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Water Inlet Plumbing


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Having some trouble figuring out the water inlet plumbing for the cooling system.  I'm looking at a swivel inlet neck for the engine from Jegs, but at $120 I'm hoping for a better / cheaper answer.  The problem is the engine coolant inlet and the radiator outlet (bottom port) are not aligned and routing a hose between the two looks difficult or impossible without a pre-bent hose.  Wondering what others have done for this - pictures would be great.  Thanks

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John's Cars in Dallas, TX sells a pre-formed lower radiator hose for the LS conversion.  I bought it but did not install it yet. 

 

Be careful to measure the OD of the water neck (thermostat housing outlet) and the lower radiator fitting to ensure they are the same (mine were not).  I bought an aluminum radiator with the original 240z fitting size (small OD).  As a result of my mistake I bought a hose reducer adapter from Jaguars that Run http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Datsun_Order.html to work through the error.  In hind-sight I should have bought a different radiator...

 

Sounds like the the Jeg's straight out option might be the cleanest way to do it depending on the radiator setup.

 

Hope this helps.

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I measured both sides as the rad and engine seem to almost always be different diameters. Bend a coat hanger or small tube to the shape you need as a template. Scour the parts store inventory until you find something close enough to work and buy the closest 2 or 3 hose. I've had luck with this but it can take some patience and maybe two trips to the store.

 

Cameron

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JCI top hose-perfect fit. Bottom jci hose was totally unusable. Bottom hose is cut and splice trial and error from parts house.

This was my experience also.  I found that the hose from the 05 GTO donor was just a little long, but the right shape, so I cut it down a little and it worked great.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I looked at a couple of F-bodies and the stock lower hose looked good, but when I went to the dealer and every parts house in town-I was told that the GTO and F-body lower radiator hose was no longer available....

Ebay, they have plenty of them. My problem is my lower radiator inlet is 1.75" and the LS is 1.50, this is proving to be a pain in the butt. Did your upper hose include the spring to keep it from collapsing, just curious as the one I am using does not.

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Ebay, they have plenty of them. My problem is my lower radiator inlet is 1.75" and the LS is 1.50, this is proving to be a pain in the butt. Did your upper hose include the spring to keep it from collapsing, just curious as the one I am using does not.

 

No problem there. Cut a chunk of 1.5" hose the length of the water pump outlet, install. Then slide the 1.75" hose over that. Clamp, enjoy.

 

I've been rocking an upper hose with this exact thing done for 4K miles, no problems whatsoever.

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