I've been trying to work how to plumb my cooling and have come up with a couple of options.

The first has the header in the return from the radiator,

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and the second has the header in the feed to the radiator.

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My preference is for the second. Can anyone point out any problems that I might encounter? Any modifications are welcome too.

Thanks,
Martin.

what rad are you using mate

I have the breather from the top of the stat going to the top of the header tank and the breather from the water pump (cold water into the engine) going to the bottom of the header tank.

This gives a gravity feed of spare water into the engine inlet / water pump should any be needed and it lets the air out of the highest point (thermostat, top of engine) into the header.

Not really got time at work to study your diagram to compare, but this is how Ive plumbed my 2003 engine which as far as I know has the same plumbing inlets / outlets. This is with a Polo/Golf Rad.


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I know I said I didnt have time to look, but here's a few quick observations anyway

You don't normally want your main hoses running through the header tank, which both your diagrams appear to do.
As Smart51 mentions, you generally have a feed from the header tank into one of those hoses so it draws water from the header tank as required, rather than the header sitting in the actual flow of the main coolant runs.

[Edited on 7/2/06 by ChrisGamlin]

I think it's a polo rad, it came from AB Performance.
I'll have to see if I can find something to block off the large inlet on the header and plumb it like Chris has.

Thanks,
Martin.

If its like the one Andy (AB Performance) is selling on ebay then Im fairly certain it will be a Polo rad.

Chris
I'm using the MK rad (modified ford) any idea were the small pipe goes if like me you're running carbs, apart from that similar to blade plumbing
many thanks

Which small pipe? If its one off the top of the rad then that would generally be some kind of bleed to get air out of the top of the rad, in which case its probably best venting back into the top of your expansion tank I would think, like I have in the diagram. Likewise if its a bleed off the top of the thermostat.

Chris

[Edited on 8/2/06 by ChrisGamlin]

My radiator has a 4mm ID pipe coming out of the top. I have tapped it win an M5 tap and have put a cap head bolt in it. The bolt can be loosened or removed to bleed air out of the radiator.