How to fabricate radiator hoses?

I keep as many radiator hoses as i find..from junked cars, and from junk yards.
So far I have not had to buy any..I just find what fits and what hose has the right bends, and even if the "right" set up is in the middle of one of the hoses i have, I just cut to make it work.

If i get an on the road hose emergency I know what hoses i used to make the ones i have, so I just buy that hose and repeat what i did with it, and Im back up and running

 

Used copper plumbing fittings with a short piece of hose on each end.

 

I did mine like Drj by bending up a coat hanger and taking it to the parts store. Found one that was very close and just cut off each end to make it work for the upper. A multi-directional inlet on the intake also helps get the angle perfect.
My lower was ahuge issue, as the radiator outlet is about 3" from the water pump outlet and needed to turn 90 degrees too! Not hard to find a hose with 90degree shape, but it was a bugger to install.

 

Wanted a formed one piece upper radiator hose for a custom fit
took a welding rod formed it to clear everything
did the same on a lower hose and a formed heater hoses on a newer car

went to the parts store got a close matched cut off the excess
two clamps no leaks

 

I found a piece of exhaust tubing,bent it slightly and used rubber ends to mount to the radiator. I did the same thing for the bottom hose. Took both of them in tobe powder coated.I used new pipe and just bought a hunk of straight raditor hose the right diameter. A word of caution about flexible -ribbed- radiator hose. Spent a period of time working in a radiator shop and there isn't much of anyting harder on a radiator than a ribbed hose be it top or bottom. They just shake the plates in the radiator to bits making the soldier in the radiator come apart. I'd use them only in an emergency.

 

Here is a photo of my lower hose. Two different sized openings, a bend and a twist all within a few inches.

 

I think you are going to have a problem with this set up you have here. The connection joint between the tube and the engine and the tube and the radiator have no place to transfer the motion of the engine and vibration. You need to be sure that motion is not sent to the neck of the radiator or it will metal fatigue it and cause it to fail. You can correct the problem by lengthening one of the connection couplings so as to absorb the vibrations, even on a solid mounted engine. Looks nice, just thought I would forward the lesson I have learned the hard way.

 

I appreciate the words of caution but as I indicated in a subsequent post..."As in the photo I posted, I am using short lengths of regular hose to bridge the gaps and then using the bands to clamp them in place. When complete there will be approximately 1 inch of hose exposed between the clamps/bands"...the rubber hose I am using will flex with the engine torque and vibration, the clamps are just that...clamps. If I need to adjust the setup to provide more range of motion then that can be easily done. I have also used some industrial grade shock isolators on the radiator that will allow more range of motion than on stock mounting setups. Thanks again for the heads up, always good to hear from "voices of experience".

 

so after about ten minutes looking at some old hoses and cutting and mating them up I think I have it whipped...that was suprisingly easy, think I will use the splices and shrink clamps and see if they work and if so take them to the parts house and try and match them up to some stock hoses for backup/replacements...

Next dilema...the radiator is a '69 mustang which originally mounted with bolts through brackets on the side, those brackets had to be cut off so it would fit the grille shell. I built a crossmember with two rubber cushions on the bottom and two cushions on a removable crossmember on the top...the cushions are the stock type found on side tank radiators but they are old junkyard pieces and dont fit that well...any ideas on making your own? Do the parts houses have these listed in a book with the dimensions listed??
I guess now that I have the hoses figured out I would curious to see how you guys have handled radiator mounts?? thanks-

 

Seems that the radiator mounting, should allow the supporting metal "uprights" (for lack of a better term) to flex with the torsion of the car frame, yet not try to parallel-o-gram stress the radiator itself. If using a shock mount style of thru bolt & rubber bushing, I'd look into placing the bushing's bolt axis at 90* to the parallel-o-gram's "frame". IE the bolts point forward into the rad shell, on the same axis as the headlight beams. Best to get some tips from looking at '60's stock OEM mount scenarios.
As mentioned by several here, I used (2) 90* 1-1/2 brass els, and silver-soldered a short CU pipe sleeve to join them once the correct alignment was determined. Then straight rubber hose sections to join and isolate the outlets.

 

Here is a whole different animal.

I took this picture yesterday for a kid that wants to buy a stock Model A radiator off of me but has a flathead V8 engine, 59ab. This is what I did so I didn't have to change the radiator necks. Same premise...

I'll direct him here for photos... thanks.

 

x2

Took my bent coat hangers down to NAPA where they let me look through their stock, in a few minutes I found two that that matched in size and shape, worked perfectly after I trimmed a little off the ends, recorded the numbers in the manual I made for the vehicle for future reference. IMO flexible hoses look terrible.

 

Used some pieces of old hose, some with bends, cut and duct taped together to make up a hose that fit. Then took my taped together upper and lower pattern hoses to an older auto store that has dozens of hoses hanging on the wall. There’s at least two shops like that near me still today. It’s not O’Reilly or Auto Zone. Then I just looked till I found a perfect match for my fabbed up hoses. Some of the hoses are universal and are marked with cut off lines for different applications. See my photo with ‘A’ ‘B’ and ‘D’ cut off lines. I originally left the part number labels on the hoses, but later took them off – but saved them in my build notebook.

I don’t like flex or metal lines, but that’s just me.

