Does anyone know of a good source for bulk radiator hose? I'm thinking of mounting the radiator up front when I do the Subaru transplant in my Baja Bug.

I would use metal tubing as oppesed to hose to get the fluid front to back. Then rubber coolant hose for the angles you need. I have seen a thread on volks-swap or bb.bbboy.net where someone used a marine grade hose for their coolant lines. $8ft. You can get metal tubing for $1ft.

Thanks Spikedbeetle,

That does make a lot of sense to use some kind of tubing. Maybe I'll try PVC though, because living in Minnesota, I'm totally rustproofing my Baja with, truck bed liner, stainless hardware, and aluminum diamond plate so the PVC would fuction well for that goal.

There were numerous failures by people using PVC on Subaru converted Vanagons.

I recommend stainless steel and I have a feeling if you look online there already is somebody making such a thing for your project.

I think stainless pipes are the way to go, but with the following precautions:

 

1. Any welded joints you need to pickle and then clean to ensure they don't rust.

 

2. You MUST isolate the lines electrically from the car. Slice up some rings of some good quality rubber hose (same ID as your stainless pipe OD) and use it anywhere you think metal to metal contact could occur and use plastic 'Stauff' clamps to hold the piping to the car. Stainless steel pipes and aluminium engine components are not happy friends when electrically connected in a cooling system as galvanic corrosion will occur.

 

3. You probably won't need a standard size radiator if you don't want as the pipes will shed a lot of heat unless you lag them.

 

Good luck!

TristanJ

 

I have a question about the galvanic corrosion. I am running mild steel lines with my setup. My filler tank is bolted directly to my firewall. The tank is steel. Will I have any problems with corrosion if I use a good antifreeze?

 

I have put a lot of work into this and do not want to have problems. I will isolate the cooling system from the car somehow if I need to.

 

I would appreciate your input. thanks

 

You can see my cooling system in this thread.

 

http://ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=103498&highlight=spikedbeetle