Rear radiator

[harry kew]

I just finished pulling the rear rad to give it a good cleaning

Separated shroud and the air to air cooler from the main rad
 
Anyone know what type of sealer they used to seal the shroud to the rad and around the gaps
around the air to air inlet and out let?

It looks like black rubber, it's very strong and it actually holds and seals the shroud to the rad other than 4 L shaped brackets

I took a sample around to a different places trying to find some but nobody could come up with anything, it's a lot stronger than silicon and would have to with stand heat.

Thanks Harry

1999 Patriot 40'  Cat 3126

[Keith Moffett]

There is a black high temp. silicone that fits that description.  It is available at most shops that retail and or install wood stoves or pellet stoves.

Keith

[harry kew]

I got the rad cleaned and back in

I all so made up a new surge tank from apiece of 5' aluminum pipe

With a little extra time i did some buffing to shine things up

Hopefully with the clean rad it will keep thing a little cooler, will keep you posted.

[Karl Welhart]

Harry,

That looks very nice..

[Glenn Scherrer]

What kind of temp did you see before? I have the same coach and have done many changes with no real changes like add two large electric fans on the out side change the trans fluid to synthetic oil clean the fins on the radiator

[Edward Buker]

Harry,

Very nice tank and install. If you have a moment to describe the individual parts that you might have ordered for the piping inlets and outlets, sight glass, and the cap receiver or if you made those up. Love to see a bit of a write up for this design and build. Looks like a nice project for the winter. I still have the original plastic tank along with a 7lb cap to keep the pressure down. It is holding up but it is 12 years old....probably getting senile by now.

Later Ed

[harry kew]

I have noticed quite a big differents in temp since I removed and cleaned the rad. I could reach temp of 210, I had to keep down shifting keeping the rpm above 2000. At times I was down to second gear climbing long grades and yet when I broke over the hill the temp dropped like a rock.I had tried cleaning the rad by spraying it with simple green and engine shampoo from both directions even removed the fan so I could get in there better. When I removed the rads before I separated them I put a light on on side and I could see light through to the other side in about 80% to 90% of the rad. After separating them and cleaning and reassembling there was quite abit more light coming through. I think it was a combination of been partly plugged but more  of a build up on the fins. We have a steady climb of about 5 miles up  to where we live  that I would be down to 3 rd gear, about 2200 rpm and running around 200 degrees, now I can come the same hill in 5th at about 1650 rpm running around 190 degrees. A lot nicer to drive and the transmission seems to run about 10 degrees cooler.

[Lee Welbanks]

Great job on the surge tank, love to see craftsmanship. With the way all these coolers are stacked together it doesn't take much to slow down or block off the airflow, great fix took the time and did it right.

[harry kew]

Edward

List of materials, everything  made from aluminum
5" x 27" pipe
5" x 10" x1/4" cut  for the end plates
2" x 8" 1/4" cut in half for mounting, welded onto the end plates
3" x 3" angle welded on the back side to square off the bottem to get the 3/4" hose as low as it could be.
1- 3/8 pipe nipple cut in half and welded on top of the tank
1- 3/4" pipe nipple weld on the back to the 3"x3" angle
1- aluminum filler neck from a rad shop
I welded small plate and tapped it for the sight glass ( would use a pipe nipple next time)

I attached some photos hope this helps

[harry kew]

Sorry the pic came out up side down
Just a note the tank looks smaller in size but has a bigger volume than the stock tank.

[Edward Buker]

Harry,

Thank you so much for doing this, very nice job. The parts list helps to sort out what is needed here. I like aluminum as a replacement option and had not thought of using aluminum pipe to form the tank.....good idea.

As a side note I just took a look at rectangular aluminum tube and I saw that 4x6 inch was available which has a 24sq in area, the 5 inch pipe is 19.6 sq in area, so there is possibly an option that may be a bit easier to construct a tank shape. This also might allow pipe fittings to be mounted a bit easier.

http://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?pid=18004&step=4&showunits=inches&id=1268&top_cat=60

Later Ed

[Lee Welbanks]

Very nice craftsmanship, I used to do tons of aluminum piping and structures. I would prefer 304L or 316 Stainless, find a fab shop close and you can usually find what you need in their salvage pile, most good quality hardware outfits will carry SS pipe items. Polished it is just like a mirror.

[Glenn Scherrer]

Did you cut the bumper to remove the radiator?

[harry kew]

Yes I had to trim about 11/2 half off there it curls under at the bottom