 

I have done the metal tubing with rubber hose connectors for years. First did it at Boyd's about 20+ years ago. It is fine for cars that don't get driven too much, but for drivers it can be a problem. Even with over an inch of rubber between the end of the metal hose and the radiator connection, I have had two radiators crack at the necks over time. There isn't as much flex in that little bit of hose as you might think. This is worse on early cars where the radiator floats on the spring mounts and the frames flex a bit etc. compared to later model cars. Just had Jimmy White weld up the neck on an Aluminum radiator a few weeks ago due to this. You need more than an inch at at each end if you expect it to live in the real world in my experience.

As for the flex hoses, I hated the rubber ones in the sixties and still do. As for the metal ones like coolflex it looks like someone stole them from the plumbing dept or from under the sink.

 

I had a Ford radiator and SBC engine, the lower hose was pieced together with a 90-degree PVC elbow. It worked for many years but I hated how it looked. At the first sign of a radiator leak I had it rodded out, resealed, and had the lower relocated, all for $80. So now I have a single short hose like it's supposed to have. I use flex hoses upper & lower cause they are cheap and can be found anywhere.

 

I usually cut sections of old hoses and use super glue to hold them together to make a pattern. If you use the spray accelerator for the glue it bonds instantly and quite strong to rubber, also use it for fan belts, just cut a scrap one to length glue the ends together easier than trying to measure around the pulleys, It will also patch inner tubes for your kids bikes and go-carts.

 

I'm having a problem finding hoses---my engine outlets are 1 3/4 and the radiator is 1 1/4 . hate to do it but thinking about one of them flexable stainless set-ups at least they make them in black now instead of all shiney. They come with the end adaptors--wonder if I could spray it with this stuff---would look like rubber---says its good to 200 degrees??
<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2">Plasti Dip Multi-Purpose Rubber Coating 11203-6

FAST Shipping - 90 Day Return Policy - HUGE Selection




</td></tr><tr><td class="ipics-cell"><form name="ssFrm" action="http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=390286929554" target="ssFrmWin" method="post"><input name="ssr" value="1" type="hidden"><input name="iurls" value="0#http://i.ebayimg.com/11#!B-HfsZQBWk~$(KGrHqJ,!j!EzN(VVF1TBM7vPG80P!~~0_1.JPG#!B-HfsZQBWk~$(KGrHqJ,!j!EzN(VVF1TBM7vPG80P!~~0_12.JPG" type="hidden"><input name="dtid" value="0" type="hidden"><input name="vs" value="1" type="hidden"><input name="sh" value="1" type="hidden"><input name="title" value="Plasti Dip Multi-Purpose Rubber Coating 11203-6" type="hidden"></form><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="vs_w-a"><center></center>
Please wait
Image not available

• Enlarge

</td></tr></tbody></table>


</td><td class="isumv1_5-cell"><form name="v4-23" id="v4-23" method="post" class="vi-is1-s4" action=""><table class="vi-is1" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td colspan="4" height="10">
</td></tr><tr><th class="vi-is1-lbl">Item condition:</th><td colspan="3" class="vi-is1-clr">New</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4" height="10">
</td></tr><tr><th class="vi-is1-lbl">Time left:</th><td colspan="3" class="vi-is1-clr">22d 14h (Mar 08, 201103:21:29 PST)</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4" class="vi-is1-bdr">
</td></tr><tr><th class="vi-is1-lblp vi-is1-solidBg"><label for="v4-24">Quantity:</label></th><td colspan="3" class="vi-is1-solid">
<input size="4" value="1" name="v4-24" id="v4-24" class="vi-is1-mqtyTb" type="text">4 available

Please enter a quantity of $quantity$ or less
Please enter a quantity of 1Purchases are limited to $quantity$ per buyer
Please enter a quantity of $quantity$ or less
Please enter a lower number
Please enter quantity of 1 or more

</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4" class="vi-is1-solid" height="10">
</td></tr><tr><th class="vi-is1-lblp vi-is1-solidBg">Price:</th><td class="vi-is1-solid vi-is1-tbll">US $6.95</td><td colspan="2" class="vi-is1-solid vi-is1-tblb">Buy It NowBuy It NowBuy It Now</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4" class="vi-is1-solid" height="10">
</td></tr><tr id="watchItemMiddleRow"><td class="vi-is1-solid">
</td><td id="watchLabelDiv" class="vi-is1-solid">
</td><td colspan="2" class="vi-is1-solid vi-is1-tblb">Add to Watch list
Start of panel

• Add to Watch list
• Add to Gift Ideas
• Add to Research
• Add to Wish List

Add to a new list
End of panel



</td></tr><tr id=""><td class="vi-is1-solid">
</td><td colspan="3" class="vi-is1-solid">
</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4" class="vi-is1-bdr">
</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4" height="10">
</td></tr><tr><th class="vi-is1-lbl">Returns:</th><td colspan="3" class="vi-is1-clr"><table id="miyId" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="vi-rpd-miyContent">30 day money back | Read return policy details</td></tr></tbody></table>
</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4" height="10">
</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4" height="10">
</td></tr><tr><th class="vi-is1-lbl">Shipping:</th><td colspan="3" class="vi-is1-clr">$4.95 Standard ShippingSee more services <input id="chngLocPnlJSId" value="17chngLoc" type="hidden"><wbr>See shipping discounts | See all shipping detailsEstimated delivery within 2-6 business days.



</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4" height="10">
</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">
eBay will cover your purchase price plus original shipping.Learn more about eBay Buyer Protection - opens in a new window or tab



</td></tr></tbody></table>
</form></td></tr></tbody></table>

 

Great thread!