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Converting to stainless steel radiator hoses

Started by lilredexpress1, December 04, 2011, 05:28:18 PM

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lilredexpress1

I've been working on a '68 Charger for my son while he was overseas in the Army and he would like to run all of his hoses in stainless steel braid.  He doesn't want to go with the stainless hose covers.  The largest AN fittings/stainless hoses I can find seem to be -20 AN (which corresponds with 1&1/4").  We will be running an aluminum water pump and aluminum 4 core radiator, so welding -20 AN fittings on shouldn't be a problem.  What my question is:  Will the coolant flow be too restricted downsizing to 1&1/4".  I realize that the upper hose was originally 1&1/2" and the lower was 1&3/4".  We are building a supercharged 512 stroker engine utilizing a 400 block with aluminum Edelbrock RPM heads and want it capable of being street driven without overheating issues.  I had read a thread before about overheating issues caused by some of the 440 SOURCE water pumps that were too restrictive and made sure our aluminum water pump was opened up properly, but will I be causing the same problem with the downsized hoses?

oldcarnut

I ran a search and quite a few industrial places carry in various sizes.  Spectre will take preformed hoses and cover them for you.  Most of the stainless braid industrial hoses I've had to install on machinery were fairly stiff.  I seen some attempts by individuals to buy those kits and cover themselves but the overall appearance wasn't very nice which is why I reckon you don't want to go that route.  Anyway here's some info on the send your own hose for covering.
http://www.sfxperformance.com/parts/SPT5700A.htm
http://www.challengertalk.com/forums/f18/stainless-steel-braided-hoses-22177/index3.html

lilredexpress1

Thanks for the response to my question oldcarnut.  As much as the custom braiding sounds interesting, what we're trying to accomplish is have stainless braided hoses that will utilize the screw-on AN fittings.  It would work if we could find -AN24 and -AN28 fittings.  If you could line me up with a supplier of aluminum weld on fittings and hose fittings in those sizes, we'd be good to go.  Otherwise we're still wondering about the viability of downsizing to the 1&1/4" hoses.  Thanks.