ive had to cut off the neck from the top of me radiator.it hit the nose cone so off it came.but........any tips on the best way to now blank off the hole.its made from plastic. glue??fibre glass?? epoxy resin?? help.(D)
Rescued attachment radiator.jpg

When i was knocked off my bike and smashed the fairing i found a local chap (yellow pages) that does plastic welding, he welded the fairing back together for me , worked a treat...just a thought

[Edited on 30/4/2003 by Viper]

Hi Billy
I guess just moving the rad down a bit was'nt an option then!
The problem is that the system will be pressurised.
I don't think that I would trust any glue in this application. Have you still got the piece that you cut off the top?
It may be possible to 'weld' a blanking plate at the top.
Get hold of a heat gun & another scrap of plastic the same type as the cut off section.
Then touching the 2 pieces together, heat & feed in a thin strip of similar 'filler' plastic,& literally try to weld the 2 pieces together.
You can't do this with all plastics, but in this situation I can't think of a better solution.... Unless somebody knows otherwise!!

[Plastic welding would be the best method, but you may be able to make a metal blanking disk and attach with selftaps and some polyurethane or silicon sealant.
Paul.
quote]Originally posted by PaulBuz
Hi Billy
I guess just moving the rad down a bit was'nt an option then!
The problem is that the system will be pressurised.
I don't think that I would trust any glue in this application. Have you still got the piece that you cut off the top?
It may be possible to 'weld' a blanking plate at the top.
Get hold of a heat gun & another scrap of plastic the same type as the cut off section.
Then touching the 2 pieces together, heat & feed in a thin strip of similar 'filler' plastic,& literally try to weld the 2 pieces together.
You can't do this with all plastics, but in this situation I can't think of a better solution.... Unless somebody knows otherwise!!

To quote Harry Enfield:-

"Now I do not think you wanted to do that"

Plastic welding might work, ask The Plastic Tank Man. Don't think anything else will stand up to the pressure.

A new radiator and a little more consideration required by the looks

Cheers

Chris

tank man good under pressure then?


btw - if the poster doesnt know who tankman is, look for posts by locodude, the man of many names.

My nicknames a really good one.

my real name is justin arbuthnot golightly.



atb

steve (aka)

Try some of this stuff. It's good stuff. Our local hardware shop sells it. Bit like Araldite.

yours, Pete.

yeh that might be worth a try...has anyone used this stuff on plastic????we can see it glues metal quite nicely...cheers

Why not put a stainless brace inside the rad with the centre tapped. Make up a plate up to cover the hole and bolt it down onto the brace using JB Weld to seal it, JB is brilliant stuff, but would not seal the hole on its own

cheers mark that sounds like a good idea...fingers crossed the jb weld likes plastic.

Another possibility could be to machine a Top Hat style bung with two (two is always better than one) O'ring grooves machined on the smaller diameter.

Ensure the O'ring material isn't made of Nitrile NBR as this can only withstand temps of up to 100 degrees, however Viton can withstand temps of up to 150 degrees with non-water based fluids and 200 degrees with water/ steam based fluids.
You would obviously have to work out a way of clamping the bung in place as I wouldn't recommend relying on the O'rings.

Hi, I second the post from Petef ( I'm sorry I can't see the post for the spelling now) who suggested JB Weld This is great stuff. I've fixed several plastic auto parts with it and it has never failed me. I even put the input hose connection back on my Saab radiator on a trip once. Never had to do anything else about it.