Check out my vintage overflow tank!! Super Rare!!!

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66340SEDAN

66340SEDAN

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Ok, it is not super rare or original but I needed to do something for an overflow tank! :toothy10: I looked at several different options, stock, junk yards, hot rod billet style, ebay, never found any that fit or looked good. So I had this old Mopar antifreeze additive can lying around, straped it in. I just used cheezy zip ties for now but it holds tight, I would like to make a bracket of some kind to hold it in a little better. I think it looks cool, plus it fits with the limited space. What do ya think? What are you early a-body guy's using for a tank? Keith. 8)

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I am using a old 2 1/2lb extinguisher body with a rethreaded head. It already has a built in dip tube and uses a stainless spring bracket. I'll try and take a pic later. It's nice that it uses a spring bracket so it's very secure but easily removed to flush out the crud.
 
I see you have the ultra rare body color NOS lite weight retention devices on that overflow bottle.
 
I like the vintage bottle looks awesome. My tank is made from a old stainless water filter i welded a top on it and threaded in a fitting .used a stainless strap to hold it in. I think i will look for something like yours though. nice job.

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Where did you get your strap, did you make it? I can't find one, I will probably just make one to better secure it. Thanks for the picture, nice car! :toothy10:
 
Strap is made from a really big hose clamp, you can get them from plumbing supplier or hvac company. Just cut to length and drill holes in it.
 
That actually looks pretty cool, gotta say 66340 you've got one of the nicest engine bays in an early A I've seen, love the looks of the commando covers with the red air gap intake in between, looks awesome!! Ok thumbs up aside checkout this recovery bottle (more like a friggin tank) on my car. I have to say I know its a Mopar part but it is ugly as hell, at least under the hood of my car. You guys have inspired me to come up with something a little different and smaller for sure.Anyone recognize what the bottle would be off? thanks.

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adds very nice character to the sterile engine bay
 
Thats a great idea. I once saw a low-rider at a car show that had used a big Captain Morgan spiced rum plastic bottle as an overflow!
 
Just a question guys, is the overflow bottle just to catch overflowing coolant? Im thinking about an intrepid overflow bottle, but didnt know if it would be big enough, I noticed some of the tanks here were smaller.
 
There is an E-body coolant tank that mounts just behind the right headlight and fits the contour of their inner fender down to the frame rail. I want to know if it fits the A-body before I buy one. Sure would look good if it did.
Anything to keep the air out of the system is better than nothing.
 
macadoo1961 - That tank looks like it is out of a later model Dart. I have one that looks like it out of a 1973 Dart 318 car mounted in mine.

Dodgenut64 - Basically, the radiator is designed to cool the coolant until the thermostat opens allowing the coolant to circulate in the engine and push the warmer coolant from the engine into the radiator to cool. The thermostat then closes and holds that cooler fluid in the engine to allow it to soak up the heat from the engine. The other coolant is now in the radiator and the radiator is cooling it. Then the system repeats.

When the coolant gets hot enough the pressure will displace the now "extra" coolant into the overflow tank. When you turn the car off the coolant cools and causes a vacuum that pulls the displaced coolant back into the radiator system. If you look at a factory tank you will see that is has a cold line that you top up the tank to and a hot line. In operation the coolant level in the tank will displace from the radiator and increase the volume in the tank towards the hot line and then go back when it cools. Keeps the radiator system full to optimum level and allows it to handle very hot situations without loosing coolant level.

Factory tanks will also have an overflow ability to the tank in case the system overheats. For example, the tank both macadoo and I have has a made on tube as part of the tank. The tube extends from the top and down the side of the tank and is open to the ground. If the car overheats and fills the tank the excess fluid and steam will rise up the tank until it reaches the tube hole and then it will vent out the tube. The other thing this tube does is allow air to be sucked into the overflow tank so that in normal operation the coolant can be sucked back into the radiator. Think of it like you are drinking a soda from a plastic bottle. If you place your mouth over the top of the bottle (don't get dirty out there!) and drink the soda keeping the top sealed in your mouth, the bottle will compress due to the suction. On the other hand, if you put a straw in the the open soda bottle and suck up the soda it flows freely and does not compress the bottle. This is because the open top is allowing air in the bottle to replace the now sucked out soda.

MORE INFO THAN YOU EVER WANTED EH?

If you look at those generic box type overflow tanks at the parts store you will see that if they do not have the vent tube on the tank that they generally have a small hole in the cap or something to do the same thing.

So, hopefully in the gibberish I've just written I've answered your question.

