are stainless steel coolant pipe's safe?

[rick]

Hi, I am going to replace my coolant pipe's that run trough the backbone(in my europa) and want to use stainless steel instead of aluminium, the question is does stainless steel cooling lines promote dissimilar corrosion in the aluminium head? and how will the coolant fluid react on the stainless steel (reason for asking is that on the waterinjection kit I can't use an aluminium bottle because it will be eaten away by the water/meth mix)
thanks, rick

 

[Jack]

Should be fine, the SS will be isolated from the ally by hoses.

 

[Cliff Beer]

Should be fine. SS is good for coolant pipes. Incidental benefit is that it transfers less heat through the wall into the surrounding area than does aluminum (less heat in the cabin when running pipes through a center tunnel).

 

[rick]

thanks for the information, I am allready heat shielding the inside of the tunnel for extra cooling so adding the stainless tube's is a nice benefit!

 

[BruceA]

My Ferrari has long rubber pipes for the cooling from the engine to the radiator in the front. They pass through the central tunnel, and there is very little heat radiatored from them.

 

[marc]

If that is in the tunnel and the chassis is aluminum you will want to sleeve the SS. you can corrode either with the mixed metal contact. I used some DEI shroud for my application (P4 replica)

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

We wrapped the coolant tubes, which are SS, in fiberglass exhaust system wrap, and once that was in place, used large heatshrink tubing to hold it (McMaster-Carr). We think that will take care of it. Also, the inside of the tunnel is primed and painted. And the coolant tubes are held in place with heavy foam blocks so that they won't bang around in there. We think that ought to do it. With SS tubes, more heat stays in the tube and doesn't radiate to the tunnel; with aluminum tubes, the tunnel will get hotter.

I thought about ventilating the tunnel as well. I will do that, later, if I have to.

 

[David]

And the coolant tubes are held in place with heavy foam blocks so that they won't bang around in there.

What foam did you use? I was having a think about this today and the ideal would be something firm enough that I could cut the holes through yet soft enough to not wear the pipes and obviously not going to melt or soften with the heat.

It would also be a bonus to seal the engine bay to prevent any hot air or fumes entering the cabin (obviously radiated heat from the pipes will have to be dealt with by insulation).