Somewhere along a couple of small repairs at mechanics I shouldn't have trusted, it seems that someone got some nice dents in my driver's side coolant pipe, right in the frickin' middle just forward of the jacking point. Is there any way to repair the dent even a little bit? I'd hate to replace it entirely because my car doesn't really overheat now but it does run warmer, so if I could unrestrict it just a bit more I'd be fine, and the pipes are otherwise in great shape, no corrosion or anything. Any crazy ghetto ideas will be considered Thanks

Since you mentioned ghetto, I'm just going to throw this out there...

How about copper pipe? You could get one the same diameter and swap it in. It's something I would do if it was causing me problems.

Again, just throwing it out there, feel free to poiint out the flaws.

hmmm, ghetto repair.

i suggest you sell the fiero and buy a 78 regal with 22's.

Yeah...I guess I could cut the dented section out and clamp on any type of pipe or hose... Any less drastic ideas first?

what I did with mine was to buy a replacement tube. after realizing there was no way I was gonna get the old tube out, without remove the front cross member, I cut out the bad area from my old tube, and cut a matching peice from the new tube, and spliced them with short section of radiator hose & some hose clamps.

So you can't get it out without removing a part of the friggin' frame?! Then ghetto it will be, in some way or another

I was going to say take the pipe off, fill with water, seal ends and freeze. This will remove the dents. Sence taking the pipe off is a problem. I don't know.

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Ernie

1988 Silver GT
One owner 47000 miles.
Soon to be a 3.4 DOHC powered.

Yeah, not much you can do without a welder. You could use one of those spot welders with the rivets that you attach to a slide hammer. This "may" work. Otherwise the suggestions here are good.

J.

Trust me you cant get the coolent pipes out without removing the front cross member! My best advice would be to either A: Cut out the small section of pipe thats dented and but a radiator hose to splice in place. B: Cut out a larger section of pipe and splice in a section of pipe thats the same length and put two little pieces of radiator hoses at the ends. Im doing plan B because the pipe sections that are under the clamps are so rusted and one started to leak...so I found two long sections of pipe that werent rusted and am swaping them in.

Jason

quote Originally posted by FieroGT42: Somewhere along a couple of small repairs at mechanics I shouldn't have trusted, it seems that someone got some nice dents in my driver's side coolant pipe, right in the frickin' middle just forward of the jacking point. Is there any way to repair the dent even a little bit? I'd hate to replace it entirely because my car doesn't really overheat now but it does run warmer, so if I could unrestrict it just a bit more I'd be fine, and the pipes are otherwise in great shape, no corrosion or anything. Any crazy ghetto ideas will be considered Thanks

Did your car just start running warmer or did it start some time ago. With the outside temps reaching over a 100* in many states, alot of ppl are starting to see there coolant temps get a little warmer than usual. There have been many topics on this on several forums. Not saying this is your issue but jsut food for thought.

[This message has been edited by MstangsBware (edited 07-28-2006).]

quote Originally posted by BrewCheese: Trust me you cant get the coolent pipes out without removing the front cross member! Jason

I got both of mine out without removing it..

We fixed a bad dent in mine by capping one end, heating the dent with a torch until it was cherry red and using a compressor to blow air into the other end. The dent ballooned back into shape and it's been fine ever since then (about 6 months ago.)

quote Originally posted by MstangsBware: Did your car just start running warmer or did it start some time ago. With the outside temps reaching over a 100* in many states, alot of ppl are starting to see there coolant temps get a little warmer than usual. There have been many topics on this on several forums. Not saying this is your issue but jsut food for thought.

Since the dents, before the heat wave really kicked in.

quote Originally posted by SoCalFiero: I got both of mine out without removing it..

That makes sense. The rubber sections should be long enough and the metal pipes short enough to allow removal, otherwise some engineer or designer should be shot. Thanks for the ideas, everyone. I'll try to figure something out

DONOT USE COPPER
it will eat the alloy rad
copper and alumimum in water donot last

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Question wonder and be wierd
are you kind?

Just a quick question since we are on this topic. My coolant hose is restricted to about half or 50% by means of a dent. Will this cause probems or can I leave it? Also, will it make my water pump work harder, eventually to the point of wearing prematurally?

Thanks!

Tom

Will not make your pump work any harder since the pumps are centrifical so as you block the output the fluid just spins around the impeller, but if your flow is reduced 50% then you could very well have overheat problems.

quote Originally posted by ray b: DONOT USE COPPER it will eat the alloy rad copper and alumimum in water donot last

What metal is best, and where do I get it? Aren't the pipes some type of stainless steel?

Aluminum I believe, that stuff is like gold anymore. I don`t see why stainless wouldn`t work.

I have removed coolant pipes from two cars, one with a 2.5 and the other with a 2.8, I didn't have to remove the front cross member, it is a pain though and you will need room on the sides to move the pipe around to get it to come out.

There is one hard to get at screw with a 10mm head that bolts the front flange on the coolant tubes to the cross member, remove the hoses at the ends, the two under car clamps and the two screws, you will find it easier to do with the front wheel liner out also, I belive I even removed the spare tire tub under the front declklid.

Here's a pic of the passenger side pipe at the front with the spare tire tub removed and it shows the tab with the screw that you have to remove.



The coolant pipes are stainlees steel.

I had one that was dented in the front on the 2.8 and it was causing it to run hot, I ended up getting another pipe that was dented at the rear, I did a cut and paste and had a friend Tig weld the two halves together, worked great and solved the running hot problem.

[This message has been edited by fierohoho (edited 07-29-2006).]

The coolant tubes are not stainless. They are mild steel and thats why they rust. Mine drivers side tube was rusted thru where the rear clamp section is . I cut the tube off about 6" infront of the rear clamp. Then I cut a replacement piece from a spare collant crossover pipe from the front off a v6 that I had. Welded the new piece together and put back on the car with a piece of radiator hose in front of the rear clamp. Works great.