lets see your wild radiator hose setups! i have to go 6 inches but i might have to twist it two feet! were talking some copper plumbing parts to make it work!show me some crazy curves.
My lower hose had to go about 10 inches.Water pump outlet pointed towards the harmonic balancer.So I soldered a copper 1 3/4 90 dregree elbow pointing the same direction as the w/p.found a reinforced hose 18 inches long.It works like a charm.
My lower hose doesnt have to very far, but the bend was tight. Everything we tried didnt work, wouldnt bend enough, kink, or not long enough. Had a old 440 lower hose out of a 1975 D300 camper that had the right bend right in the middle. So bought a new hose for about $20 and cut it to about 6 inches long.
I'm guessing the purpose of this thread is to discover what other members have done to get radiator hoses to go from point "A" to point "B." I used these universal couplers from O'Rileys. First, buy a hose with about six bends in it, cut out the sweet spot, rotate cut hose lengths on coupler to fit necessary bends, and put on the clamps.
Lots of copper bends have been used over the years. I've done the cut & turn trick with a pipe and clamps too, but that can get real messy. Coupe short hoses with copper looks pretty nice. You can also get mandrel bends and cut and weld your own goofy bends, just like headers. Napa has 45* & 90* bends in 1.25 , 1.5, & 1.75 hose, they also have bushings if you have a mismatch.
I had to weld an 90* elbow onto my water pump AND weld up an S curve with some pipe to be able to run my 409 with the original '53 desoto grill. Unfortunately I can't run a mechanical fan. I'm not proud of it, but its worked for the past 700 miles.
We do what we gotta do, but I would've done anything but weld onto the water pump. That's not ever going to be a roadside repair.
At your friendly neighborhood NAPA auto parts store you can get runner hose reducer adapters ranging in 1/4" increments from 1 1/4" up through 3". I think the part numbers are something like NBH900, NB901, NBH902, etc http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?R=NBH902_0389384417 For my upper radiator hose I used 90 degree electrical sweep Bobby
I made some mock ups using toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, and fire log matches tubes, with a lot of masking tape. Then, down to the auto parts store to match up to their hoses.
i just get a welding rod bend in the direction i want and go to the local auto parts and go through there selection till i find one close enough some times i find one where i have to cut a length off with a bend in it to make it work. picked that trick up from watching the muffler guys run my exhaust
Had a belt wear through an upper radiator hose once. Went to a hardware store and bought a piece of chrome sink drain to do a temporary repair. Looked pretty cool. Was still in there when I sold the car.
go to the auto parts store and get a length of compressed flexible heater defrost hose, you can pull it to length, bend it to shape, take it to the parts store and find something that matches, it stays in shape, and after you use it, you can re-compress it and save it for next time.....
I usually make the shape I need out of some tig wire or coat hanger, and then head to the local Advance Auto. They know me there and let me have the run of the molded hose area in the back of the store. There is generally something there that I can trim and shorten to make it fit. The trick is to keep the part number written down because you will never remember what hose you used if you ever need to replace it. Don
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