Radiator Overflow Tank

I came up with this idea for an overflow tank. With a 1-piece tilt nose, it's impractical to mount one on the fenderwells. And there aren't many other places to mount one, especially with power steering.

It's made of 2" stainless square tube x 1/16" wall.

The first picshows the basic tank, intake draw tube, and overflow tube. Tank is reversed in this pic.

Second pic shows tank with mounting bracket.

Third pic shows the tank installed.

Fourth pic is another showing it installed.

The bottom compartment holds 1 quart of coolant. The top compartment (which flows into the bottom compartment) is the overflow space.

Even though it is mounted lower than a conventional tank, it still functions properly.

 

Nice work. I've never worked with stainless. Can it be welded with a regular MIG?

 

Yes, stainless can be welded with mig, but unless you're going to be doing a lot of it, I don't recommend it.

Here's why...the initial setup is expensive. A 10 lb. spool, which is probably the smallest you can get (though I'm not positive), will probably run between 80-100 bucks.

The killer is the shielding gas. You're SUPPOSED to use a tri-mix (argon, helium, and co2). It's very expensive, and AFAIK, is not available in small tanks. Some guys use argon/co2 mix, because that's what they already have , but I wouldn't recommend it. I'm a self employed metal fabricator, and I leased a large tank of tri-mix for a job. I finished the job, and still had nearly a full tank left. I didn't use it again for 2 years. I turned the tank back in, because I was sick of paying the lease fee on it. That sucked!

I tig most of my stainless jobs.

 

very nice work
nice skills you have

 

Thanks! I've been doing this stuff for many, many years.

 

Silver brazing works good on stainless as well as joining dissimilar metals to stainless.

 

Thanks for the SS requirements. Guess I'll just stick to mild steel for a while.

 

Nice work! That looks more professional than the 2 quart thermos bottle I stood up beside the radiator in my old work truck some years ago

 

The PO of my jeep had a plastic bottle attached to the left (drivers) side of the radiator. When I installed power steering, I lost that spot, so I had to get creative. This is what I ended up with.