WARNING! Possible Cooling System Failure

[Davidbr_48]

Here's an example of a great "learning experience".

Instead of running the stainless hose all the way to the thermostat and connecting it with the rubber adapter, I inserted a 90 degree plastic elbow in between the two rubber hoses (that is, the one that goes on the thermostat and the one that goes on the stainless hose). This worked just fine for a while, but today when I had the car on the dyno for some tuning the plastic elbow got hot, deformed and allowed the rubber hose to slip off and spray hot coolant all over the car and the mechanics. Happily, the guys at the shop are expert fabricators and build me an aluminum elbow to replace the plastic. Lesson learned: don't put extra connections in the cooling system, and don't use something like plastic that will melt!

[David Hodgkins]

It's always a good idea to run ideas like that past the forum or local build buddies. If you had told me to put a plastic elbow inline with the cooling system that would definitely be a red flag.

Build buddies are a good thing! It's always a good idea to have someone check your work.

I'm glad no one was hurt...

[68GT500MAN]

2x on no one getting hurt. One of the best things about the forum is being able to check ideas out.
Doug