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I'm very close to starting my car for the first time in nine months after having to replaced the head gaskets due to water leaks out the back of the heads. Since the water was out of the system I changed the heater hoses and a number of other things. I decided to pressure test the system before filling it to save me the grief of coolant on the floor or worse in the car. I did this by building a gauge manifold with schrader valve that I screwed into the 3/8" water temp port in the block. I fired up my airbrush compressor and pressurized the system. What I found is that my radiator cap blows off around 10psi. I put another rubber gasket under the cap (I found this idea in a prior thread, thanks Doug) but that only got me to 11.5psi. So My question is what cap are you using with the stainless tanks the vendors sell? I'm assuming all the vendors sell the same tanks from the same source, at least they all look identical that I have seen. I tried another cap and that one was worse. The better of the two came with the tanks from the vendor when I bought them a couple of years ago, it's not the original euro cap. What cap are you using and have you tested it?

Steve
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Hi Steve, you may not be able to re-use your old Cap if the depth does not match the depth on your Filler Neck on your new tank. Secondly be very careful to pressure test with air alone. Better to fill with water and bleed all air out and only use compressed air to pressurize the system. The Normal open pressure for the Caps lays typically between 11 and up to 21Psi or higher even. With news Coolant Hoses etc. the weak point is your (old) Radiator. I use a 15Psi Cap and one easy way to raise your Coolants boiling point is to raise the system pressure by means of a higher rated Cap. Hope this helps you a little ;-)

link to example of Cap with long reach (deep)
http://www.carbuildersolutions...ap-rubber-upper-seal
My system is all new. Stainless tubes, green stripe hoses(Napa sells a yellow stripe version that is the same thing, cheaper, and by the foot if you need a section or two), Fuidyne radiator, heater hoses, Edlebrock water pump, FlowCooler (Robershaw) 180 t-stat, SACC fast waterpump pully, twin 12" Spal fans, and the PE fan controller. I should be good to go but the cap does not hold at the rated 15psi (sticker on top of it). It was sourced from Tara a couple of years ago and says Dex Cool only. I am assuming this is a GM cap because of the Dex Cool lable. I'm curious what you other guys are using with your stainless tanks? And have you tested your cap?

Steve
Hi Steve, a 15 Psi Cap starts to release pressure at 15 Psi. If it does not seal up to that pressure it is either faulty or is a mis-match for the filler Neck (common problem). If i.e. you use a Cap which is really designed for a 19mm deep Neck on a filler Neck that is 26mm deep. It will not hold the pressure ;-( You could use double layer of Rubber Seal etc. but the right thing would be to get a Cap that is designed for the depth of your filler Neck. (assumed that was your problem) The release pressure is a function of Spring load and Area of your Cap Seal. Problem arise if the Spring does not get the proper load because it does not reach the bottom of the filler neck. Anyway an indication is that you must have to press hard down on Cap before you can twist it. If Cap feels loose and can be twisted/turned without too much effort I would suspect what I mention above.

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