Had to employ some good 'ole TN ingenuity this afternoon

[Sam1]

Went out to Dickson this afternoon to pick up something, and cruising at warp speed on the interstate, the temp gauge shot up fast and I smelled coolant through the vents. Pulled over, coolant was everywhere & couldn't figure out where it came from. Let the engine cool off, drove another couple miles, stopped again and let it cool off then had enough time to get to a gas station (then to NAPA).

The plastic end cap on the radiator blew about a 1/2" hole out of it, when I was hoping for a loose hose or something simple. Long story short, I was able to patch up the hole water tight by wadding up some duck tape, melting it so it got hard, melting it on to the hole, then sealing it up with plastic epoxy. Worked so good that it never lost a drop of water on the way back, even with sitting in rush hour traffic - a 2 hour drive.

[IMG]http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/ff486/samgallagher/20121203_163348.jpg[/IMG]

This is one of those rare times when you appreciate growing up in the country and having to fix everything yourself because no one else was around.

[Tempest455]

Nice job.

I used JB weld in place you should'nt even think of using it once on an old Mopar 318. Still ran great for years after that.

[Mike.357]

got a hole in a four wheeler motor some years back. Got hit by a rock and it put a hole in it. Patched it over with JB weld. Let it set up and then ran it some more. I am not sure but I think it is still in service. That stuff is great.

[vontar]

Good work Sam,

@Mike
That is similar to a fix dad did on a Honda Fat Cat engine one. He was riding and caught a leaf spring under the motor just right, flipped him backward and when it was all over, he was fine but the motor had a nice big hole in the bottom.. They patched it with JB weld and it held for years.

[Sam1]

If only they were made from metal like they used to be! Dealing with all of these parts made from plastic now is annoying, used to be able to throw some jb weld or quicksteel on anything and patch it up, hell the patch work would last longer than the casings lol.

Bet you could pull the radiator out of a 1978 ford ltd station wagon and it would still work great, while a couple year old radiator will now disintegrate just from driving down the road.

[vontar]

Well that is because of Cost and profit, It is cheaper to make them from plastic and profit from selling replacements.

[10-Ring]

I had a relatively new radiator in my truck that had a small leak, so small that I had to pressure test it to find it. The leak was actually where the transmission cooler line went into the radiator. I put a huge glob of JB Weld around the leaky area and let it sit up good. 3 years later it is still holding great.

[strickj]

[quote name='Sam1' timestamp='1354590600' post='854618']
Bet you could pull the radiator out of a 1978 ford ltd station wagon and it would still work great, while a couple year old radiator will now disintegrate just from driving down the road.
[/quote]
[quote name='vontar' timestamp='1354590739' post='854623']
Well that is because of Cost and profit, It is cheaper to make them from plastic and profit from selling replacements.
[/quote]
It's due to efficiency and size.

Old radiators were larger and not that efficient and will not cool modern day 350s.
Plastic tanks (the ends on the radiators) are actually stronger and cool much better than metal tanks. Drawback is they are prone to crack whereas metal will last virtually forever as long as there's coolant in them and paint is on them (prevent rust).
The tubes and fins are much, much thinner today which allows space for more tubes and better cooling. That comes at the cost of quicker wear and tear of the thinner aluminum.

I put in about 6 years for the company that makes them and developed the cooling systems used in the first electric/hybrid buses.
[url="http://evworld.com/news.cfm?newsid=716"]http://evworld.com/news.cfm?newsid=716[/url]

[Guest uofmeet]

Love me some good ole redneck engineering.