Bottom radiator hose advice sought

[medieval]

Morning all - inaugural drive in the Griff this weekend, having bought it last Friday, resulted in a spectactular fountain of coulant onto the one exhaust downpipe and clouds of steam.

It looks as though the bottom hose from the aluminium expansion tank has split underneath (looks relatively new as well) - can any one tell me where the best place to find a replacement is and is it an issue that this section of hose is quite close to the heat source of the exhaust. Someone has previously applied some form of foil heat cover over it and I wonder if that is essential.

Kind regards.

[MPoxon]

I have recently changed my original hoses to ACT silcone hoses as mine were all original and looking a little worse for wear.

http://www.actproducts.co.uk/shop/tvr-cooling-hose...

I haven't seen many people shield the pipe, so I would assume it is not a common issue. Have a look at this thread and it will give you an idea of what the blue ones look like. I believe Tim also does black and possibly red.

[medieval]

Many thanks MP - will investigate

[Simon.b]

I replaced mine with length of fuel hose from Halfords, as I needed one in a hurry, it’s been on for years now.

I don’t remember any issues with it being close to the down pipe. It’s normally quit long and routed well away, has yours been shortened perhaps.

Cheers,

Simon.

[medieval]

Hi Simon - being a pre serp 500, its location is slightly different to the later arrangement and the bottom hose passes under the suspension top tube rather than over it thus allowing it to pass near the nearside exhaust bank.

Managed to get a silicon one from ACT - biggest difficulty is not being tempted by the lovely stainless steel and full silicon hose kit.

Regards all.

[Simon.b]

Ahh sorry, just assumed…………..

I know what you mean re temptation, I try not to go onto the ACT web site.

Cheers,

Simon.

[MPoxon]

medieval said:

Hi Simon - being a pre serp 500, its location is slightly different to the later arrangement and the bottom hose passes under the suspension top tube rather than over it thus allowing it to pass near the nearside exhaust bank.

Managed to get a silicon one from ACT - biggest difficulty is not being tempted by the lovely stainless steel and full silicon hose kit.

Regards all.

I missed a link from my previous message, the one to the pictures of the blue hoses. I klnow yours is a pre-serp but it may give you an idea if you haven't seen them before.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

I know what you mean about the temptation. Unfortunately it got the better of me and I ended up with the full S/S pipe set including the heater rails, full blu pipes and a radtec alloy radiator... that was an expensive day!

[medieval]

Many thanks MP - when I had first glanced at the pictures on that thread I could not understand why the bottom hose on some appeared to pass above the top tube rather than underneath as mine does.

Quite some difference between the pre serp and the serp engines even looking at the expansion tanks and the lack of a header tank on my earlier block.

I guess for refilling that I bleed the system from the top rad screw with the expansion tank cap off. Any ideas what the fluid capacity is in total to refill from fully drained? Need to mix the coolant and would welcome a guide.

Kind regards

[MPoxon]

Glad to be of help.

With regards to bleeding I found this info posted on this forum before which I noted down

1. Start with a cold engine.
2. Set the heater control to its hottest position.
3. Remove the swirl pot top and screw in a large plastic funnel.
4. Remove the expansion tank cap and half fill the pot.
5. Fill the system with a solution of anti-freeze (between 25% and 50% anti-freeze to water).
6. Keep the funnel about half-full as you bleed the radiator via the bleedscrew on the radiator's end tank near the expansion tank.
7. Tighten the bleed screw and start the engine.
8. As it heats up there will be lots of air escaping through the funnel. Keep the funnel half-full.
9. Once normal running temperature's reached there will be less and less air escaping. Eventually the water level in the funnel will start to rise. Switch off at this point.
10. Remove the funnel and replace the swirl pot top, remembering that the coolant will be very hot at this point, almost boiling.
11. As it cools, don't let the expansion tank level fall below about half-full. Once the level stops dropping replace the cap. However, by design the system should cope with air, as long as there's enough coolant in the expansion tank.

I am afraid I cannot help with regards to the capacity as I bottled out in the end and took mine to my local TVR garage to do the work.

[medieval]

Many thanks MP - just wondering, as I have a pre serp and therefore I only have the expansion tank and not the header tank, whether I have to consider any other aspects, but like you, the garage route does appeal.

Kind regards