Playing with my left nipple... time to kill.

[cphilip]

Time to go back to an original issue that I got side tracked on due to my Alternator dying. The Nipple off the Radiator. At one point, I had adjusted the hose and the slight leak stopped so I sort of put that off for the time being. Living on borrowed time, but it appears that, probably, the Indy leaned on that hose some evacuating the AC to replace the Pressure switch and got her going fairly good now. Not his fault really as it was probably time. I forgot to warn him of it too. But it is creating a small spray now. At some point during running. Not a noticeable amount of coolant loss... yet. But its evident. Spray from there on things. Turns to white after drying on stuff. Cleaned it off this morning and ran it back home and return of spray. Probably less than a half cup of coolant is gone but this is pretty diagnostic. I wiggled the thing and its now come loose.

So it now radiator time I am fairly certain. But I got some time to play here for a few days until I can get a radiator in and on the way. So I figure I might attempt the temporary fix. Got nothing to really lose I don't think.

So the question is this;

Has anyone had any success with a methodology of attaching the nipple. I did a search and find a lot of negativity in that regard. Probably well founded. Even saw some questions that went unanswered about tapping and threading a nipple.

My thought is a clean, scuff and fast Epoxy bead (I have some "super" stuff I have good luck with) is about the most likely to last a few weeks. If at all. Problems and challenges being the proper cleaning, the bond to the surface and then relieving of the hose tension and weight on the nipple.

But also of interest is tap and thread but I have no idea how thick that plastic is either. It would be necessary to be about 1/4 " thick or more to have any chance to work.

Anyway, I got some time to play with it over the weekend at least. Not really relying on the car for daily so just need to at least leave it able to make it to the shop is all. Heck... I can even load it on a trailer if need be so even that not a big deal. I think I want to mess with this tomorrow. Gimme some ideas here.

[vstech]

both ways have been done successfully on this forum. the epoxy route usually works best if you drill out the hole and reinforce it first from the inside with a small piece of brass tubing

[cphilip]

... interesting...

Not enough meat to tap and thread for a nipple?

[vstech]

I suppose you could tap and thread it, but for it to be air tight, you would need to use a pipe thread, and they need force to seal... the plastic tank may not be able to supply enough... it did after all just crack...

[cphilip]

Yep... but the thought (half baked) was to use the Epoxy as a thread sealant. Reducing the tightness of the threaded fit needed. The advantage of that, as I see it, is to then take the stress off the tube part of the nipple and distribute it over a larger area... and allow a Brass nipple to result out of there and, supposedly then, stronger.

Whats the pressure its holding? 15 pounds?

I'll use this post as a repository for links on this I found... Some very old ones and would be nice to see if any of these people are still around and have any long term updates.

Broken radiator piece where overflow line fits

Can this be fixed ??!!

stuck at work, help radiator nipple broke

What did John break today?

[pawoSD]

Originally Posted by cphilip

Yep... but the thought (half baked) was to use the Epoxy as a thread sealant. Reducing the tightness of the threaded fit needed. The advantage of that, as I see it, is to then take the stress off the tube part of the nipple and distribute it over a larger area... and allow a Brass nipple to result out of there and, supposedly then, stronger.

Whats the pressure its holding? 15 pounds?

Yes the system should never be much over 15psi.....so not a lot of pressure. I'd probably use epoxy. Then again, I'd probably replace the whole radiator. But thats just me.

[cphilip]

Originally Posted by pawoSD

Then again, I'd probably replace the whole radiator. But thats just me.

Oh yea... thats inevitable...

People still down on Nissens? Behr worth the $100 more?

[DieselClack]

Oh, damn! And I was thinking that this could be kinky! I would use JB weld for this and I have done a successful repair with JB weld and a Delrin sleeve made of brass. Epoxy the Delrin sleeve into the radiator and use JB weld to hold the 2 pieces of plastic together. I'm suprised at how well this works!

I have a Nissens and it works great. If you like the Behr, go for it, but the Nissens works fine for me and I live in Arizona where we saw 118*F in the shade last year! Never got over 100C* with the AC on!

[vstech]

Originally Posted by pawoSD

Yes the system should never be much over 15psi.....so not a lot of pressure. I'd probably use epoxy. Then again, I'd probably replace the whole radiator. But thats just me.

... the correct rad cap is 140K... that's 22 or so psi...

[jim16671836]

I have repaired a couple of 300D Turbo radiators... I used 60 grit sandpaper and roughed up the inside of what was left of the plastic nipple and I roughed up the outside of I think was a 1 inch diameter piece of copper... about 1 and 1/2 inches long... had a gap about 1/16 of a inch all the way around.. i used jb quick one time, epoxy another time I coated the copper and the inside of the plastic nipple and built up the OD of the copper to the original diameter of the plastic nipple. Cleaned it up with a file and some sandpaper.. It has lasted a year so far with the jb quick.. other radiator I sold so don't know.. jim16671836

[cphilip]

I figured I might as well make it amusing for those not even interested in this subject!

I got some of all that sort of things here. Metal epoxys etc but the one Epoxy I am leaning to is superior to most of those Its a thick pasty one that sets in an hour. The internal support tubing is going to be my biggest challenge to rummage around and find.

[cphilip]

Originally Posted by vstech

... the correct rad cap is 140K... that's 22 or so psi...

That is challenging...

[DieselClack]

Originally Posted by cphilip

I figured I might as well make it amusing for those not even interested in this subject!

I got some of all that sort of things here. Metal epoxys etc but the one Epoxy I am leaning to is superior to most of those Its a thick pasty one that sets in an hour. The internal support tubing is going to be my biggest challenge to rummage around and find.

I'm telling you, get a Delrin sleeve! This piece is designed for internal support of plastic piping and it's available at any ACE hardware!

[cphilip]

I'll look into that tomorrow. In the plumbing section you think?

[pawoSD]

Hmmm....maybe thats why my car loses coolant....my cap may be rated too low....

I used a Behr radiator when I replaced mine....