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the coolant pipe project
the problem

corrosion to a coolant pipe inside the protective housing underneath was causing slow leakage and severe overheating.

the solution

cut the pipes and slide new ones in!
the front section
after gathering the right amount of courage, i powered up the rotary tool and began slicing. i elected to cut the front section of the pipes right at the protective housing and about an inch after the angle - to be replaced with flexible radiator hoses.

pipe_frbefore.jpg (36504 bytes) pipe_frduring.jpg (36417 bytes) pipe_frafter.jpg (38315 bytes)

the rear section
cutting through the rear pipes proved to be slightly challenging. since i could not cut all the way through to the top of the pipe, i grabbed the pipe and while twisting, it actually rotated inside the housing. this despite the fact that there should have been some sort of brackets holding the pipes in place (no speculation on what happened with those). this meant that the pipes could be completely removed and replaced with new pipes. i elected to leave the old pipes in place as added support and protection for the new copper pipe replacement.

good/solid sections of the old pipe that had been cut served as a connecting mechanism between the new pipe, flex hoses and hoses that lead up to the block.

pipe_rbefore.jpg (42389 bytes) pipe_rduring.jpg (42986 bytes) pipe_rafter.jpg (41491 bytes)

total shop time: approx 5 hours

and the cause of all this work:

pipe_corrosion.jpg (42329 bytes)

email me about it!


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