[rheavn]

Let me start this with I hate plastic parts!

I was routing around by the radiator fan in response to a phone call from Bill Johnson. He had found two hoses that were badly chafed. The two hoses from the transmission cooler to the transmission cross under the radiator shroud and hose chafing occurs where they cross. I would suggest that you check these hoses because if they blow you will be stuck on the side of the road. The chafing on my hoses were not as bad as Bill's, but I wanted to shroud the two hoses from continuing to rub--future project will be to replace & reroute the hoses to avoid this problem. As I was installing the shroud I suddenly was getting a coolant bath. You guessed it I got into the coolant tank & it broke. I hate plastic parts!

Having a background in auto racing there is no excuse for a part breaking twice. Therefore I began looking for an alternative that would not break in similar circumstances. I found a tank manufacturer in Kansas--http://www.aluminumgastanks.net/options.html I spoke with the owner who stated he could make an 8" round aluminum tank, 16" tall with two 1/4" NPT bungs welded in the bottom for $174. He stated polishing it was $225 more. I ordered the tank on Monday and received the tank on Friday via free shipping UPS. Tank was as ordered--rough aluminum with tank clamps and a nice vented cap.

I had picked this size tank because I wanted to use the Arize tank's clamping system with the rubber mounting. The new tank fit in the same spot. You'll notice that the tank is polished--that is the result of ten hours of sanding & polishing.