Tips when installing metal braided hoses

[rebel]

People,

Hopefully you'll benefit from this simple solution that was a long time coming.

In my enthusiasm for my car's (and mine) first showing at the Bella Vista show, I decided to braid the hoses. This is an expensive excercise if you pay a professional and it's not rocket science, so I decided to do it myself. Using quality braid, tons of enthusiasm, perseverence and many cut fingers later, the job was done and looked quite good.

As I expected and was prepared for, I had a few problems .....

a) Water was leaking profusely from the main water hose at the Radiator side.

Reason: I had previously installed twin thermo controlled fans and they use a thin copper tube that protrudes from the hose for temperature control - this is how each fan knows when to cut in & out.

Solution: Remove the braid lock again and place some silastic (or similar rubber sealant) ALONG the line of the thermo tube and at the end of the water hose. Replace the lock and all's well - EASY!


b) On engine startup, my temperature gauge would slowly but steadily rise to full hot position; I mean ALL the way to the right. It didn't worry me at first as I knew that since installing the twin fans, my motor did not run hot in traffic or hot days. I knew it had to be fixed though as I need gauges that can be trusted in case of real water leaks.

Reason: I was stumped for a while and because of the timing of the thermo tube leak as well, I was tricked into thinking this was the cause. I spent much frustrating time re positioning the thermo tube, re applying sealant etc to no avail. I then thought it had to be an electrical problem and started looking at the electrical system. I was on the right track but all voltages etc were fine. I left it for a while but it ate at me ..... whilst cleaning the motor one day though, I noticed the braided fuel line that runs from the front manifold side of the carburetor was touching a little gold "thing" that protruded from the manifold just above the water pump. The little gold "thing" had a black wire sticking out of it also. Some veterans may already know where I'm going and are probably laughing but .... the little gold thing is the thermosat for the motor and the braided fuel line was effectively shorting it to ground because it touched it and then the manifold. The braid being metal caused an electrical earth straight across the manifold causing heat (electrical) and that translated to my gauge.

Solution: A simple tie (chrome for better appearence) bolted to a manifold bolt holds the line to one side well away from the thermostat switch.

All's well that end's well eh ...... ? Experiential learning ....... hope this helps.

Regards,

[77CVT]

Good tip.  Ain't it fun sliding braided hose onto our crooked rad hoses!  What kit did you use?

The kit I bought only did the lower rad hose so now I gotta buy another kit.  Since I don't have heater hoses I'll have plenty of that size left over.

Cheers