blue coolant hoses - napa? HELP!

dave harris · 03-16-08, 07:07 PM

I have seen a thread (either here or on FF5 cobra forum) talking about some blue coolant hoses - I think from Napa autoparts - that were a "shrink to fit" or "clampless" design. but I can't find anything in the searches.

Am I going crazy and just imagining this?

Help!

(reason I need something like this is that my main coolant tube is SST and measures just under 1.75 inches OD - all of the radiator hoses seem to measure a little over 1.75 ID and I'm apparently not able to get the hose clamps to fully seal when the engine comes up to temp / pressures in the cooling system.

Thanks for any hlep.

dave

Phil · 03-16-08, 10:33 PM

Dave:
I have a feeling those shrink clamps wont seal your system. It sounds like you need to expand the ends a bit, and a bead rolled around the end of the coolant tubes to keep the hose on.
Take a look at Mc Master/carr, they sell lengths of silicone hose which is used with a band clamp employing a built-in liner to keep the hose from extruding thru the clamp....work very well.
If you need pre-formed silicone pieces such as 45 & 90* elbows check out some of the racing catalogs...they aren't cheap though.
Also, if you know of a shop or someone who does work on ambulances and police cruisers they generally have silicone hoses on the coolant systems, and they may be able to steer you in the right direction.
Stainless tubing is generally slippery as hell, and unless it has a bead on the ends the hoses can simply push off under pressure.
Cheers
Phil

Mike Drew · 03-17-08, 12:56 AM

Silicone hoses are advantageous because they are light, but they are also relatively fragile; you have to use special (expensive) hose clamps as conventional clamps will compromise the hoses.

For that reason (and also because they are extremely expensive), I use high-quality rubber hose exclusively. It sounds like your problem is that your hard pipe is slightly undersized relative to the hose that you have. You can probably special-order hose that is slightly smaller, but perhaps a better solution is to expand the pipe somewhat.

Harbor Freight sells tailpipe expanders, which do a terrific job at this. I recently helped design a completely custom cooling pipe system for a Pantera that used a modern Mercedes remote thermostat bypass arrangement (unnecessary complexity in my view, but the owner really wanted it). This called for a mix of metric and standard size pipes, which was somewhat problematic when it came to hose selection.

I was able to spend an hour or so in my neighborhood NAPA finding various hoses with the proper bends, including tapered hoses that were larger at one end than at the other. But the final solution for a perfect fit was to expand a few of the pipes so that the hoses were a tight fit.

Here's a direct link to the expander tools, which come in three sizes:

Harbor Freight Tools

Cheers!

Howard Jones · 03-17-08, 04:12 PM

Go with the tubing beader. Holley Performance Products EZ-Beader Tubing*015ERL Save youself all of the hassel of trying to figure out another way, all of whitch won't work. These are one of those tools that really are one of the only way to do it types.

Eric Johnson · 03-17-08, 05:03 PM

Howard,

Will the beader work on stainless steel piping as well as aluminum.My GTD has the same problem.I believe my coolant pipe is SS.

Thanks!

Kalun D · 03-17-08, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveharris

talking about some blue coolant hoses - I think from Napa autoparts - that were a "shrink to fit" or "clampless" design.

the only clampless hoses use an AN type fitting that has a one time press on hose. (you have to cut it off) I don't think this would work for your application. It has a barbed fitting that goes into the hose then the other end has a flared fitting that screws onto another flared fitting.

Howard Jones · 03-17-08, 10:20 PM

Eric, Good question. Here's Earls tech support line 1-310-609-1602 8AM-5PM PST. You can also e-mail them from Holleys webpage.

Holley Performance Products

By the way the 1 3/4" one is about $35.00 at Summit Racing

dave harris · 03-18-08, 11:09 AM

Thanks for the inputs everyone.

I will try some and let you know what works - this problem and then a basic alignment is all that's keeping the car from it's first tentative excursion in "go kart" form!

Dave

Richard · 03-18-08, 02:36 PM

I think Lynn Miner used heat shrink "clamps" on his rad hoses at the engine. Looks great and seems to work well.

andys · 03-19-08, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Howard Jones

Go with the tubing beader. Holley Performance Products EZ-Beader Tubing*015ERL Save youself all of the hassel of trying to figure out another way, all of whitch won't work. These are one of those tools that really are one of the only way to do it types.

I fabricated a crude beading tool and used it on 1 1/4" diameter stainless steel tubing. After making 20 or so coolant pipe beads, the rollers started to show signs of wear suggesting they be made of a heat treatable steel. An alternative would be to use a heavy walled short length of stainless steel tube (or aluminum if that's what you're system is made of) and machine a barb/bead and weld it in place.

Andy

Eric Johnson · 03-19-08, 05:23 PM

Earls says that the beader probably wouldn't work to well on SS hardline as the bead would not be defined well enough to maintain a good seal.He said a "gnurler" might work however. What is a gnurler?!

Eric Johnson · 03-28-08, 12:10 PM

Update:

I fired up the Gt40 ,waited till it came up to temperature, THEN tightened my clamps securing the rubber hoses. Wolah,no leakage problems since...

MReid · 03-28-08, 01:36 PM

The Earl's beader doesn't work at all on stainless. The better solution is to weld a bead around the tube 1/2" in from the ends. As an alternative, you can drill four holes 90 degrees to each other and 1/2" and screw in four round head ss sheet metal screws #8-3/8" works well. Insert the tube in the rubber hose and ensure the clamp is past the screw heads. It will not come off.

Big-Foot · 03-28-08, 03:22 PM

I know it doesn't sound elegant but it works very well.

Drill 8 #30 (1/8") holes around the circumference of the tube.

Mix up a batch of JB Weld Epoxy

Dip a 1/8" Rivet in the epoxy and pop it in place. Repeat 7x.

No leaks - no slipping hose - no one knows but you...

dave harris · 03-29-08, 12:56 AM

Thanks for the suggestions everyone - - -

after all of this, it turns out not to have been the main water lines (sst 1 3/4 or 1 1/2) but the G*! D%$n copper heater lines I had built. with all of the water, ac, brake, clutch, & fire system lines in the tunnel, I could not see where the water was coming from, just (apparently) where it was SPRAYING TO!

So, it was a copper joint that I had missed a spot when sweated together. crap, crap, crap...

bad joint is now removed, all should be going back together this weekend.

Thanks again.

Dave

(ps, the sst tubing has sst rivits at 90 deg.).