radiator plumbing help

[joedirt37]

Im moving my radiator to the rear of my truck,behind the cab,no room left in the front,moved cab back,I want to know what works best for plumbing the coolant hoses,i'll use regular hose off the block,and radiator,but what works best between the two,to run full length along the frame rails,and someone said the top of the radiator had to be higher than the highest point of the engine,is this true,thanks

 

[Monster512]

yea needs to be higher than engine. I used ehaust pipe, had it bent to follow frame rails when I moved radiator in my old mud bog truck. worked fine

 

[ryoken]

just as a side note here guys.... as every one is saying, radiator should be above the motor to avoid air pockets...

HOWEVER, this not a set in stone tech, there are ways around it...

boats commonly have this issue... Crusader XL's for one... the way to alleviate the issue is to have a pipe plug in the top of the therm housing... pull the plug, burp/bleed the air, plug... a petcock works too...

I would think a nice exhaust pipe, either aluminized or even stainless, would do a fine job for plumbing...

 

[Big Blzn]

just as a side note here guys.... as every one is saying, radiator should be above the motor to avoid air pockets...

HOWEVER, this not a set in stone tech, there are ways around it...

boats commonly have this issue... Crusader XL's for one... the way to alleviate the issue is to have a pipe plug in the top of the therm housing... pull the plug, burp/bleed the air, plug... a petcock works too...

I would think a nice exhaust pipe, either aluminized or even stainless, would do a fine job for plumbing...

Ryoken: Are you sayiing radiator in a boat as in a "heat exchanger" or whatever they use to keep the saltwater and coolant water seperate??? Also, I have heard the term and seen the term aluminized a lot lately, mostly refering to mufflers; what is aluminized sheetmetal or steel. Sorry for the small hijack.

Wouldn't aluminum tubing be best for the pipe to run the lenght of the cab due to better heat dissipation (sp)?
Hoby

 

[ryoken]

yup, alot of efi marine packages run lower heat exchangers than the old carb applications.. notorious for getting airbound..

another option is a waterneck fill.. like this..

as for pipe, I'm sure there's quite a few good choices.. durability, heat transfer, etc... I'm thinking aluminized pipe is similar in process to how they galvanize metal.. basically they dip it...

 

[joedirt37]

thanks for the feedback,i'll find some aluminum tubing,you think regular hose clamps will hold the hose to the tubing though,

 

[Monster512]

I slid hose on about 12 inches and double clamped it, never had any issues with it leaking, be sure to clean whatever pipe up real good to get metal shavings out of it before installing.

 

[joedirt37]

i called today and exhaust pipe seems to be the cheapest,just gotta finish up my cage,mount the radiator and cooler,then plumb it,then work on my transmission,thanks for all the help ,

 

[cybrfire]

I used aluminum tubing on the blazer. Works good. Hard to bend without cracking.

On the crewcab I have a very long long long, waterneck. Tubing is steel. Works fine. Support bracketry will be easier to weld to it if need be in most cases.

 

[UPS]

I used aluminum tubing on the blazer. Works good. Hard to bend without cracking.

On the crewcab I have a very long long long, waterneck. Tubing is steel. Works fine. Support bracketry will be easier to weld to it if need be in most cases.

Do you have pictures of both?

Thanks

 

[joedirt37]

Do you have pictures of both?

Thanks

sorry no pictures,theyre both in my garage,still bolted together,everything is there,vever had any problems with either of them,were set on a auto now