[FetchMeAPepsi]

Today it was 98 freaking degrees outside. I worked on some water play for the kids then when they were enjoying a cooling off they'll probably remember forever, I sneaked 100 ft over to Cecilia and got to work on her leaky radiator.

For a while now I've been bugged by her steaming up when she gets hot. She gets up to normal operating temperature then out of the top right hand side (driver's side) she'll shoot steam out onto the motor. It's cost me around $10.00 in distilled water jugs so far to refill her.

If you've followed along you'll know that I still have to drive her from time to time so I grabbed a very handy little coolant overflow tank that fit perfectly on the other side of the battery. This kept her cool while I did my necessaries until I could get her pulled apart and get parts in for fixing her.

So I go to work pulling her radiator out. It's a pretty easy and straightforward process. And I was surprised by how light the radiator was. It was probably 50 lbs or so I'd guess. Heavy but not too bad.

Tools you will need:
Flathead screwdriver
Wrenches to disconnect the battery
9/16 socket wrench and one small extension
Some carburetor cleaning dip
Some 50/50 silver solder
A propane torch
A wire brush or wire wheel for your drill


The first thing I did was disconnect the battery. That's because I'd be working right around the engine fan and I sure didn't want to lose an arm. My dad had stories about guys that had been working on cars and a helpful kid or a mistaken wire turned the engine over and broke their arms off. I don't know if the stories are true, but I'm attached to my appendages.



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Then I took loose the top hose. There's just one screw clamp on it. This gets it out of the way in case things go sideways down in the bottom hose we're working on.



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Remember with these you don't remove them, you just loosen them so they'll slide down the hose a bit.



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Then give the ol' hose a wiggle and a twist. And POP! Off she comes. Notice the rust.



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Then I unscrewed the bottom hose. It's wayyy down on the bottom. It takes a flathead screwdriver too.



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When you get the bottom hose loose make sure to remove it all the way from the radiator or it'll hang you up when you go to pick the radiator up and out.



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When you take the bottom hose off it'll spring forth with a green rain. REMEMBER for those of you that have shop dogs or cats that this stuff is POISONOUS and it will KILL THEM. Plus it tastes sweet so they love it and over indulge. Water it down with the hose if you don't want to be burying fluffy tomorrow. Or collect it.
I actually was going to clamp off the hose before taking it off but it has a spring inside the hose to keep it from collapsing. It won't clamp.



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