Do It Yourself Hot Rod Kustom Website

	Fixing a Radiator Leak I was on my way to the High River Alberta Show n Shine in late October and developed a radiator leak. A small pinhole leak that was just pissing out water. High River is about 30 minutes drive away and just too far to go with a leak. So I bummed a ride with my friend Ron and we visited the 1000 rods, muscle cars and restos. It was a great show n shine - quite upset that I didn't make it in the Pontiac. Fixing radiator leaks can be quite difficult as you're not sure if you've fixed it completely. I needed a way of pressurizing the rad so that I could test it without installing it over and over again. I figured I've got a compressor and if I use the existing radiator hoses, I should be able to block both rad hoses and pressurize the rad. If the rad cap is on, then it will release any pressure over about 15 psi - don't have to worry about blowing the rad up. Compressor fitting attached to pipe for rad hose. I had some pipe that fit perfectly inside one of the rad hoses. I cut some sheet metal for a cap and soldered it on (figured it was easier than welding). Drilled a hole in the center and screwed on a compressor fitting. Now just had to clamp into the rad hose. Compressor fitting and compression gauge attached I was worried that I couldn't control the pressure and realized that I had a compression gauge with a regulator on it. So I attached it. This gave me a method to control the pressure that I was putting into the rad. With one rad hose blocked with the compressor fitting, I used a glass paint jar to stop the other I had to stop the other rad hose from leaking so I looked around and found a small glass paint jar that had the right diameter - whatever works! I had to place the rad upside down to get at the leak The rad leak was in the engine side far upper left corner in one of the most inaccessible spots. Had to rotate the rad many times before I could find the right position where the solder would flow and stop the leak. Extreme closeup - very difficult to solder up the leak - took 2 hours! It took 1 hour to remove the rad, 3 hours to figure out and make the pressure kit and another 2 hours to solder the leak. The procedure typically went like this: Turn off everything that makes any noise in the garage so I could hear the leak and locate it with a plastic tube stuck in my ear for a stethoscope. Pressurize the radiator by turning up the regulator until the rad cap just started to leak then backing off. Listen for air leaking to locate the source Release the air pressure so it won't blow out the solder from sealing (learned the hard way) Add flux, heat Melt solder in place Rotate rad to a better position Repeat for two hours until no more leaks All in all it worked out quite well, the toughest part was cleaning the rad so that solder would stick. I used a lot of solder! Had to start over several times until I could locate exactly where it was leaking and that I had properly sealed it. Hopefully I haven't filled the rad with small pellets of solder! I guess I should flush it out first before re-installing it. Now the bottom line is that a rad leak of this type is just a warning that it's time to change the rad or have it re-cored. After I fixed this leak, another one started in the opposite corner - the rad was toast. After all it was only 20 years old! I purchased a 1978 Dodge Ramcharger 318 cid automatic radiator without AC and it pretty much bolts in. Just have to do the modifications outlined on my Cooling System webpage