Reply to "Erica needs to get hosed....."

Alrighty! Been cleaning and digging and looking for stuff......

Ordered a new set of stainless pipes to replace the "reasonable condition" steel pipes that I removed from everywhere. The large pipes were all in great condition except for a couple of spots near the hose clamp retainer bumps where there was some rust thru.....

I've been able to experiment with most of the pipes and can post this next few posts with pic's of issues.

I have not established exact lengths for the rubber "unions" which will join all the steel sections together.....will update....

This is the sort of project where you put EVERYTHING in the car loose....then adjust...then tighten hose clamps!!!!

Keep in mind that this is a 74 car, and that the 71's (at least) have some differences like the heater hoses running up on the top of the shifter hump...and the AC hoses are in the rocker panel..... On the 74, the AC lines are on top of the shifter hump and heater lines run up the inside of the shifter hump!

Good:

My car came with a Hall 45 degree radiator and two stainless attaching tubes.
Sent radiator out to be checked, and have the outer tin shields soldered back on....a couple of the seams had popped loose on the tin. Came back with a good report....was perhaps 30% plugged but no reports of leaks and a roto-rooter job on the tubes was all good. Shop straightened out the tins and soldered them gooder than new!

So, since the two front tubes were on the car...they "should" go back on..... Murphy's law may dictate otherwise!

Long under car pipe replacements are most straight forward. You will need a cut off wheel or an air saw to cut the one remaining long tube so that you can get it out!

Note that the long tube is about 1" or so longer than the two piece tubes, but once union is installed comes out about the same. The new tubes equal the length of the original two pieces of tube.

I removed all of the rubber tube insulators since I purchased new ones..... Only perhaps 2 of the 8 were really funky....rest were good...

I found it best to put the long tube in the front section and the shorter ones in the rear.
This will put the "union" in the rear section.

Doing it with the union in the front was going to be difficult when using GreenStrip hose as the tubes get VERY close to the floor pan and might even rub. There was also one of those clamps for the brake line and a coolant bleed line right in the area also......looking to mess stuff up.... SOOO, I chose to put the long sections up front.

If you have a spray bottle of dish soap and water handy, it will make installation of the new hoses into the new rubber insulators! Hose them down and spray some more when things do not move.

I determined that 1" of hose PAST the hose clamp retainer bump is minimum to put a clamp on properly. SO, I marked all of the tubes with a 1" mark, a 1.5" mark, and a 2" mark to use as references when putting this all back together!

At the engine end, I stuck the tubes out just far enough to use the 1" mark that I made. It's tight up there.....so this can be adjusted longer as needed but no less than the 1" mark plus a 1/4" or so.

Lower pressure tank pipe: There is no longer a support welded onto the new pipe. I made one up out of some metal I had hanging around and fashioned an inverted "L", drilled and filed an oblong hole in it, and twisted it to have the proper angle so that I could retain it with a hose clamp to the tube...

This pipe also fit fairly well both on the tank end and the under car tube end. Now, I was supposed to get a metal 90 piece to make the bend at the UCT (under car tube), but it is on back order, so used a rubber 90 for now. I think trying to get the 90 and two short pieces of GreenStripe in there is going to be a mouthful!!!!! But the rubber 90 fit well.

Less Good
Pump to UCT This new piece is a bugger to fit properly. The tube is short on both ends about 3/8" from the original. While not measuring shorter in the straight section, it seems like it is too short. I either need to bend the hose connector at the pump (1-3/4" hose isn't gonna give much!) or at the UCT.... Will post some pics of the mismatch.

One kind soul told me that he stretched this tube about 1-1/4" and it fit better. Sounds like a plan....!

Thermostat Pipe This is a nice looking piece....but stops there. The original pipe bends around the front of the engine at about an 88 degree angle and runs parallel to the valve cover to the pressure tank top fitting.

The new one is bent with more of a 90 degree angle and therefore when mounted up, it is off about 3/4" pointing to the wheel well...and it also angles up about 3/4". Off on two planes....

If I had a tubing bender handy, I'd have both of those issues corrected with one bend... I still may cut it and correct it......as the tube to the lower tank connection is fine and I don't want to start stressing the tank welds or the t-stat area welds by putting pressure on the tubes by bending the hoses to fit.

PLUS, I wanted to put an inline filter in that top rubber union as it is the longest piece of rubber in the works....but I would like to NOT stress the plastic filter by trying to get short pieces of rubber hose to fit.

Call me picky. Yes I am. I got that by being raised by a tool and die machinist who cuts metal down to .000x dimensions....and an electronics training regimen that counts signals in 10 to the -9 decimal places.....

And since I'm on my soap wrapper....if I am buying new parts....I expect them to fit. But this isn't Lincoln Mercury any more....!

I want to drive this car further than the Cars n Coffee events on Saturday/Sunday mornings....and I already spent enuf time on the side of the road with my Goose fixing "inherited issues" that I don't want to induce any new issues with the Pantera by putting parts in "because I paid good money for them!"

I'll put old parts back in where they merit it!

OK, here's my one attachment allotment for this email! Misalignment of top t-stat tubing. I have another shot showing the vertical issue, but not going to post it....be assured it exists!

Don't touch that dial!
Steve