Looking for difficult to find hardware
#1
Burning Brakes
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I'm getting tired of making a huge mess in my garage every time I drain the coolant system. I decided to start looking around for a stopcock that can be installed in place of the plastic drain plug in the radiator. I know for 87' and later cars the plug is M10 x 1.5mm and for 86' and earlier its M10 x 1mm. Problem is I cant seem to find any place that sells plastic drain stopcocks with a metric threaded end. I've checked Mcmaster Carr and a couple of other places with not success. Anyone have any ideas of where to look next?
#2
Burning Brakes
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#3
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I have drained mine a couple times now and all I do is disconnect the lower radiator hose from the radiator on the passenger side. Just loosen the hose clamp and pull it off with a bucket underneath it. If you do it quickly, there's no mess!
#4
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I looked and looked and looked and couldnt find anything. What im doing is a banjo bolt and fitting, with a hose going to a ball valve. Ill post pics once its ready to go.
#5
Burning Brakes
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I found a 2-way micro stopcock at Bohlender Chemical Supply, except its M8 not M10. If I can find an adapter to step up to M10 I'll be in business.
http://www.bola.de/E/Produkte/0F00055B.html
http://www.bola.de/E/Produkte/0F00055B.html
#6
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I'd like something like this. I just broke my drain plug two days ago putting it back in.
I had a big bucket, so the mess wasn't that bad, but I was doing it outside.
I had a big bucket, so the mess wasn't that bad, but I was doing it outside.
#7
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In all honesty disconnecting the lower hose is fast and does something a petcock can't do. It drains the system fast enough to bring any sediments out that tend to plate out when drained slow. A small matter yes, but if you are draining the system for coolant exchange or after a cleaning flushing it does matter to get the crud out quickly.
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#8
Burning Brakes
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Originally Posted by KuHL 951
In all honesty disconnecting the lower hose is fast and does something a petcock can't do. It drains the system fast enough to bring any sediments out that tend to plate out when drained slow. A small matter yes, but if you are draining the system for coolant exchange or after a cleaning flushing it does matter to get the crud out quickly.
#9
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Originally Posted by 87944turbo
I have drained mine a couple times now and all I do is disconnect the lower radiator hose from the radiator on the passenger side. Just loosen the hose clamp and pull it off with a bucket underneath it. If you do it quickly, there's no mess!
#11
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Originally Posted by Dave951
I'm getting tired of making a huge mess in my garage every time I drain the coolant system. I decided to start looking around for a stopcock that can be installed in place of the plastic drain plug in the radiator. I know for 87' and later cars the plug is M10 x 1.5mm and for 86' and earlier its M10 x 1mm. Problem is I cant seem to find any place that sells plastic drain stopcocks with a metric threaded end. I've checked Mcmaster Carr and a couple of other places with not success. Anyone have any ideas of where to look next?
I found a stalinless steel plug for a 951 radiator at my local ACE HARDWARE.
Walked in with my core and matched up the treads tried it and it worked for me
no leaks....
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#12
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Stainless steel and aluminum isn't a good combo...a non-metallic plug if you can find it would be a much better choice. I hope you glopped up the threads real well with sealant before that aluminum starts corroding.
#13
Burning Brakes
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Originally Posted by KuHL 951
Stainless steel and aluminum isn't a good combo...a non-metallic plug if you can find it would be a much better choice. I hope you glopped up the threads real well with sealant before that aluminum starts corroding.
#14
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Just a word of caution...remember metal/brass fittings expand at different rates that the plastic side tanks. I had replaced the plastic hose barb at the top part of the radiator with a brass one thinking it was better since the plastic one tends to crack. Ended up replacing the radiator after a few weeks since the plastic tank developed a crack at this fitting. Learned the hard way.