i need a t-piece for my bottom radiator hose, ideally about 32/16/32mm, and maybe 20cm long overall. Does anyone know where i can get one custom made, as price isnt an issue at this point, or if there are any suppliers who do them similar to these dimensions? i've searched my entire list of websites to no avail...

please help anyone, i need to move the twat thing to my new house very soon!!!!!

shouldnt be hard to make one..... you can buy tubing from places like exhaust centres and big b and q stores.

cept you will have a lot o tubing left over!

atb

steve

Have you looked at the aquarium dept in your local garden centre ,they normally do loads of tee pieces, or weld one up from mild steel tubing maybe.

Joel, how come you need a T-piece in your bottom hose? What rad are you using?

Could you use a Sierra top hose piece as that has a T'piece just after the ali inlet.

HTH,

James

thats an idea james, im plumbing the expansion tank into the bottom hose (ie where the water goes back into the radiator), and using the standard top hose for the overflow. Trouble is my rad is a long way forward, and i have two flexible hoses to join in the middle with the tee piece and the expansion tank return hose.

now might be a good time to check that i have the right idea about how it all works! the sierra one returns to the radiator (hence 3 holes on the rad), im using a polo rad so there are only 2 holes.

marc n has offered to make one, so i might take him up on that! cant be arsed making one myself cos last time i tried welding and soldering copper pipes, the result was abismal. wont bother doing that one again, for sure...

Water comes out the raddiator at the bottom and into it at the top.

I used convoluted tubing first off to join mine and it cracked on the thin part that lets it flex. I've swapped it for plain tube joined with 28mm copper pipe fittings.

[Edited on 22/4/04 by Peteff]

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Originally posted by britishtrident
Water comes out the raddiator at the bottom and into it at the top.

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Originally posted by Peteff
I used convoluted tubing firs off to join min and it cracked on the thin part that lets it flex. I've swapped it for plain tube joined with 28mm copper pipe fittings.

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Originally posted by JoelP

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Originally posted by britishtrident
Water comes out the raddiator at the bottom and into it at the top.

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point taken, but does that mean mine wont work or just that i had the wrong theory?!

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My car is plumbed in like this, I used the header tank from a Rover sd1 2600 and also got the thermostat which is mounted in a brass housing, having two 32mm stubs and a 20mm side entry.I split this in half and removed the crimped in thermostat and then soldered back together.This is fitted in the bottom hose and connected to the header tank.The bleed from the fiesta thermostat housing is conected to the return pipe on the headertank .
So far only ran on drive and short trips down the road but it seems to work fine.
Paul.

The thing you have to watch for is air locks, a lot of cars now have water continuously flowing through the header tank to bleed air out the system and collect it in the header tank (Rover use this on the 200/400).
A pipe runs from the bottom header tank to the bottom hose, while another smaller pipe connects the top of the engine/top hose to the top of the header tank --- the header tank in effect is connected in parrallel to the radiator.

I used this system many years back on Imp and it works a treat.

cheers all.

Joel,

Remember you've got the small (approx 15-19mm) inlet at the top of pump.

You've also got a water outlet on the side of the c/head that comes through the inlet manifold.
These two are what I'm using for my header.

Whilst the large two (pump&thermostat) will go to the rad.

HTH,

James

I got just such a thing from Tiger. The zetec needs two 18mm pipes to connect between the bottom rad connection and the water pump. The pipe I got was 32mm about 8" long with two 18mm connections "T" in. Was well made in ali and not very ££. I cut mine in half because I needed to swivel the 18mm feeds and rejoined it with some 32mm hose. best check with Tiger that pipe sizes are the same. They know it as a zetec bottom hose pipe.

id be seriously worried about air locks.

Unless the system is designed with some kinda venting pipe from the top of the rad there is BOUND to be some air build up at some time.

If the engine loses water at any time, the pick up at the top of the rad will be the first thing to get uncovered, then all your flow stops.

Id seriously considering using a conventional flow model.

atb

steve

i thought i was steve...

surely the branch in the top hose is always above the level of water, it certainly is in the expansion tank. so how can this be where the water gets back to the engine?

JAMES! those two holes you mention, are they the ones that go to and from the heater matrix? can those be used for the expansion tank? i was just going to link them together without a matrix in it.

The polo rad has a air bleed in the top so filling the rad from the bottom hose is fine for the rad. But you will need another bleed point if the rad is not the highest point in the system. The zetec has a bleed outlet in the thermo housing which is at the top. You could always drill and tap a bleed hole if it helps when filling the system.

my top hose is the highest point in the system, so the branch in this should be ok as a bleed point, striaght back to the expansion tank. suck it and see i guess, i have nothing to lose except time, money my license and my life...