Expansion Tank

[wazoo]

Any ideas where to mount radiator expansion tank and best way to plumb it?
Thanks,
Bill

[Austexican]

It kind of depends on the design of your expansion tank. I have the Canton aluminum tank with sight gauge. https://www.cantonracingproducts.com/TechPages/PDF/80-250.pdf

The previous owner had the tee section of the radiator hose plumbed to the neck of the tank. This did not provide recovery of the coolant and I experienced intermittent overheating in stop and go traffic. I have now plumbed the overflow tube to the bottom of the tank. Some tanks have a tube internal to the tank that runs from the neck to the bottom of the tank. Those tanks will provide coolant recovery when plumbed at the neck of the tank. My tank is mounted on the front cross brace.

[CJBergquist]

My kit came with a plastic surge tank...it's in the "Parts Not Used" box. I bought the SS tank from FFR but it was too small...kept filling and spiting out coolant then the motor would cool down and suck the tank dry and then air...not good. Exacerbated the "burping" issues so I went with the Canton tank. I mounted it on the passenger side of the X member near the radiator hose.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5517/11164384533_ba3e1a5c94_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/51103049@N00/11164384533/)

[Austexican]

CJ, I am not sure that I understand your plumbing from the photo you provided. I have the same tank. In your application, does the tube from the tee-section neck in the coolant return hose connect to the bottom of the Canton tank? If so, that would correspond with the instructions in the link I included with my post. However, the black hose at the top of the tank appears to function as a drain. The area at the top of the tank is supposed to provide a chamber for air that is compressed by the expansion of the heated coolant into the tank. When the coolant returns to ambient temperature, the compressed air at the top of the tank forces coolant back into the radiator through the neck of the tee-section fitting. If that hose fitting at the top of the tank is not sealed, but is open to the atmosphere, you will be exhausting the air that should be compressed by the expansion of the coolant. In that case, I do not understand how you can obtain recovery of the coolant into the radiator. Please correct me if I am wrong.

In my application, I removed the wing-nut drain plug from the bottom of the tank, making sure that it was fully closed, and installed it in the outlet at the top of the tank. I then installed the open right angle fitting at the bottom of the tank and connected it to the tee-section neck in the coolant return hose. The coolant level in the tank prevents air from entering the system. I also had to replace the right angle hose fitting from the top of the engine to the tee-section because of a persistent leak at pressure when the coolant exceeded 180 degrees. Don't you love it when the auto parts guy asks you what make and model of car you have? I had the part I removed in my hand, with its adapter, because I knew they would have nothing on the computer. In my case, I had an old-school guy who spent 25 minutes on a rather slow 4 pm Saturday afternoon scouring his shelves for a hose that provided two ninety degree bends (in case I messed up the measurement or the cut on my first attempt). I spent ten bucks on the hose and a bit more on Prestone coolant and windshield washer fluid for the cars my wife and kids drive. My type '65 Daytona does not incorporate a windshield washer.

To conclude, my coolant recovery system did all that I wanted it to do in a test drive from Austin to Gruene (about an hour and a quarter) on back-road two lanes through the Texas Hill Country on an eighty degree day. Good luck to you!

[CraigS]

Mine arrived w/ all the brass fittings not installed. I installed the sight tube like Austican has but I used the plug where he has the 90 degree fitting. I used the 90 degree fitting on the bottom for the hose from the T-filler. mine is mounted exactly the same place.

[CJBergquist]

Austexican, my tank is a Canton 80-201 Recovery Tank, yours is a 80-250 Recovery OR Catch Tank depending on how you plum it based on the PDF you provided.

That said I plumed mine so the overflow from the T Filler Neck goes to the bottom fitting and the top fitting the overflow should the tank fill up...it is not pressurized. So, as the coolant expands in the cooling system and the pressure exceeds 22lbs psi the cap releases the pressure and coolant flows to the Recovery Tank entering from the bottom. If there is more coolant than the tank can hold it dumps out the top overflow fitting. When the cooling system starts to cool and the pressure in the cooling system drops below the atmospheric pressure it creates a vacuum. The vacuum causes the radiator cap to open and the cooling system then sucks the coolant back in from the Recovery Tank until the pressure in the cooling system is the same as the atmospheric pressure. Every car I've owned that had a coolant tank (they all have been plastic) works this way.

[Austexican]

Yep, that is the way to plumb it. The important thing is that the pickup in the tank is submerged in fluid.

[loeffler1]

Vacuum is the magic word here, not pressure.

[MPTech]

My Canton tank looks like CJBergquist's and is plumbed as he described.
I put 4k miles on my roadster this summer with a couple long distance hauls and some spirited cruising in warm weather, with no coolant issues.
The open system works great!