Radiator piping

[chris.richard]

Now my intake and exhaust systems are sorted, I'm on to cooling pipes. The standard 164 cooling system has a pipe from the top of the radiator to the header tank. Now that they're at opposite ends of the car, has anybody missed it out? If so, how do you continuously bleed the front end?

[guy mayers]

Hi Chris, I never bothered with a pipe from the radiator to the expansion tank. The bleed screw on the top of the radiator has always been enough for me, the radiator is way lower than the 164 one anyway so any air that is going to get trapped there arrives quickly once the thermosat has opened and can be easily bled off in a one time operation. I have never found an airlock there once the system has been fully bled.
Guy

[mogul_x]

Originally posted by guy mayers
The bleed screw on the top of the radiator has always been enough for me,[/B]

Guy,

Is this bleed screw an odd looking fitting on the far left hand side of the top of the radiator? Mine has what looks like a piece of rod, about 2-3" long, with a hex socket in the top for an allen key.

If this is the bleed screw, will this fitting clear the Stratos bodywork, or should I replace it with something shorter? On first inspection, it seems that it would hit the inside of the nose panel when closed, but I have yet to align the front bodywork on my kit, so it may not be a problem in the end.

Also, can you send or post a picture of those Montecarlo fans you used or your car? I am also using a 1500 X1/9 radiator with the Alfa engine, so I might be interested in them, since they seem to be working so well with the same configuration in your car.

cheers,

[chris.richard]

This is a picture of mine. It's not obviously cut off, there's a hole about 4mm diameteer facing the camera to stick a rod in to turn it. The whole piece is about 1cm proud of the mount.

Hope this helps!:)

[guy mayers]

Hi Scott, I'll try toget a photo to you of my fans. Unfortunately the pair I have are already spoken for but are more common on your side of the pond than this! More Lancia Scorpions sold there you see! Happy hunting!
Guy

[Jeff Davison]

Scott,

If you need a pair :)

You need not look abroad.

I replaced the fans on my Scorpion with SPAL's and kept the OEM's. I'm also using SPALS on my Strat so the fans are just collecting dust in my stash.

BTW, did the power outage effect you today?

Jeff Davison

[mogul_x]

Originally posted by chris.richard
This is a picture of mine.... The whole piece is about 1cm proud of the mount.

Hope this helps!:)

Thanks Chris, it does! That's where the fitting on mine is, so at least I know for sure that it is the bleed screw.

As I mentioned, mine looks like a hex head cap screw, where the head of the screw is a couple inches high. I can probably cut it down to resemble yours, or perhaps replace it with a standard bolt if the nose won't close over it.

Cheers,

[mogul_x]

Originally posted by Jeff Davison


If you need a pair :)

You need not look abroad.


Oh, that first bit could be taken in such the wrong way.....

.... although personally, I've found a broad to be the best place to look for a decent pair.... :D

Seriously though, I would like to see what those Monte / Scorp fans look like. If they cool as well as Guy says, and still allow fitment of a spare wheel, then I may be interested. Otherwise, I may follow you on the SPAL route.

As for the power outage, no, I missed it. The Philadelphia area grid was stable. I didn't even know about it until the 10 o'clock news.

I'll e-mail you off line about those fans.

[rutthenut]

Originally posted by mogul_x
As I mentioned, mine looks like a hex head cap screw, where the head of the screw is a couple inches high.

I think I found a similar fitting on my latest radiator.

I'll try to remember to take a picture of it and post that here, if it helps. But whatever the case, I agree that this will be the bleed screw.

As for the 164 pipework, my setup has a small bore pipe from the throttle body section to the header tank, as well as the large bore pipe from the header tank down to the 'top' hose. This seemed to mirror the original flow pattern as far as I could tell.

I think Dr. Chris put a photo of the standard piperwork in another topic.

(back from hols now, tons of messages to catch up on!!!)

[mogul_x]

Guys,

I was doing a little tinkering in the garage last night, and have a couple of questions about radiator piping:

I bought a couple of radiator hoses at the local auto parts store. Neither is the right shape to be used in the Stratos, but the diameter is compatible with the stainless water pipes I bought with the kit. I figured I'd cut them up to connect the sections of hard piping to the radiator.

I ended up cutting three straight sections and one elbow out of them. Two 4" sections of straight hose were used to connect the water rails in the center spine to the shorter, curved sections that go to the radiator.

A 3" straight section was used to connect the water rail to the right hand side radiator inlet. The small elbow was fitted to the Left hand water pipe to the radiator, since it didn't line up as well with the pipe.

Now, the main water rails, laid side by side, are exactly the same width as the hole that goes through the spine. When I put the rubber hoses on, the diameter is effectively increased, such that one of the rails ends up having to sit slightly above the other to fit through the spine. Currently, I have the left pipe positioned higher than the right.

My first question is: has anybody run into a similar condition? If so, is there any advantage to having the left pipe higher than the right, or vice-versa?

Also, because of the length of the rubber hose I used, the heater hose fittings on the main rails are very close to the front bulkhead. As it stands, the hoses to the heater core would probably end up running between the bulkhead and the steering rack.

Question 2: again, is this about normal, or should heater hoses be routed elsewhere?

I will need to measure the amount of the water rail sticking out of the back of the spine, to see if there will be any problems getting the water pipes routed around the engine and back to the water pump. I suspect that I may need to shift the pipes forward if I can't make the turn in the space available.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[chris.richard]

Scott, my 35mm stainless pipes have slight bends in one of them at the front, and at the back, so that there is room to get the hoses on and have the pipes side by side. At the back, I have two brass 90 degree compression bends attached to short (40cm?) lengths of 35mm stainless pipe, then flexi silicone hose to the engine stubs. I compressed olives on to the end of these short pipe lengths to help secure the hoses.

I can't think of any reason why it would matter which is higher in the tunnel.

I have two 15mm copper pipes running down the spine for the heater supply & return. From what you say, you have a different arrangement for them.