MG Sports Cars

Does anyone have experience using the convoluted type of stainless steel radiator hoses ? Do they keep their shape after being routed ? Do they last ? My car has a Rover engine ,so the hoses have quite complex bends. In other words ,are they just bling or are they functional also ? Barrie E

Hi Barrie. We used the convoluted hose originally on the MG-Roadmaster. It seemed like a great idea at the time. But one of the ends blew off unexpectedly, dousing Dave Kirkman in hot coolant so we found a formed hose and replaced it. To be fair about it, that particular kit used tapered sleeves and we never had that problem with the straight sleeves, but nontheless if I used one I'd take great pains to insure good clamping. The use of reducer sleeves to adapt to smaller fittings seems to be fertile ground for slippage. But they form very well and do seem to stay put. There may be some issues with flow reduction due to the corrugations.

I've found that If I bend a coathanger or welding filler rod to the right shape and cut it to the right length, I can go to the local auto parts stores and match up something from their inventory that will do the job in most cases. Anyway, best of luck with it.

Jim

Barrie, I have one stainles Hose on my Jaguars (351 Ford engine) lower hose and although I only have about 3000 miles on it, all is well so far. I used it because I needed a 24" lenght of hose and it had kind of a unique routing. Had one on the upper hose, but replaced it with standard rubber hose a while back because I liked the apperance a bit more, and I have not noticed any difference in cooling properties. By the way I used the stainless hose, simply because Jim mentioned that they were going to use it on the Roadmaster and now he tells me about his problem.
Merv

But Merv, haven't you been keeping up with the Roadmaster thread? ;-)

Jim

Actually Jim, you had commented about using the Stainless hoses when the Roadmaster was up at Pete's , which should have been 2 or 3 years ago. I figured that if it was good enough for the Roadmaster it was good enough for me. I installed stainless hoses and they worked great. Such and easy fix and in my case I guess that ignorance is bliss.

All of that being said I am sure now that I have commented about how well the stainless hoses have worked, that I am going to go out in my garage and find a big puddle of water all over the floor, but at least now I can blame Berrie because he is the one that brought up this subject
Merv

Well thank the heavens for that one small grace! Actually I think it's pretty good stuff provided you secure the ends adequately. If you bought some castable urethane you should be able to make up some really slick hose ends cast in place on the ends and shaped to match the mating parts. That would seal better and look really good too.

Jim

Don't know if it's available in OZ, but I went with Gates Vulco-Flex hose: [www.gates.com] Just looked more period correct to me than that stainless street rodder stuff.

I have this stuff on all my cars and one has many many miles on it without any issues. The hoses will stay in the position and makes bends without colapsing that rubber won't do. The pic is bottom hose on my SBC powered TD(not much room there!!). Didn't use the chrome end covers because hose is so short and I couldn't see the rubber sleeve to tell is everything was sealed. Two of the bottom hoses on my cars are done this way because of limited space.
take care, Dave

Installed mine in 2006 in my B and they still on.
My 32 Roaster 10 years and 40 k new owner still using them. Got hot a few times at the drag strip, blew a head gasket, hoses ends did not fail.

This is what I'm considering, It's 48 " long & comes with 4 attachments. It's about $110 including postage. It's not much more than I would have to pay for a pair of original MGBV8 rad hoses. I can buy local hoses for a Ford Fairlane & a GM Holden Statesman, which can be made to fit, but they are under stress & the pipes tend to go oval at the bends.

I get mine on EBAY, price for 48" hose and fittings is about $50, check it out.

You can see the hoses I'm using in this link: [www.britishv8.org]

I think they're similar to the ones you're asking about, Barrie. They've been on there for 6 years with no issues. In fact, I just had to remove them tonight for some rad work and they had been sealed so well, I had to work at it to get the fittings off.

They hold their shape and are easily cut for proper length. I'd use them again.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2012 10:37PM by Simon Austin.

Thanks Simon, as Bill once said " a pix is worth a 1000 words " I was a bit unsure how the bend at the radiator end would work out. Also, my hearty thanks to everyone else who contributed to my query. Rgds, Barrie E