Subject: Re: Radiator repair

From: "John R. Johnson" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 25 Apr 1996 14:41:33 -0500

That is what I would do.  Preferably a little piece of brass sheet.
Bend to fit and sweat on.  Then solder the bracket back on.
You are lucky.  My radiator cap stuck on my Toyota MR-2.  Overpressure
caused the radiator to split and dump all the coolant on the interstate.
The head immediately warped!  After a week to disassemble the car to get
the head out, sent it off to be machined.  Remove radiator and repair
split... that was minor.  Get the head back with valve job and resurfaced
to eliminate warp.  Now the valves need adjustment.  Valves adjusted with
hardened steel shims about 2.5 mm thick.  Need sixteen of these puppies.
NO ONE has them except Toyota dealers.  Call the dealer for sixteen
hardened boilerpunchings.  Cost $8.00 EACH, week of working days to get
them, I have to pay in advance and then drive 20 miles to the dealer to
pick them up after they come in because it is against their policy to
drop ship!  
I politely ( if you believe that, do I have a bridge for you ) told them
where to install their eight dollar boiler punchings and went home and
surface ground the old oned to the dimensions I now required.
Then another week and a half to put everything back into this Japanese
threee dimensional jigsaw puzzle.
At least it now runs as well as it did 10 years ago when it was new. :-)
John

On Thu, 25 Apr 1996, Chris Blain wrote:

> 	A few months ago part of the hold-down bracket on my willy's
> radiator broke loose, unbeknownst to me. I discovered this fact this
> weekend when I found a green puddle in the driveway. The bracket had
> chafed a 1/8" hole in the bottom tank, directly opposite from the water
> outlet. I was thinking about soldering in a plug to staunch to flow. Any
> ideas/comments/wisdom to share? 
> 
>   *
>  * *    Chris Blain    ([email-masked])
> * C *   Black Diamond Equipment Ltd.
>  * *    2084 East 3900 South, SLC, UT 84124    phone: 801-278-5552 x327
>   *
> 
> DISCLAIMER: Unless otherwise indicated, this correspondence is personal
> opinion and NOT an official statement of Black Diamond Equipment Ltd.
> 
> 
> 
>

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From: "John R. Johnson" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 11:41:46 -0500

On Fri, 26 Apr 1996, Blake Malkamaki wrote:

> $ hardened steel shims about 2.5 mm thick.  Need sixteen of these puppies.
> $ NO ONE has them except Toyota dealers.  Call the dealer for sixteen
> $ hardened boilerpunchings.  Cost $8.00 EACH, week of working days to get
> $ them, I have to pay in advance and then drive 20 miles to the dealer to
> $ pick them up after they come in because it is against their policy to
> $ drop ship!  
> $ I politely ( if you believe that, do I have a bridge for you ) told them
> $ where to install their eight dollar boiler punchings and went home and
> $ surface ground the old oned to the dimensions I now required.
> $ Then another week and a half to put everything back into this Japanese
> $ threee dimensional jigsaw puzzle.
> I do try to stay away from this Jap stuff because of this kind of thing. 
> Why don't they just make it adjustable to begin with?  I guess some of the
> Fords are guilty of this kind of stuff too.
> Blake Malkamaki, Little Mountain Ironworks, Concord, Ohio <[email-masked]>
> >>Steam engines - Cletrac Crawler Tractors - Maple Syrup - Metal Signs<<
> 

So are the Germans.  Actually it is a great way to adjust valves.  Mine
stayed in adjustment for 100,000 miles! :-)  I don't object to the steel
shims.  I DO object to $8.00 each and NOT in Stock at the dealer's and
"No drop ship" policies so that I have to make a special trip to the
dealers to pick them up after they finally arrive.  Those were the policies
that led me to grind my own shims, which wasn't a problem.  It took me
about four hours to make a set that would have cost me about $140.00.
That is even a reasonable shop rate for making them myself.  I think it is
pretty bad when a production part costs more than it does to have a 
machine shop set up and custom make the same part!  Talk about "economies
of scale!"
John

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From: "John R. Johnson" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 11:42:52 -0500

Darn, Cecil.  I knew those pennies were good for something!  I have a friend
who punchs holes in them and uses them for washers, because they are cheaper
than buying a washer!
John

On 26 Apr 1996, CBear81438 wrote:

> Use an old (pre 80 ) copper penny  to solder over the hole.  play  the
> heat on the penny and the radiator will solder easily.
> 
> Cecil in OK
> 
>

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From: [email-masked] (CBear81438)
Date: 26 Apr 1996 00:17:46 -0400

Cecil in OK

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From: Chris Blain <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 25 Apr 1996 10:26:01 -0600

*

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From: [email-masked] (Blake Malkamaki)
Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 01:00:22 -0500

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From: [email-masked] (Don Clarke)
Date: 26 Apr 1996 23:58:11 GMT

In article <Pine.A32.3.93.960423111717.27216B-100000@blkdia>,

>ideas/comments/wisdom to share? 

Chris, some years back when I was first married, I got a hole in the tank of 
my rad. No money for new rad, needed car, set of torches in garage...

I popped the rad out, drained the little bit of coolant left, wire brushed the 
rad around the hole till it was clean and then tinned the area. Took a penny, 
brushed it clean and tinned it. Laid the penny on top of the hole and ran a 
bead of solder around it. Two years later the repair was still holding. 

I'd say solder on a brass or copper patch and not worry about it.

Good luck
Don

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From: Steve Wellcome <[email-masked]>
Date: 29 Apr 1996 18:40:37 GMT

>>>Steam engines - Cletrac Crawler Tractors - Maple Syrup - Metal Signs<<

Well, all "Jap stuff" is not created equal.  I've got a 12-year-old Toyota
4x4 pickup truck that has a pretty low-tech simple engine, all things 
considered.  It's been extremely reliable, and parts aren't that expensive.
Even the newer Toyota truck engines aren't too bad in that respect.

If I remember correctly, the MR-2 is a fairly sporty offering from Toyota.
One pays...and pays for stuff like that, no matter who makes it.