I'm sticking a Summit aluminum rad in my SII (Ford crossflow application) and I was wondering if anyone knows of a source for custom radiator hoses. The necks on the rad are much smaller than those on the engine, so I need to "neck down" the hoses and don't just want to use hose that's too wide and stick another "sleeve" inside it. For the upper I could just use generic flexall hose but in order to neck down the lower hose AND keep it out of the power steering belt I think I need to get something made.
Sources? Or might there be some application that works?

Darel

Originally posted by Darel
I'm sticking a Summit aluminum rad in my SII (Ford crossflow application) and I was wondering if anyone knows of a source for custom radiator hoses. The necks on the rad are much smaller than those on the engine, so I need to "neck down" the hoses and don't just want to use hose that's too wide and stick another "sleeve" inside it. For the upper I could just use generic flexall hose but in order to neck down the lower hose AND keep it out of the power steering belt I think I need to get something made.
Sources? Or might there be some application that works?

Darel

If the locations of the radiator fittings are in the same general locations as the stock radiator has 'em, how about using stock hoses, and welding a reducer/expander to the radiator fitting?

The exhaust tubing bits and pieces at the parts store might be a good start.

Roll a lip, or weld a bead around the end of the tubing to put a lip on it and make sure the hose will stay clamped.

Can't weld aluminum, at least not for a reasonable cost.

You could use a reduction sleeve like I use or go to a muffler shop and have a metal reducer made and bent if need be for making the connections. If your worried about it rusting out have two made andcarry an extra. Lots of street rodders do this and have the piece chromed. It does work for a long time.

Originally posted by Darel
Can't weld aluminum, at least not for a reasonable cost.

No one in the club welds aluminum? or on base? How about your favorite radiator repair guy?

With a traditional radiator, they can cut off the necks and graft 'em onto a different set of tanks. I had a Diesel Suburban radiator with SII necks welded on..

How about threading 'em together? :D

Advantage at the end of it all would be stock off the shelf replacement hoses for a SII.

Jerry's radiator does good work. If you can get a machine I would be glad to come down and weld it for you. It would also give me a chance to see what other goodies you have laying around

Originally posted by HarleyM
Jerry's radiator does good work. If you can get a machine I would be glad to come down and weld it for you. It would also give me a chance to see what other goodies you have laying around


FWIW, I have a Hobart Handler 120 MIG (110V) with the aluminum kit (teflon liner).

I only have CO2, and no aluminum wire... never have had a need to use it., but if you guys want to give it a whirl..

Id think that ten minutes perusing a radiator hose book would find a hose with dimensions needed.

I can't say if it would work in your particular app or not, but my uncle and I went to 4 different auto parts stores and looked at every radiator hose they had looking for something for his 40 ford sedan. Anyway, "they" make flex hoses that have 90 deg elbows at the end (we only saw them with one elbow, but who knows) and ones that had different ID's on either end and hoses that had both. Also, the upper hoses on the same vehicle are actually chromed steel tubing with short pieces of what I think is fuel hose connecting the ends to the block/radiator. Maybe you could have something bent to fit.

I thought about going with steel tubing and rubber couplings. After sitting in Champion poring over Flex-Hose books (thank you, John Tabor, Master of the Obvious) the problem I have is the disparity between sizes of inlets. For example, on the upper hose I need 2 1/4" hose on the engine but only 1 1/2" on the radiator. There are plenty of neck-down hoses but none that I found that neck down that much.
The fun part is going to be the lower - the outlet points right at the power steering belt.
So, I think if I bend and expand some steel tubing with rubber couplings I can make it work somewhat painlessly.
Darel

Originally posted by John Tabor
Id think that ten minutes perusing a radiator hose book would find a hose with dimensions needed.
There ya go again!:flipoff2: :flipoff2: :flipoff2:

darel, like nwmud said, I've made several "custom" hoses using exhaust pipe with elbows and reducers. Had a couple chromed. Even made a few outta stainless when the owner was worried about rust.

I just remembered- I got the pre bent stainless pieces from a dairy farm supply company - either DeLaval or Surge.

With a tip of the hat to Tom M. for the concept of hitting up a plumbing outfit for the requisite pipe bits. What about tweeking the in and out of the block instead of the radiator? Cast iron takes to brazing pretty well and iffen yer good, welds "ok". Then its a matter of finding 1.5" hose that fits, probably Ford or chebbie stuff...

D.

Well, I looked at that too (I would think there is some other water neck that would at least bolt on the upper, anyway), but after all was said and done, I'm just going to have Jerry's weld in some new necks and hopefully I can run stock SII hoses. After sitting down with the parts book and saying, "OK, I can piece these two hoses together, and if I get a sleeve made..." it will just be much cheaper and easier to go that route. Even if the neck dimensions are off I should only have to use one hose going neck-to-neck, no sleeving or splicing, so less chance of leaks.

The thing that really kills me is the aluminum rad is over 1" thicker than stock, so my dual electric fan won't even come close to fitting. I bid on a 3.8 Taurus fan on eBay, that looks a little smaller and hopefully I can get it in. I only have 3" between the WP snout and the rad to work with, so at least with the Taurus fan I might be able to use it as a pusher if nothing else. The other fan I had wouldn't even fit behind the grille.

Thanks guys!
D

Have you looked at the IH straight neck?
http://www.mo-4xtoys.com/torc/Engine/P0001835sm.jpg
http://www.mo-4xtoys.com/torc/Engine/P0001834sm.jpg

Other points of interest.... the Ford 3.8L fan is about a 4.25 to 4.5 inches thick at it's thickest point. I have an SII and could not get it to clear the WP just by dropping it in and trying to attach it to the stock SII radiator.

The 3.8L will not work worth a shit as a pusher. It is designed as a puller. In order to make it a pusher, you'd have to get it run the other direction (easy enough for a DC motor.... reverse the polarity) but the problem lies in the fan blade design. If you look at the profile of one of those S shaped blades you'll see that it's an airfoil. By spinning it backwards, you'd only move a fraction of the air it's designed to. You'd have to also turn the blade over on it's shaft to reverse the airfoil, but the 3.8L fan blade can't be turned over due to the way it's made. If you're going to use a pusher fan, then you need to go get one made for that purpose.