Dodged a bullet!

[JDNSW]

This afternoon I was planning to pull the rocker cover off to check the tappet clearances before taking the 2a into town to get a pink slip.

While doing this, I bumped the heater hose just above the thermostat housing. And the fitting broke off. Turns out, rust is not very strong. There was no metal left at all where it went into the hose. Surprisingly, it unscrewed from the housing without any problems.

Then I spent most of the afternoon ratting through bits and pieces looking foe fittings to get it back on the road. Eventually found a suitable brass fitting with two inches of the right sized copper pipe attached. Screwed it in with some stag, and reattached the hose. Now to see if it leaks - should not be leaking badly, anyway.

I can just imagine, if it had let go on the way to town, would have been a real problem to fix on the road; and quite a few kilometres with no traffic ad no phone coverage.

[drfish]

Phew, that was a close call - would have been a long walk back (or forward)!

[goingbush]

Very Lucky, Not really the sort of thing you pick up in routine maintenance.
I run a mix of soluble oil in the water, (milling machine coolant) in my vintage cars . I prefer it over modern inhibitors.

[1950landy]

Very Lucky, Not really the sort of thing you pick up in routine maintenance.
I run a mix of soluble oil in the water, (milling machine coolant) in my vintage cars . I prefer it over modern inhibitors.

You need to be careful with Soluble Oil , it will build up on it's self restricting water flow through the radiator tubes & radiator repair guys hate it, almost impossible to get out . It is not too bad in older vehicles , you can almost stick a pencil down the tubes . I was told once many years ago when I worked in the mechanical trade by a radiator guy it also retards cooling but not sure if it is true though.

[goingbush]

You need to be careful with Soluble Oil , it will build up on it's self restricting water flow through the radiator tubes & radiator repair guys hate it, almost impossible to get out . It is not too bad in older vehicles , you can almost stick a pencil down the tubes . I was told once many years ago when I worked in the mechanical trade by a radiator guy it also retards cooling but not sure if it is true though.

Interesting, was recommended to me by an old school radiator repairer , he had never seen a rusted block or clogged radiator , that recommendation was good enough for me.
Where the thermal conductivity of antifreeze is not as good as clean water ,. a soluble oil mix is better.

The caveat is you need to flush and renew every few years.

I wouldn't want to pay for this Snake *cough er Soluble Oil but gives a rundown of advantages, Probably the same as the Milling machine oil I use.
Super Soluble Oil Radiator Coolant (http://liquidintelligence.com.au/products/super-soluble-oil-radiator-coolant)