Adding an outlet to a radiator
ChrisW - 9/1/12 at 12:17 AM
As subject, is this possible to do at home?
The problem I'm faced with is that, in the ZS turbo conversion, the header tank has swapped sides from where it was on the donor car so the feed
from the bottom of the tank to the radiator goes into the wrong side. Now I could run a pipe across the front of the engine bay, but that's not
very pretty and it's pretty cramped down there what with the turbo hanging off the front of the engine.
The radiator in question has plastic tanks top and bottom, so could I glue some kind of union into the tank on the other side and feed in there
instead? I'm assuming I'd find a fairly flat section of the tank, drill and tap, and then screw something like this in...
eBay Item
I'm assuming I'd need to glue it in, probably with some kind of epoxy I guess, and surround the base with plenty of glue to keep it sealed
and give it strength. I suspect the plastic end tanks are only a couple of mm thick so the screw thread isn't going to provide much strength.
What are people's opinions on the liklihood of this working? I don't want to end up with an expensive mess? 
Cheers, Chris
ashg - 9/1/12 at 12:33 AM
you can have a go but personally i think you are playing with fire. i had a radiator hose blow off once and the scalding water removed the skin from
my hand and ginge's arm/neck like a water pistol goes through a paper towel.
we both ended up with nasty burns and spent a night in hospital with several follow up appointements to have the wounds redressed over and over again.
if we hadn't of jumped straight under the hose in the garden we would have been in even more trouble
weeks later still a mess
recovery process
so if you want my opinion please just buy a new rad with the correct outlets, as i would hate to see you get hurt
ashg - 9/1/12 at 12:35 AM
btw that burn on ginges upper arm was done after the water disintegrated his thick jumper
blakep82 - 9/1/12 at 01:14 AM
would be better having a short hose out the radiator, then an aluminium T hose joiner type thing. thats how i'd do it!
well, thats how i have...
depends how much space you have though
stevebubs - 9/1/12 at 10:24 AM
I drilled and tapped a hole into the top of my Cordoba rad to enable proper bleeding. Has been fine so far.
Would suggest it would be do-able but will need some sort of plastic welding to make sure it stays put.
A small copper line across the front of the engine bay using 8mm pipe would perhaps be the better solution? Copper will be less likely to stray and
easier to fix in place than rubber...
Bluemoon - 9/1/12 at 05:07 PM
Silly idea no1, if the inlet and out let are on the same side can you not run the rad upside-down??
I would second not messing with drilling plastic end caps, needs to be good to a high pressure and high enough temperature.. many glues to fail at
high temps.
Dan
Bluemoon - 9/1/12 at 05:11 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Bluemoon
Silly idea no1, if the inlet and out let are on the same side can you not run the rad upside-down??
Dan
Arr silly ans no 1, I think you mean the air bleed hose in which case I think you may have to put up with pipe run or shell out for a custom rad, or
mess about swapping end-caps (possible but may not work)..
Thinking about it could you not put a T into the top house and run a bleed from there?
[Edited on 9/1/12 by Bluemoon]
ChrisW - 9/1/12 at 07:59 PM
Not the bleed, the feed from th expansion tank. Goes into the bottom of the rad on the nearside, but expansion tank is on the offside.
Note that this is an MG ZS, aka Rover 45, so if a pipe split the chances of water coming into the cabin are small. That doesn't stop the risk
when working on the car tho I guess.
Chris