When I picked up my SLC from Fran, I forgot to put my coolant tubes in the trailer. Fran said he would ship them to me but it seems crazy for him to spend the money if I can use regular steel pipe or muffler tubing. The SLC comes with stainless and I don't have access to that around here. Any problem using just mild steel?
What to use for cooling lines? Need advice.
- Thread starter Dlampe
- Start date
External rust and weight are your only issue with mild. Most cars have mild steel fitments and they're fine, although I suspect they're coated.
Internal rust should be fine with an appropriate anti-freeze.
I'd personally go aluminium or stainless. Stainless will have less heat transfer, aluminium is lighter.
Internal rust should be fine with an appropriate anti-freeze.
I'd personally go aluminium or stainless. Stainless will have less heat transfer, aluminium is lighter.
You may find suitable diameter aluminium tubing on sale as decorative curtain rails (anodized in funky colours even) or as TV aerial support poles
Cheers
Fred W B
Cheers
Fred W B
Dean, wait for the stainless so you won't have to worry about them down the road.
You can also use brass if that's available in your area. It has good corrosion resistance and if it's run external to the tub it can shed a good amount of heat in the runs and help keep the engine temps down. Older porsche 911s run brass (oil) lines the length of the car to a front cooler and the lines shed as much heat as the cooler itself.
Just an idea, no doubt stainless is superior however.
Just an idea, no doubt stainless is superior however.
Ron McCall
Supporter
On my GT40, I used steel tubing and had it ceramic coated. On the Pantera I am building, I bought lengths of aluminum tubing from McMaster Carr.
Ron
Ron
Jim Rosenthal
Supporter
My car has stainless steel tubes; we also wrapped them with exhaust header wrap and then applied large heat-shrink tubing to help hold it on over the wire that holds the header wrap. And the tunnel STILL gets hot. This is partly because there is no air flow through there to carry the heat away, so it just sits in there. Use stainless; you should wait for the tubes to arrive, so you have the best material in there. If the tubes leak in there, you will have serious troubles- use stainless.
I like stainless tubing.
In the SLC, there is no problem with heat intrusion into the cockpit as long as there is decent insulation, as the pipes are run outside the chassis, instead of through a tunnel as in the GT40 and GTM. This approach keeps the interior cooler, demands less expensive insulation, and makes it easier to install.
In the SLC, there is no problem with heat intrusion into the cockpit as long as there is decent insulation, as the pipes are run outside the chassis, instead of through a tunnel as in the GT40 and GTM. This approach keeps the interior cooler, demands less expensive insulation, and makes it easier to install.
The following is a qoute from J Salmons thread " Driving Impressions of the SLC".
I want to be completely critical of this car. It does no one any good if we just stand in a circle and hold hands and sing songs about the SLC.
This car is a prototype, and so has some roughness to it. I will go on about that more next post. One thing to be sure of is that you address the heat. It was a hot day for sure. The SLC windscreen is a work of art (it is my favorite bit on the car). But it also directs all the air away from the windows. So even with them removed, you will not get any fresh air into the car. I don't think you will get any water in either, provided you are moving. You have to stick your hand out the window a good 4-5 inches before you feel any breeze. Plan for some vents.
AIR CON is essential, if you ask me. Just pretend it is a LeMans racer, and realize that it is required. (Closed cockpit cars require it. Now the open top version...)
The engine is behind you. It gets hot. The cooling tubes get hot. This car does not have adequate heat barriers between the firewall or the cooling tubes. In 20 minutes as a passenger my right foot was pretty hot, sitting right next to the cooling tube. The footbox was clearly heating up. The engine heat was also slipping into the central tunnel, and we think this was responsible for heating up the stick shift lever. In 25 minutes it got so hot that you really could not hold it with your bare hand. Again, seal it up really well.
Plan on spending time addressing heat. This is not a new thing, and it is not impossible to tackle. But many cars in history have had too little attention paid to this area and have suffered for it. More on that next post too.
I want to be completely critical of this car. It does no one any good if we just stand in a circle and hold hands and sing songs about the SLC.
This car is a prototype, and so has some roughness to it. I will go on about that more next post. One thing to be sure of is that you address the heat. It was a hot day for sure. The SLC windscreen is a work of art (it is my favorite bit on the car). But it also directs all the air away from the windows. So even with them removed, you will not get any fresh air into the car. I don't think you will get any water in either, provided you are moving. You have to stick your hand out the window a good 4-5 inches before you feel any breeze. Plan for some vents.
AIR CON is essential, if you ask me. Just pretend it is a LeMans racer, and realize that it is required. (Closed cockpit cars require it. Now the open top version...)
The engine is behind you. It gets hot. The cooling tubes get hot. This car does not have adequate heat barriers between the firewall or the cooling tubes. In 20 minutes as a passenger my right foot was pretty hot, sitting right next to the cooling tube. The footbox was clearly heating up. The engine heat was also slipping into the central tunnel, and we think this was responsible for heating up the stick shift lever. In 25 minutes it got so hot that you really could not hold it with your bare hand. Again, seal it up really well.
Plan on spending time addressing heat. This is not a new thing, and it is not impossible to tackle. But many cars in history have had too little attention paid to this area and have suffered for it. More on that next post too.
I agree with Wayne- you need to insulate. I was trying to respond to what I saw as GT40-inspired comments that were influenced by the coolant tubes running inside the central tunnel. The SLC doesn't have such a tunnel, and the tubes run outside, so there is no heat being introduced to the cockpit through the tunnel as in the GT40.
You still have to insulate, and seal up all the openings through which heat can enter the cockpit.
I don't think the Salmon SLC had insulated coolant tubes, or much of an attempt to seal the car, so it is no surprise that it was warm, or even hot.
You still have to insulate, and seal up all the openings through which heat can enter the cockpit.
I don't think the Salmon SLC had insulated coolant tubes, or much of an attempt to seal the car, so it is no surprise that it was warm, or even hot.
