Originally Posted by Xfire fan
Cool idea and design.
I don't know if you've thought of this or not so I'll just put it out there. I assume you are going to fill the freeze tanks full of water and then put them in a freezer to freeze them. Don't forget the ice is going to expand the freeze tanks, possibly splitting the tanks or at least making them swell, so you might need a little bit of extra clearance in the coolant tank where the freeze tanks slid in.
Also a suggestion for when you weld up the tanks. After the tanks have cooled pour Denatured alchohol in the tanks and tip the tanks to let the alchohol cover the weld seams if there is a leak Denatured alchohol will find it. Hope these help and good luck.
Great tips... However, I realized that my welding skills would cause more damage than good, so I took my mock-up and Jody's plans over to my buddies metal fabrication shop to get his professional opinion and an estimate to build it... He was duly impressed by both my foam-core mock-up and Jody's engineering plans... He did make some suggestions, recommendations and comments... First he said to make the entire thing out of 1/8" 5057... Second, he said that it should be made to limit the welds by bending the ends up and sides over and welding the joints, instead of cutting 6 seperate pieces of aluminum and welding each edge... Then he said, "Let me just build this damned thing for you, because I've seen your welding and it sucks"... I didn't disagree !!! He also said he would build 6 "freeze" tanks so they could be kept in a cooler and replaced between events...
So, tomorrow I'm off to "Industrial Metal Supply" to buy some 1/8" 5057, find a srew cap fitting, some aircraft pipe barbs and hope that he gets the thing completed before I collect Social Security...
PS: when I got home today, I was pleased to see the new Johnson Pump sitting on my doorstep... This thing is TINY, but HEAVY... Looks to be well built...
Slowly but surely the parts are arriving and making me feel like the is a light at the end of this engine swap tunnel !!!