Plastic radiator tanks

[v8ian]

I have a alloy rad that fits my car perfectly, its a BMW alloy rad with plastic tanks, what type of plastic are the tanks made from, and what glue works with this plastic, it needs to be structural, so, not a guess, but an informed answer, Many thanks.

[smurf]

Does it need repair?

You can silver solder the metal tanks after a proper clean and acid dip ( used to build them)

But never glued a plastic tank, only ever changed them when damaged

[stuey]

I would assume that you could use plastic welding techniques? you need to know if its thermoset or thermoplastic then use the appropriate method.- but tbh by the time you've done all that you might as well just buy a new (I assume expansion) tank you can get most BMW tanks from euro car parts quite reasonably...

[Olliminium]

Or weld new end tanks on, I can't imagine any glued plastic will last tbh

[garethj]

I used to design these, the tanks are made from 30% glass filled Nylon (PA66)

Epoxy is worth a try, if possible spread the load by using a large area to glue to, even better if there's a bend and you can glue on two faces like front and side.

Another way to reinforce the join is to use pins, but watch you don't make holes that leak! Can you join to the aluminum side plates instead of the tanks?

[v8ian]

Thankyou Gareth, that's interesting, I was thinking about sikaflex 219 marine adhesive, I would like to remove the tank, making a tool to pull back the tabs is easy, and hope its not glued too, remove the outlet pipe, make 2 plates bolt them together and sandwich the hole, the new pipe will have to come out of the side of the tank, fortunately the sides are flat, so I can adapt something off the side,

[garethj]

That all sounds plausible, the tank won't be glued to the header plate, it's only the tabs crimped over that holds it over a rubber gasket. Are you sure there's not an existing radiator that suits your needs better? Something like an old Serck Marston catalogue would be great, it shows you the core dimensions, number of rows and the port positions.

Alternatively there are people around who can fabricate a metal tank with the ports where you want them, just in case your mods go horribly wrong.

[v8ian]

The tank is off!! took about 2 mins... I'm going to have a rummage at work tomorrow for a suitable piece of plastic to bung the hole, and I have found a suitable piece of metal to commence the fabrication of an outlet too, things are starting to gel

[hario]

Perhaps a simple bulkhead pipe fitting could work to move the port? Such as this:
www.dualpumps.co.uk/products/8014350__45_Hose_Barb

[v8ian]

Mar 18, 2015 13:57:58 GMT hario said:

Perhaps a simple bulkhead pipe fitting could work to move the port? Such as this:
www.dualpumps.co.uk/products/8014350__45_Hose_Barb

Thanks for that, Have a look at the end of the thread, Took a bit of faffing about but it seems to work,,,,,,,,,

retrorides.proboards.com/thread/152938/austin-7-box-saloon?page=9

[hario]

Mar 18, 2015 20:26:10 GMT v8ian said:

Mar 18, 2015 13:57:58 GMT hario said:

Perhaps a simple bulkhead pipe fitting could work to move the port? Such as this:
www.dualpumps.co.uk/products/8014350__45_Hose_Barb

Thanks for that, Have a look at the end of the thread, Took a bit of faffing about but it seems to work,,,,,,,,,

retrorides.proboards.com/thread/152938/austin-7-box-saloon?page=9

Oh snap! That's much more awesome!