Coolant leaks

[Bart]

One week after first starting my motor I am still tracking down coolant leaks, I have doubled up all the hose clamps and I am still getting coolant leaking into the spine of the chassis. I had thought it was coming from the connections at the front of the engine and tacking down into the chassis but now having double clamped them I still have coolant accumulating inside the chassis tunnel.

It’s either a leak from the fixed transfer pipes that go to the interior heater or from the radiator coolant pipes. I am going to prove this one way or another tonight by bypassing completely the interior heater cooling pipes then if the leak stops it’s the heater pipes and if it persists it's the radiator coolant pipes.

I already had to bypass the fixed pipe that goes from the swirl pot to the center of the V section of the chassis as this had a leak.

I think it’s most likely that it is a leak from the old heater fixed pipes and not the new stainless radiator coolant pipes. If this proves out then the only thing I come up with is to run new flexible hoses and not use the pipes that are fixed inside the tunnel. I cannot see how I can remove and replace the existing fixed in place ones. It looks like it will be a total PITA to deal with.

Has anyone else had this issue? Any thoughts as to the best solution?

Thanks!

Bart.

[bert knip]

You could iinstall an electric heather/cooler system, you wil have AC and can get rid of the heatherbox, pipes and blower.
Probably would reduce weight also.

[BDA]

I would keep in mind that both could be leaking. Would it be easier to block off one end of a tube and pressurize it with air to test them?

[Sandyman]

Bart, my coolant tubes were as full of holes as swiss cheese. As BDA says best to pressure test them.

[jbcollier]

Unlikely the new pipes are leaking, my money is on the heater pipes.  They tested fine on mine... until I ran hot coolant through them.  My advice would be change all the pipes when doing an overhaul.  It certainly is much easier to change them with the engine out.

[Bart]

Hi JB,

Thanks for the reply, did you replace the originals with solid pipe, I can not fathom how to get the originals out and replace with solid ones?

[jbcollier]

Twist the old pipes back and forth until the welds break.  Then you should be able to pull them out.  I had AC pipes, oil cooler pipes and a cable shifter in there so I made up the pipes in two pieces and joined them in situ.  Any pipe end has to have a bead on the end to hold the hoses from popping off under pressure.

[BDA]

r.d. enterprises sells stainless steel transfer tubes as does Europa Engineering (and probably Dave Bean). With the engine out, they will come straight out. The heater tubes will require some creativity.

JB is correct that every hose/tube junction should have a bead but I don't think Chunky used them on any of the water tubes and I've never had a problem. I think beads weren't used to make it easier to assemble/disassemble.

[Bart]

Thanks for the advice everyone, the leak is indeed from the old heater coolant transfer pipes not the new stainless radiator coolant pipes.

So now I have to try and get the old pipes out and new ones in, with the engine in situ this is not going to be fun. I'm not going to rush into this I have some time to figure a solution so I am going to think a bit and really see what I can and cannot do before making the next step, I really don't want to pull the engine out again if there is another way.

Lesson learned, should have pressure tested them before re-assembling everything. oh well live and learn.

Bart.

[BDA]

If that's the worst mistake you make, your car will turn out great!

[dakazman]

 Hi Bart , just a suggestion here.., simple flexible copper tubing will vary the pressure and can be attached to the line that’s in place . Just move the old line a little out of the way after cutting off as much as possible to clear hole in frame.
Dakazman

[BDA]

I have an early Spyder frame (basically a stock frame with enhanced access to the steering u-joint, etc. Not a tube frame). I'm pretty sure the heater tubes are copper so D'man has a good idea.

[Bart]

Got the old leaky pipes out over the weekend, using a combination of a mini sawsall and lots of wiggling the old pipes until the welds broke. When I examined the pipes they were full of perforations. I am now running the copper tubing as suggested by Dakazman.

Thanks to all for the suggestions.