I know many in the classic Mini world fit tanks to the car as the early cars had none. Simply had a tube off the radiator to the ground. On a hot day and under load conditions the coolant warms up enough to displace onto the ground. In this instance the coolant is just lost and when the system cools it just sucks air into the radiator. The result is that the radiator now can be a bit low causing the system to perhaps not be able to cool like it should due to low level.

So, if you are designing a tank for the car you need to decide what you want it to do. Simply drilling a hole in the top of a container and putting a hose to it at the top works if you just want it to be a catch can to stop coolant from going on the ground.

If you want a system that works like the factory to allow that coolant to go back into the radiator then you will need to design the system a bit differently. Simple way to do it is either have the tube off the radiator attach at the bottom of the tank or have it attach to the top with an internal tube inside the tank that places the opening at the bottom of the tank. This keeps the tube always covered by the coolant and allows it to suck it back into the system. The next thing you need to do is place a provision for venting to the tank. Probably the cleanest way, but certainly not the only way, would be to mount a 90 degree fitting on the side of the tank up top (out of the coolant and in the air at the top of the tank) and then run a line down that would allow overheat coolant to flow out and also this would be the vent that allows air to be sucked into the tank when the coolant goes back into the radiator.

Hope that makes sense.

Wow do I have to work on not being so wordy. Must be in another of my blathering stupers this AM.

Cheers
 
I dig it. Way to think "outside the box" or at least outside the overflow container.

Maybe for a bracket you could take apart an old oil filter wrench and use the strap. Just a thought.
 
Thanks MoparBrit, that was well explained. This was the overflow bottle I was considering, its out of a Dodge Intredip.

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MoparBrit said:
Hope that makes sense.

Wow do I have to work on not being so wordy.........Cheers
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This is ANOTHER one of those great posts I love to see from you guys !!!

Just like Jerry's how-to on the wiper seals, our friend here MoparBrit (I really wish you guys would put your names in your signatures....) gave a very accurate description. When explaining something, you can *almost* never be "too wordy".

Great job and thank you for taking the time to type it all out. :thumrigh:
 
That's OK... I'm considering a Jack Daniels bottle myself.
A reminder of a crazier time in my life..... :roll:
 
yawl are all upside down. you flip the container and run the hose in the bottom which is now the top so you can unscrew the cap and drain it because your design is only a puke tank and will not return to the radiator. Check out the ones from summit and jegs,they have drain petcocks on the bottom.
 
REDFISH,
Mopar used 2 different overflow bottles on A-Bodies.
Here is mine from far away
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Here is another 73 340. There is a nipple that sticks out of the bottom that fits a hole in the frame rail below it.

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I used a jaz 1 quart return type bottle mounted in front of the core support on the passenger side. If I ever figure out how to post a pic I might do that so you can see what I did. I found that with the use of a heavy piece of strap I could use existing holes in the core support and bolt the thing together with some washers used as spacers - came out pretty neat. Only issue with the jaz bottles is that they dont have a level indicator - no problem - I used a piece of clear hose going to the bottle so you can see where the level is inside the bottle - sort of like a u shaped balance tube if you will.
 
Dodgenut64 said:
Thanks MoparBrit, that was well explained. This was the overflow bottle I was considering, its out of a Dodge Intredip.
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Hi thanks to MoparBrit and Yellowdartdave for the heads up on what I've got under my hood, makes me feel alittle better to know it comes from an A body, I thought maybe it was from a big Chrysler like a Monaco or something!! Eh Dodgenut, I don't know if that part you showed you would want to use, its actually an expansion tank, you'll notice it has a rad cap on it, its actually meant to be part of the pressurized cooling system, not really any different than the top tank on a rad. On that type of system your coolant level is keep usually just below the cap (air in top of tank for expansion of hot coolant) its used with systems that have no radcap/neck on the radiator itself. Using a closed system with a recovery bottle like we're speaking of here should never have air in it, thats one of the bonuses to running it as so well explained by Moparbrit:cheers:
 
macadoo1961 said:
Hi thanks to MoparBrit and Yellowdartdave for the heads up on what I've got under my hood, makes me feel alittle better to know it comes from an A body, I thought maybe it was from a big Chrysler like a Monaco or something!! Eh Dodgenut, I don't know if that part you showed you would want to use, its actually an expansion tank, you'll notice it has a rad cap on it, its actually meant to be part of the pressurized cooling system, not really any different than the top tank on a rad. On that type of system your coolant level is keep usually just below the cap (air in top of tank for expansion of hot coolant) its used with systems that have no radcap/neck on the radiator itself. Using a closed system with a recovery bottle like we're speaking of here should never have air in it, thats one of the bonuses to running it as so well explained by Moparbrit:cheers:
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Cool, thanks for explaining that. I still dig your sig, great picture and angle of your car.
 
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