Gates Racing Radiator Hoses

**bklynmag** · 04-12-2008, 07:15 PM

Well, I was changing my oil last week and noticed my lower radiator hose was leaking slightly around the clamp. Good thing I caught it early. I looked around a bit as none of my local shops had any in stock(special order) and found these Gates Hoses at Jegs. With shipping they came out to about $50.

A description I found from the Gates Racing Website:

The color pops (blue only) and the performance rocks. What more can you ask from a hose? Get the reliability and performance you demand. Go with Gates Racing Performance Coolant Hoses.

Advanced Fiber Construction. Exceptional durability and resistance to pressure extremes.

Premium EPDM Rubber Compound. Protects against the high temperatures of full throttle driving. Prolongs the effectiveness of coolant because it's 10 to 15 times more resistant to water permeation than silicone hose.

Electro-chemically Resistant ECR® Tube Stock. Combats the leading cause of premature hose failure - electrochemical degradation (ECD).

Not bad

**imahemi** · 04-12-2008, 07:19 PM

Cool... At least you caught it early...

**Hemi4me?** · 04-12-2008, 07:25 PM

How hard to install?

**bklynmag** · 04-12-2008, 07:26 PM

Originally Posted by imahemi

Cool... At least you caught it early...

It could have been ugly if the hose let go on my way down the 1/4 mile and wet the rear tires at 100+

**bklynmag** · 04-12-2008, 07:33 PM

Originally Posted by Hemi4me?

How hard to install?

Just a matter of removing two clamps per hose. All you need is a set of channel locks and some patience. You have to attack the lower hose from underneath which just means you remove the front dust shield and get a little wet.

BTW the radiator drain plug/hose sucks. Takes forever to drain.

One funny item is I had to bleed air from the system when I was done.
The car jumped up to 240 real quick so I just opened the reservoir cap enough to let the air come out but no fluid(I have to thank Hemi31 for that one as I have seen him do it on installs a few times). It took around 10 minutes of opening/closing and monitoring the temp to get all of the air out.

On a scale of 1 to 10 for difficulty I give it a 2.

**Hal'sMag** · 04-13-2008, 12:02 AM

In my search to solve the Max Duty Radiator install, I found Cool flex cooper hoses. Mr Gasket makes a SS one also.

Cool flex is lifetime guarantee.

They're the hoses the hot rodders add to their pretty engine set ups.

They bend to where you want them, and hold shape well.

I'm interested to see how well they'll hold up with all the shifting around our hemi's do on the engine mounts. I'll build in some bends that will hopefully take that into account.