Bingster

For certain the heater hose tube, and maybe the bypass housing. But I know the tube is history.

I've never really thought of them as a NOS vendor, but I guess they have lots of stuff. I just wish they had real photos.

If you'd sell one, how much would you want?

The bent tube looks like the one I have in my '47. Would yours be the same. threads and all?

Rich, are you saying you have a source for the tube you posted?

Well, at this point of my restoration, I want to get the engine fired up after seven years and see what I've got. My plan is to flush out the engine just as a kind of "courtesy" to the engine, rather than start it with more crud in it than there needs to be. My original intention was to get some hoses just to do the job now and replace with new when the time comes, which is a ways off. I had settled on the stainless tube arrangement after weighing all the input here, but after seeing the Gates hose Don posted and a couple other guys who said their hoses worked okay, it seemed to me that for the money and time, the Gates will get me where I want to go for now. After I flush the engine they won't be needed for awhile. Once my mechanic and I see that the engine is okay, then I'll go back and do the water pump, water distribution tube, Welch plugs, etc. and then do for the SS tube set-up. Actually, the upper hose I bought is a keeper, but it's also an easy straight shot into the thermo cover. Just flushing the engine is rather exciting for me. It's the first "engine work" that I've done. The guy I bought the car from said he did a compression test when he had the car and it was good. He'll do another one. I've been pouring motor oil and Marvel Mystery oil into the cylinders for a long while now, buying the components piece by piece as I had the cash: coil, plugs, plug wires, battery cable, etc. I'm very anxious to see what happens when I press that button. That's why he'll also be there to diagnose any problems with the carb or points or whatever. I do have a lot of the steel parts finished like the floor pan, radiator shields, engine compartment fender shields and all of the garnish moldings are in primer awaiting wood graining. I found a primo NOS chrome Goddess hood ornament and have a lot of other chrome parts replaced or restored. I do what I can when I can, so it's kind of a disorganized organization. I fabricate what I can't find anywhere, like this rusted out floor pan access cover. Thanks to everybody for the help. I appreciate it.

I just ordered a Gates hose from a local vendor and will pick it up Friday.

Hey Don, that looks exactly like the remains of one end of the lower hose that I took off. I see Gates on the label.

RobertKB, Did your hose have any type of reinforcement? The hose I ordered and refused was a thin-walled non-reinforced hose. Where did you get yours?

Is it Vintage American or American Vintage? Haven't had any luck.

Hey, that's great! I was wondering if a hardware store might have anything. I'll check it out. Thanks.

Don, I like the stainless idea and the fact that I'll never have to get another one. Since your set-up seems identical to mine, which stainless elbow did you get. I'm looking on the McMaster-Carr site and looking at how they measure the elbows, "LG." I don't have any idea how long the elbow should be.

I do use white vinegar for bolts and in fact I soaked the thermo hosing in white vinegar before sand blasting. I neutralize it with baking soda in water.

How so?

Right!

I did a very dumb thing. I left the housing out in the sun to bake the primer, and forgot to bring it back in. Got rained on and the inside rusted again. Surface rust. Oh well.

I sandblasted the thermostat housing insdie and out on my flat head and wondered if there was anything I could coat the bare metal on the inside to prevent or slow the formation of rust, anything that wouldn't break down with the constant flow of water. Marine? Or is this kind of unnecessary?

Thanks Rich. I just went into Napa to pick up the hose they ordered for me and it was a thin rubber with no spring. It wasn't even a heavy reinforced hose like the upper hose I got by the foot for the upper hose.

Did the shop have the right size tube or did you bring it to them?

I'll say it before somebody else does. That's why the metal tube!!!!!

Thanks. I'd think that the manufacturer of the hose couldn't/wouldn't sell a hose that couldn't do what it is supposed to do. I mean, it really isn't a radiator hose if it can't perform as a radiator hose. That would seem to leave them open for some sort of lawsuit. I'm hoping the hose is manufactured with the steel spring inside. And if Napa doesn't have one, I'll let Napa keep the hose.

That's an interesting point. This flush is just an initial cleaning of the cooling system prior to firing the engine up and after seven years. So I'm not too particular what hoses I use just as long as they do the job for now. Those stainless elbows are very expensive, and they aren't in the budget right now. I did find the lower hose at a Napa. They had to order it. $17.95. In tomorrow. Now, do you think the pump will collapse the new hose the first time out? I see Bernbaum has the elbow but it's a bit pricey for me at the moment. I'll go back and go through the cooling system piece by piece once I know how the engine runs.

Thanks. Looks like they have one for my Desoto.

Don, did you make that elbow?

I'm flushing out the engine on my '47 Desoto and need new radiator hoses. The top radiator hose to thermo housing appears to be stock hose. However, the lower radiator to water pump hose, from what I understand, has a metal tube between two rubber hoses to make the bend. I assume that this arrangement might be the same on '47 Dodge and Plymouth flat heads. Any of you who have a '46-'48 Desoto I'd appreciate your telling me what you are using. Thanks.