Coolant & Vacuum Plugs......
 

So I'm doing a single turbo conversion for a buddy and one thing I have a lot of are holes to plug!

I have 3/8 coolant lines to plug and a bunch of little vacuum lines to plug.

All I've been able to find are those crappy rubber plugs that NAPA sells that tend to dry rot and break quickly.

Any suggestions on where to get quality rubber or silicone vacuum & coolant plugs?

Do you use wire to hold them in place? Zip Ties?

I'm having so much fun doing this conversion! I enjoy the challenges of the welding and fabricating. And screwing up someone elses car in a lot more fun too!

I never cap off coolant lines. They will eventually fail. On single turbo conversions or other setups where coolant lines are removed I weld them up so there is no chance of failure. I can't tell you how many cars I've had come in that had coolant ports plugged with crappy vacuum caps or just the lines looped. They always leak after time, especially near the turbo area. For the rear iron nipple I pinch it shut and weld a bead across the top of the nipple. Otherwise remove the nipple entirely and tap for an npt plug. Don't weld on the actual iron. For the stock turbo coolant lines and throttle body coolant return on the waterpump housing I remove the nipples and weld them. Its aluminum so you will need a TIG wilder. You could also remove the nipples and and tap for an npt plug here too. Jut make sure to use a quality thread sealant.

For vacuum nipples I use heat resistant silicone vacuum caps from McMaster-Carr.

JB weld haha

JB Weld will fail eventually

Do it right the first time and ether drill/tap each port and plug it or weld it shut. I just pulled my car all apart and did this for piece of mind. The gaskets are expensive so why pay to do it twice?!
If your going to drill and tap them like I did, you will have to pull the upper and lower intake off.

What a great idea!!!!! Thanks so much. Will do that! Such an easy solution to tap and drill, should have seen it.

If you drill and tap, I would put some teflon tape or thread sealer on the plug to make totally sure it doesn't leak. It should be a permanent fix that you won't be coming back to down the road.

For vacuum caps, I've been using EPDM rubber caps from McMaster-Carr. Fit great, they're black, and they can take the heat.

Dale

http://store.034motorsport.com/silicone-high-pressure-nipple-block-off-cap-3-8-inch-inside-diameter.html

Obviosuly welding is best. But, You don't have to weld the coolant holes. These caps are rated 600f, 3mm thick, good for boost, oil, and coolant. Silicon won't crack on you like all the other typical caps.

I'm using them on my water pump housing with a single mini non-worm gear compression fuel hose clamp.

I guess i got the wrong EPDM caps from McMaster, mine are long and really flimsy, maybe i got silicone instead....

anyways my ghetto fix was some scrap pieces of bad ass Gates silicone blue/red heater hose and a bolt turned on the lathe to fit snug.

thanks for that link! i've been looking for something to cap off the AWS for a while