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Radiator Overflow Tank Options

B

Bohemian

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so it seems there's no such thing as a good plastic overflow tank GM or otherwise, I'm tired of throwing money away on these plastic things that don't last.

I've been looking at these stainless steel overflow tanks, but none of them are as big as the stock GM one's I've seen from a 1/2 gallon to a gallon or so.

Do you really need a giant puke tank for these old square bodies, if you have a good radiator?

Anybody use any of these stainless steel radiator puke tanks?

thanks in advance.
 
So are the aftermarket stock replacement tanks no good?
I got a replacement GM tank in 1999 and it's still good.
On my '84, it dumps out of the vent of the tank on steep climbs!!
 
sounds like some of you all are having better luck with em than i am... i'm getting about a 1-1/2 - 2 years per jug, nos gm and the ccp chinese crapola lmctruck and everyone else seems to sell.

they're all cracking on me, it must be the desert heat in nevada i guess, nothing plastic, rubber etc., lasts very many summers... death on batteries too.

i got a killer ron davis radiator, dual electric fans, never gets hot...

i'll probably just get one of these stainless universal puke tanks, it'll be one less thing to replace every couple summers. And they look pretty cool, even if i'm the only one that sees it.
 
I’m changing to a universal overflow tank this weekend. My GM tank looks like it’s weeping down the fender liner so I’m swapping to a 2L polished aluminum Amazon special.

I also want to move it off of the fender liner so I can pull them for work without having to deal with the jug. I plan to mount it on the core support.

Sorry but I’m not home, I’ll post pics tomorrow.
 
My overflow bottle is original 1977. Is on the rad core support, below air intake hose.

We shall see how it survives the AZ summer.
 
So it’s not recommended to run without a puke tank at all. Don’t matter if you have a high quality radiator or a parts store special.

Here’s why. With the radiator full cold as the system heats up the coolant expands meaning you end up having more. The cooling system capacity does not change so the extra coolant has to go somewhere. That excess coolant pushes through a valve in the cap and allows it to push into the puke tank. When the system cools after shutting off the coolant contracts and creates a slight vacuum in the system and pulls the excess coolant out of the jug.

If you run without a puke tank you’ll have that excess coolant going onto the ground. Done enough the system will get low enough the expansion occurs within the radiator and nothing pushes out the hose at all. But if you checked the system cold you’ll find the coolant level is low in the radiator.

Some kind of puke tank is definitely better than nothing at all.
 
obijuank5 said:
I'm about to toss in a gmt400 reservoir on mine.
View attachment 402159
Click to expand...

What's the deal with the fitting on the cap? Is that just a vent or is it more complex than that?

Even though I've replaced the gasket and smoothed out the sealing surface of the jug where the cap mates up on my stock tank, as well as blocking three of the four vent holes in the cap, I notice that mine still spews coolant if the rig is bounced around a fair bit. This is with the proper fill level, so it's not as if there is a bunch of coolant near the cap.

I imagine you don't need a bunch of capacity, as long as the container doesn't allow it to bounce out, and/or the rig doesn't get bounced around a bunch.
 
Is it a vent to prevent a vacuum in the tank that might prevent the rad from being able to pull coolant back?

I hadn’t considered this as the tank I bought isn’t vented. Could this be a problem?
 
It has to be vented unless the tank was able to expand and contract I suppose.

The more I think about it, while inelegant, a thin wall plastic bottle could be sealed completely as long as it was installed partially collapsed.

Anything else has to vent..otherwise coolant will never flow into it (where would the air go?). And even if filled, could never be sucked back out because the vacuum in the system won't collapse metal (what would take the place of the liquid in the container?).
 
Weird. My original is still fine. Have you looked at the universal aluminum ones on eBay?
 
I didn’t know the gmt400 tank bolted to the fender, kinda wish I’d have gone that route now.
 
nvrenuf said:
I didn’t know the gmt400 tank bolted to the fender, kinda wish I’d have gone that route now.
Click to expand...
It goes to the firewall and has this weird shaped foot on the backside. Overall simple install.
 
Ok, here’s mine - it’s a $45 Amazon special, I thought the polished aluminum would be a nice touch. What I didn’t anticipate was that the ports on it were all metric so I had to e-chase down some 14m x 1.5 fittings.

It was a bit of a pita to mount. It has a flat back and 4 bolt holes so I thought it would be easy, to my surprise there wasn’t a good spot to mount it. I ended up bolting one side to the core support and making a bracket for the other. It’s in and ready, I just need a new piece of hone and 1 fitting.

Edit: I forgot, I was trying to figure out a vent fitting when I realized the cap off of the stock tank fit - win!

0A67A84F-09DE-4A49-8E2B-7FAEDB8B94E9.jpeg

EE9E3E42-AF4F-46D4-909F-DAC5E6E9E8E6.jpeg
 
It's too late to think this through...
But isn't that kind of low? Shouldn't the overflow tank be mounted near the height of the radiator cap?
 
Blue85 said:
It's too late to think this through...
But isn't that kind of low? Shouldn't the overflow tank be mounted near the height of the radiator cap?
Click to expand...

I thought about that but I’ve seen people use whiskey bottles etc mounted low on the core support with no complaints. Since the system works on pressure & vacuum I’m thinking it should be ok. With the radiator cap needing pressure to bypass I don’t think gravity will be a problem, plus the stock jug puts the hose nipple about 1/3 of the way down the radiator height.
 
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