Stainless Steel water hose

kenewagner

Registered User
I am looking to further dress up my engine compartment. I have a griffen radiator and the inlet on the top is slightly rectangular. I dont know if they ar all that way, but mine is. I want to find a stainless steel braided hose to replace the ugly black one I have now. I have given some thought to modififying the thermastat housing so the tube does not run directly across the front of the SC pully as well. What I would really like is some input and ideas from you guys on what you have seen or done or even thought about doing.

Ken
 
Ken I saw a picture here.Don't remember the post.
They cut the end of the thermostate/radiator hose
mounting tube off.Right before the 90 degree bend toward
the passenger side.And the installed a stainless braided
covered radiator hose on.It really cleaned the looks up
of this area.

They cut the thermostate housing into at the point that
the end of the tube was straight toward the front of
there SC.Then the bends were made in the stainless
braided tube to the radiator.

Sorry can't remember who or the post.But your idea
will look nice.

Randy
 
Randy N Connie said:
Ken I saw a picture here.Don't remember the post.
They cut the end of the thermostate/radiator hose
mounting tube off.Right before the 90 degree bend toward
the passenger side.And the installed a stainless braided
covered radiator hose on.It really cleaned the looks up
of this area.

They cut the thermostate housing into at the point that
the end of the tube was straight toward the front of
there SC.Then the bends were made in the stainless
braided tube to the radiator.

Sorry can't remember who or the post.But your idea
will look nice.

Randy

Thanks Randy. I guess I am surprised more have not done something like that. I think swapping pullys would be a piece of cake without that bend in there. I want to contiue to improve the look under the hood. I definitely want to go with the Stainless steel look, but I want it to be the real thing and not just a cover that slides over the existing hose. Some high tech ends to the hose would be just what I am looking for. I know there are other manufactures out there with simular products and I hope this thread will scare up some of them

Ken
 
Ken,

I believe that Gary Kuhn used stainless steel radiator hoses when installing the electric water pump on his SC. Not sure how he attached the hoses to the radiator, but I know they had AN fittings.

I found an old thread that used to have pictures, but now it's just a bunch of red xs.

David
 
I have been looking at these hose ends for my next engine bay improvement project:

http://www.pi-thon.com/

I just have the braided stainless sleeve on my upper hose, but it is a very high quality piece and covers the hose completely. I'm still looking for the place I purchased that part. I'll post it if I can find it.

Found it!

http://www.showoffstainless.com/

I have some of their hose covers and end caps, very nice products!
 
gldiii said:
I have been looking at these hose ends for my next engine bay improvement project:

http://www.pi-thon.com/

I just have the braided stainless sleeve on my upper hose, but it is a very high quality piece and covers the hose completely. I'm still looking for the place I purchased that part. I'll post it if I can find it.

Found it!

http://www.showoffstainless.com/

I have some of their hose covers and end caps, very nice products!

Thanks george. I had seen those python fittings before but lost track of where to find them. I would love to use fittings like that with SS braded hose. My concern is still whether the top inlet, which is not exactly round would work. If I had to I could always pull the radiator and weld a new nipple in. Thanks to all you guys for your input. I hope to someday have an even nicer engine compartment than yours George, but untill than it is a work in progress

Ken
 
gldiii said:
I have been looking at these hose ends for my next engine bay improvement project:

http://www.pi-thon.com/

Hey George,

I already beat you to it. I had those installed last May for WFC8 but I never could get the car started (I still haven't) so I could show them off at the show. I did take a couple with me to show the guys. Thomas Aden can tell you how nice they look on my car.

They look and work great but be prepared to open up your wallet for all of them.
 
I used this style on a project recently Bought it through Summit. Works great and is easy to R&R.

Jeff
 

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Jeff, I'm using those universal stainless tubes on my Bird currently. Had a hard time sealing the upper hose. So I'm looking to replace them. Sucks when you take your time polishing everything and then once your coolant reaches the max temperature you start spraying coolant all over the bay. I'm thinking hardpipes would be the best.

Micah
 
Hmm,

That's a 454 and runs about 220*. Even when romping on it and we haven't had any problems. The end connectors under the covers are nothing more than rad hose and hose clamps. The engine is run harder than any SC engine would since it is a Rock Crawler. We climb cars creeks and all kinds of things that you would wouldn't think it would do. It has 2.5 ton axles (out of a Deuce and a half). We snapped the axleshaft 2 times already. The engine is nearly stock with a small cam and TBI. The pressure cap is 16# and it has 4 fans. Maybe if you polished the ends it's too slick to seal?

Jeff
 
I am wondering about the hard pipe idea. There would still have to have a certain amount of flex to allow for the engine torquing on the motor mounts. Have anybody else besides Micah thought about using only a short hose and piping the majority of the rest of it. All these ideas have me thinking about some diffrent options

Ken
 
I went out and look over my options. Can anyone tell me why the tube coming up from the thermostat housing is so High? Does it need to be above the inlet on the radiator that much higher for some purpose other than room to access the smaller water hose beneath it? I guess my plan is to cut a section of the vertical part of the tube out to lower it, and remove the 90 degree part of the tube in front of the SC pully so I will have the option of swapping pulleys quickly. Run a new stainless steel braded hose straight to the front of the car, 90 degree it the passenger side and than 90 degree back in to the radiator. It will set lower instead of running down hill toward the radiator. I guess I will have to remove the radiator and weld in a new round nipple so I can use the fitting end I want. Does it bother anyone else that the way Ford ran this hose seem to have no reason and does not look ergonomically correct.
 

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George, hope you don't mind answering, but what is the best size SS braided hose for the upper/lower rad hoses - that will fit snugly without being too loose or too tight?

I've been wanting to do this for awhile and am glad this thread came up! :D
 
I didnt not realize how hard it is to find stainless steel braided hose. Jegs, Summit and most everyone else that has SS braided hose list it by AN# I am not sure what that is. Since I am running a diffrent configuration for my water hose, I will need a new hose so I might as well buy the real thing. I thought it would be fairly easy to find a length of hose and buy some nice fittings to cap it off with. Can anyone explain th AN# for me. It looks like the tube coming from the trermostat housing is 11/4". Need some input please

Ken
 
gldiii said:
This may help on the AN fitting size:

http://www.candsspecialties.com/store/html/plumbing.html


I 'll have look and see if I can find the size stainless braided hose I used. That was several years ago and I don't remember what it was!

The Showoff Stainless website I listed above has some guidelines.

http://www.showoffstainless.com/braid.html

Thanks George, Thats what I needed I think I have enough information to get what I want to do my project. Thanks everyone for their input, makes the job easier when there is a lot of responses to the thread and hopefull help someone else out too

Ken
 
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