Silicone hoses?

[Knebel]

Does anyone know of a good alternative to the standart cooling hoses, I am gonne replace them all after limping home just now. Any affordable silicone ones?

360 in a 68 fury

 

[Trace 300 Hurst]

All machinery needs to be maintained, not neglected to the point of failure. If you replace all your hoses with quality OEM-style (rubber) items, and don't damage them by overtightening the screw-type clamps you'll easily get 40,000 miles out of them. While you're at it, replace all your belts with quality items, like NAPA's Premium XL line. They're expensive compared to the typical floppy junk sold in most parts stores, but once all this is done you can forget about belts and hoses for a loooong time.

 

[68 4spd Fury]

Not sure what the 360 is, stock or built, might want to look at restrictions in the radiator, water pump or block. Any over the counter hoses, (NAPA etc), should perform fine and not bulge like that unless there's high pressure.

 

[Slap Stick]

And move that hose away from the water pump pulley!
Or is that an optical delusion?

 

[Big_John]

There is one issue I think I'm seeing... There are two size by pass hoses.

There's a 13/16 (or .81)" diameter and a 1" diameter hose. Later cars use the larger hose.

It looks to me like the larger hose is on the smaller nipples on your car. Common issue as a lot of places will sell you the larger hose no matter what car.

The real problem really is that it never gets changed... The other hoses get changed and the poor bypass hose gets ignored or the store doesn't have the correct one and it gets put off as "I'll get to it later".

A stock hose will last as long as the other hoses.

 

[Big_John]

Oh... And I always "shotgun" all the hoses... Change everything... Heater hoses and radiator hoses. Do it once and do it right. Gives you years of trouble free enjoyment.

 

[Davea Lux]

The Chicom hoses at CarCrap or AutoBone do not hold up. If you buy quality Gates or Dayco hoses they are designed to last. Silicone hoses are great hoses, they are used on most transport refrigeration systems and are generally good for the life of the unit, You can get heater hoses in silicone on most popular sizes, radiator hoses are a different matter, I don't know of anybody making those for C-Bodies.

Dave

 

[The Goose]

There is one issue I think I'm seeing... There are two size by pass hoses.

There's a 13/16 (or .81)" diameter and a 1" diameter hose. Later cars use the larger hose.

It looks to me like the larger hose is on the smaller nipples on your car. Common issue as a lot of places will sell you the larger hose no matter what car.

The real problem really is that it never gets changed... The other hoses get changed and the poor bypass hose gets ignored or the store doesn't have the correct one and it gets put off as "I'll get to it later".

A stock hose will last as long as the other hoses.

Those two pipes get pretty nasty. Not sure where else but Tom at RT Specialties has been selling them for decades. Definitely worth the pocket change.

 

[Knebel]

And move that hose away from the water pump pulley!
Or is that an optical delusion?

Optical delusion ;)

 

[Knebel]

Those two pipes get pretty nasty. Not sure where else but Tom at RT Specialties has been selling them for decades. Definitely worth the pocket change.

Wait which ones??? The nippels for the bypass???

I bought a Gates replacement, the heater hoses are fairly new. So are the radiator hoses, just never replaced that bypass...

The 360 isnt exactly built...to my knowledge, Its no slouch but I dont think anything substential has been done to it. I'm running an EFI and my fan comes on at 210 and turns off at 198. Should be just fine but I can change that to whatever temp I want in case that has something to do with it!

Radiator is fine too, has good flow. Its an aluminium radiator with large tubes, cools pretty good!

 

[The Goose]

Yup. Those bypass/heater pipes that rust off to nubs. Tom has them and an unrusted set makes life much much easier.

 

[Knebel]

So I just changed my bypass hose. Apperantly someone really thought it was a good idea to put a...like maybe 2" fittin on the intake and a 1" fitting on the waterpump. They were pretty rusty but cleaned up. I had to get the car running so I persuaded that smaller hose onto the bigger fitting. However, looks like thats something that needs to be fixed. It just looks like its frozen in the aluminium intake....

 

[Knebel]

Actually, anyone know the thread size in the intake and the waterpump?

 

[Gerald Morris]

water pump to fan is 5/16" x 18, to housing, and housing to block is 3/8" x 16. I forgot about the intake bolts.

 

[Gerald Morris]

The Chicom hoses at CarCrap or AutoBone do not hold up. If you buy quality Gates or Dayco hoses they are designed to last. Silicone hoses are great hoses, they are used on most transport refrigeration systems and are generally good for the life of the unit, You can get heater hoses in silicone on most popular sizes, radiator hoses are a different matter, I don't know of anybody making those for C-Bodies.

Dave

You can get generic sized Si hoses in 38 and 45 mm ID, and plumb them in. I thought about this, but it involved too many fittings, clamps et al to make a good job of it. Si is great, but many joints and clamps defeat the reliability factor.