant heating systems. I'd consider putting one on the thermostat housing, or whatever ends up being the "high" spot in the cooling system.
In Denmark we all use anti freeze in our cooling systems, one reason is obviously winter and frost. The other is that it´s also a rust inhibitor Skoda mentioned earlier, had thinwall tubing, and was at least 20 years old
I built a 38' Willys pickup with a blown sbc which made me mount the radiator behind the header panel of the bed. For coolant transfer lines I went to a Hydraulic hose supply house/store and bought some flexible reinforced rubber industrial equipment coolant hose. They come in many diameters and are very resilient. Never had a problem over a 10 year span when I finally sold the truck.
I know this roadster has the radiator in the back, ask Jason how he did it. http://www.bearmetalkustoms.com/car...ml#../../images/cars/roadster/roadster021.jpg
Thanks all for the great advice. I am building a shroud for the radiator air intake (pic's to follow) I plan on building a shroud to get the air away from the radiator.
I cut a 12" pic of 1 1/2" galvanized pipe, sealed up both ends and filled it w/50/50 antifreeze. I plan on letting sit for a month and see what happens.
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