Fitting new header tank help t piece help

[Tonybel]

My stag keeps losing water down to below top hose, not pulling it back from expansion bottle, obviously an air leak that I can't find. So decided to fit a header tank, have sourced a suitable tank of a Vauxhall van, but am having difficulty sourcing a tee piece to fit the top hose down to 15 mm or thereabouts. Anyone know a good source.

[dasadrew]

http://www.viperperformance.co.uk/aluminium-pipes_9876_aluminium-tpiece-hose-connectors.html

http://www.carbuildersolutions.com/uk/black-nylon-stepped-t-piece-3538mm-2219mm

[Mark S]

Hi Tony,
I have a small stub soldered to the filler neck of the rad (mk2) connected to the top of the header tank. Bottom of the header tank connected to the existing copper pipe that runs across the top of the rad. This way you get a (very) small circulation when the thermostat foot closes the bypass and you rev the engine. This purges any air/gas from the cooling system and collects it in the header tank rather than the top hose. Old Merc (W123?) header tank is ideal as it fits above the fuse box, has a standard low water level switch, is clear so that you can see the level and takes a standard rad cap so you can easily choose your own running pressure.
I've run this for probably 10 years and it works perfectly.

[Stagsongas]

Hi Tony,
I have a small stub soldered to the filler neck of the rad (mk2) connected to the top of the header tank. Bottom of the header tank connected to the existing copper pipe that runs across the top of the rad. This way you get a (very) small circulation when the thermostat foot closes the bypass and you rev the engine. This purges any air/gas from the cooling system and collects it in the header tank rather than the top hose. Old Merc (W123?) header tank is ideal as it fits above the fuse box, has a standard low water level switch, is clear so that you can see the level and takes a standard rad cap so you can easily choose your own running pressure.
I've run this for probably 10 years and it works perfectly.

Mine is similar - I drilled and tapped the rad. filler neck and fitted a nipple to bleed air off the top of the rad. and then send it to the top if the header tank like a modern car. The header tank bottom outlet feeds coolant directly into the bottom hose via a manifold I made up. The revised system is virtually self-bleeding as long as you have the heater matrix supply hose fitted to the bottom matrix connector pipe. The top hose is always full as a result but this can be checked easily by using a bleed valve located at the highest point.

Regards

Steve

[LD334]

The other place to connect to is the spigot on the water pump inlet. The key part is to connect the header to the cool (supply) side of the system, I found that out in a cloud of steam one day - now corrected.

[jbuckl]

Can't help feeling this is an unhelpful installation / routing for a header tank.
Also the spigots on the tank seem poorly located for a full flow header to work as intended.

header.jpg
Apologies if this is proved wrong.

P.S. I don't run a header tank on my stag.

[Tonybel]

Thanks all for the response. Has anyone else had the water levels dropping like mine? I do have a new 4 pass raditiator, new fan and new viscous coupling and new hoses fitted except the expansion tank hose which seems ok any ideas on air ingress would be appreciated.

[dasadrew]

Yes. I found the leaks and stopped them. Took a while in a very quiet garage and with a "stethoscope" piece of plastic tube in my ear and the other end being held next to potential culprits. Two air leaks were the pressure cap on the overflow bottle, and the lower tube egress from said bottle. Later the top hose to radiator started fizzing. All could be made airtight.

Drew

[LD334]

http://www.grampianstags.net/headertank.htm

Been shown before but useful again.

[Mark S]

IMG_7453.jpgIMG_7454.jpgIMG_7455.jpg

The bracket is a piece of thickish sheet steel clamped underneath the wiper motor mounting bracket with slotted holes so that it can be slid out and lifted out of the way to access the spark plugs. I have to low level switch connected to the PDWA valve wiring to bring on the orange light on the dash.