Hey guys, I know everyone here is a resorceful bunch, so I figured I'd put this out here...

I'm looking for 3/4" caps to block off the heater hoses from the engine block under the oil filter and the lower rad hose. Something similar to a vacume cap, but must be renforced like a rad hose. I've found that even thick vacume caps wont hold up to the pressure or heat of the coolant and they tend to split.

Napa sells an internal plug that expands to the inside of the pipe you are blocking off....but the smallest they sell is 3/4"....which wont fit inside of the tubes I need to block off.

Please dont suggest using a peice of hose and gear clamping a spark plug or large bolt in one end.....cause thats just ghetto.

 

I had to do the bolt thing, but I do recall that I found a 'cap' that worked later on.

Im heading to the garage now, so I'll see if I can find it. This is going back a couple years now on an Old FB.

 

Do you need to block the rubber hose its self, or the short metal pipe that comes out of the block?

For blocking hoses, I've had good luck using copper plumbing caps. They come in a range of sizes, and have a collar around the bottom. You stuff it in the end of the hose and use a worm gear to tighten it up. The result is a hose with a worm gear around it and a shiny copper surface when you look at the end of it. I know it may not be beautiful, but it's not as ghetto as the aforementionned spark plug and bailing wire! lol

To be honest though, to avoid the whole ghetto look, you may want to have a talk with a hydrolics shop. They may have rubber or metal caps or compression fittings that will do the job for you. Good luck!

 

Crush the ends with a set of Vice Grips and then weld.

Or, pull out the nipple, tap with a pipe tap, and install a threaded plug.

 

My vote is for what nick86 says, or same technique but use a solid slug of aluminum of the right diameter. Is this for the race car?

 

Yeah, its for our race car and a couple customers cars as well.

Apparently getting rid of the heater core is popular haha.

I was thinking of pinching them off and welding them, but it wont work so well for Aluminum Koyo rads....I mean we do have a TIG but I dont want to make it impossible to re-use the rad in another car later on.

 

Looking for a similar solution as well...

 

I'd go with Aaron's second solution. Tap it! Then thread a plug in with pipe sealer. Removable and attractive.

 

Still not much help for blocking off the little port on the bottem of the rad.

 

rubber boat plug might be something to look at.
there are a few sizes and i think one of them might expand to fit.
matt

 

Yeah if I could find one that is 1/2" and could expand a bit larger, then I'd be set.

Smallest anyone around here sells is 3/4".

 

Make your own.

All you need is a 1/2" (soft) rubber donut, two round metal disks, a short bolt, rubber washer and a lock-nut. Drill a hole in the middle of both disks, place one on either side of the donut. Now, slide the rubber washer over the bolt, thread the bolt through the two metal plates and donut, then put the lock washer on and tighten away - Voila!

You may want to weld the bolt to one metal plate to avoid leaks, then bond that disk to the rubber so it doesn't turn. It'll look swanky.

 

Weld on an AN flare and then use an AN cap.

 

i need to find some of these reinforced caps aswell......to block off the 2 nipples on the water pump housing where the stock turbos used to plumb in for coolant.
tried some thick vacuum caps and they lasted all of two days before they started melting and leaking

 

JB Weld...haha...

if you want a seriously non-ghetto solution get something like this:
http://www.expansionseal.com/html/hypg5.htm

stainless steel with either Neoprene or Viton seals, available in 1/2 inch and up, good to 250 PSI...

 

You could also turn the entire tube into a flare-nut style compression fitting. Slip on a threaded collar, use a flaring tool to flare out the edge of the pipe, then screw on a threaded cap over the end. As you tighten it seals it up nicely.

 

K and I have been talking about this:

Find a hose-barb-to-pipe-thread fitting, and screw a pipe cap in the end. Not the prettiest, but would be as solid as the rest of the system.

 

I'm interested in what you ended up doing?

 

LOL, well I ended up doing it the ghetto way, short peice of hose with a gear clamped bolt in the end. It works....looks like ***, but works. I called damn near everybody in the KW area and no one had any better suggestions.

Tapping and plugging it would be a good solution except for when the motor is still in the car.

 

haha.........yeah thats what i had 2 do 2

 

Didn't see this earlier.
The most flexible solution is to tap it for a plug fitting with an adapter to reconnect a hose later.

Not sure if there is enough meat in that location (but probably) to tap for a tapered pipe? thread - if not, it will probably crack before it seals.
You could get a dash-12 or "whatever" straight thread with an o-ring boss fitting or use some sort of sealant.
Even better would be a metric thread with sealing washer but you will probably need to buy the large metric tap at a specialty machine supply shop or kbctools.com (stuff from a US web site is probably cheaper still)
For an even better seal you could use a "stat-o-seal" - it is a more expensive combination crush washer and integrated oring.

A good place to check for fittings is a hydraulics shop - look for one that carries the Parker (Industrial) product line. Many shops will typically have a very large selection of steel and stainless fittings, connectors, adapters and hose in house or can typically get it by the next day for uncommon stuff.

Note:
They also stock adapters such as Metric to AN/JIC, BSP and may even have the correct thread for the oddball oil sender.
Also take a look at some of their teflon/stainless hose/connectors and push-lok fittings/hose.

There is also a special type of tap called a "forming tap". These do not cut threads but roll them - no chips to worry about. They are excellent for threading softer materials such as aluminum. You should be able to find one that is good for cast iron.

Cheers

 

If your looking for something like a rubber vacuum cap, I picked up some at Partsource here in London to cap the T to the heater and the firewall inlet. They work fine, and I just used a hose clamp to make sure they stay on there. Found them in the Automotive Help section. There are a few different sizes in the box. They look pretty clean.