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Hope this works! If anyone else has done this mod let me know how it did. After reading a few threads about how fragile the plastic lines running between the throttle heating plate/reservoir and the radiator/reservoir are I decided to use metal. I went down to my local NAPA and asked about the different 5/16" lines they offered. Steel, aluminum and copper. I went with the steel mostly because of cost (this is an experiment). I had to buy a 25' roll which worked out since I made a few mistakes along the way. I needed a couple feet of 5/16" heater hose, 3 inches of 3/8" heater hose. The heater plate outlet is .360", just under 3/8" and seemed to be too tight for the 5/16" hose so I flared the end of the steel tubing and put sealant on that connection. I also put about 8" of heater plate hose around the oil filler for strain relief . Don't use fuel line, the coolant attacks it. The line that runs between the radiator and reservoir was pretty straight forward. I spent a lot of extra time on all the bends to make sure I did not put strain on the plastic parts.
I had this mod on my 03 D2 and used Aluminum 5/16 tubing and 5/16 line (pretty sure it was Gates and said fuel injection hose, but it never corroded or cracked in 2 years of TX heat). Worked great, but I did have someone bend a line once and pinch it. I had to just replace that one section of tubing.
I've also had great luck with just running 5/16 hose all the way from the radiator (drilled holes and supported hose with zip ties onto the front core support) to the jug, and from the jug over to the intake manifold. Being just hose it's more flexible and I haven't pinched a line or had one burst yet.
Yep. I ran that a year or so, got a couple lengths of fuel line, pipe benders and ran it. One day I decided I wanted things looking original again so I just got the replacement hoses. Probably take another 10 years to brittle up so I'm good with new rubber hoses.
That's pretty cool. I wonder about corrosion though, not for you in LA, but if some of the northern guys attempt the same thing. I wonder if copper/nickel tubing, like for brake lines, would come in that size too?
That's pretty cool. I wonder about corrosion though, not for you in LA, but if some of the northern guys attempt the same thing. I wonder if copper/nickel tubing, like for brake lines, would come in that size too?
05-15-2016 | 11:29 AM
replacing plastic coolant lines with steel
