LXi Radiators and CAC's

[al perna]

Ron ,
sorry about the 13k quote last week , I was going from memory lol the actual price Alber Rose paid was 11,431.51 ouch!!

recore 9jyC2701 so#5380099 3,380.00

air cooler 52001637DH 2,800.00
(9035p11935s1)(9035p1195s2)

labor was 2,625.00
parts 7,228.88

I gave you the cooler and recore the balance is in the clamps and such . if you need a copy of the nvoice as reference let me know as I am in the neighborhood .

Al

[GregOConnor]

my LXi has some compromised fins on the Radiator so I decided to pull it out and do a r-ecore. I found Davids posts on the other forum but the images are lost and I cant seem to figure how to remove the L brackets that hold the radiator so I decided to slide it out the back of the bus.

Reading the other post I decide to replace all the bands, bolts, washers, hoses and j seats so I did not exercise care removing these items.
aa. I used 3 cans of PB blaster and sprayed every screw thread and part I could see two days prior.
aaa. removed the coolant out the bottom of the radiator and sealed it up in 5 gal cans to keep my dog from getting into it I think I took out about 23 gal and another 1.5 gallons washed out the radiator when I rolled it out.
a. removed the rear bumper
b. In the way/ out the back is a 2x2 16 ga brace that runs on a diagonal that I hacked off with a sawzall clean top and bottom. to note the brace is welded complete at the bottom but not at the top so there was a bit of rust in the interior of that tube.
c. The transmission lines were on too tight so I cut them with a saw but drew a line so I can get new hoses made for the refit and have the deg bends put in the proper place.
d.Removed all the hoses and other things attached, cut the two clevis braces midway and marked them so I could make new adjustable braces
e.knocked out the rubber baffle and unbolted the bottom two big bolts in the rubber mounts.
f. shoved two flat steel 3in x 1/2in x6 foot long under the radiator and out the back to a stack of timber cribbing.
g. placed some 1/2 inch round bar about 10 inches long under the unattached radiator.
gg. cut a 1/2 scrap piece of plywood to fit tight against the face of the cac for fin protection
h. rolled the complete set out and dismantled as it got closer to reduce the weight.
One of the problems is the bottom bracket that holds the fan motor is in the way of one L frame bracket and I did not want to cut/modify/hack the Frame bracket so I removed that plate but did not attempt to remove the top bolts to the fan until the assembly rolled closer out. the angle iron holding the fan is in the way of a square fit to the bolts so I notched the angle iron a bit at the bottom to remove the 3 screws threaded in the radiator frame.

It looks like the PO used some sort of citrus de-greaser to clean the radiator and that side of the bus engine bay because most of the paint is gone from the frame rail on that side and any surface that you cant see has a coat of rust on it. the battery side is clean and black. my thinking is he did not wash the de-greaser off very well

the hayden oil cooler fans are in good shape, but way dirty and the fan blades are caked which has to cut down on draw. I was thinking of pushing the cooler back and placing fans external blowing in ?????
Here is an image of the unit pushed out the back and an image of the track.

[ernie ekberg]

that is a lot of work

[davidbrady]

Nice write up Greg. I don't see why you couldn't mount the Hayden fans to the outside of the Hayden radiator. Pusher fans may flow more air because they're pushing cooler/denser air, not air that's already been heated by the radiator.

Here's some of the pics of my LXi that were missing from the commercial site:

[jwm470]

Does pic #22 show David or Greg's bus? Very nice. That is the way all engine compartments should look. Are the CAC and radiator tubes made of stainless? If not, are they simply polished or polished and clear-coated?

[davidbrady]

Hi Jeff,

Yes, that's my LXi which I sold a year or so ago. The coolant and CAC tubes are stainless and are from BHTubes. The part numbers of the exhaust system (MHE1867498 and MHE1867597) are still listed on Roger's (BHTubes) site but for some reason he no longer lists the part numbers for the CAC or coolant pipes. BHTubes also has exhaust part numbers listed for the '95 and '96 S60 equipped Wanderlodge. I put a phone call into him to see what's up. The 7" diameter intake pipe coming from the air cleaner is also stainless but I bought it from an supplier in Florida. I can pull up some contact info if anyone is interested. The radiator deaeration tank is OEM Wanderlodge. On my 2002 LXi the tank is made of aluminum. I simply stripped the paint.

Here's a thread for the BHTubes exhaust system part numbers: http://www.wanderlodgegurus.com/showthread.php?tid=9754

[GregOConnor]

if the image shows clean and painted it is Davids Bus.
I wont be replacing my metal tubes with stainless now but I think that is a good idea and may visit it in a future project. I noticed that BB painted the inside of these tubes or there is some over spray that got mixed with the r fluid and peeled off in lumps, not good as this may be what compromised some of the tubes in the radiator and caused the failure but all of the rust seems to be external so I will just clean and paint them for now

I plan to paint the frame rails with por 15 gloss black paint while I wait for the new radiator to get built. I also found a larger cac that will bolt up. I sent both cac units out to get tested and cleaned.
I know it is better to fix and update every possible item while the radiator is out but I was thinking of making radiator removal easy in the event a repair requires more room. I think I can get removal down to 2 hours out the back of the bus with a different bottom bracket to the radiator fan, and a couple of other mods for mounting and removing the Hayden fan oil radiator. One additional task I use with my tractor is to paint bolt threads to keep them from rusting. not sure if por15 is good for this but I use any rattlecan paint applied via a sponge brush or nail polish works great and has a small brush included .

David, do you think the crack in your cac was caused by the inlet hose twisting or the weight? Or the tube hanger being too rigid?

[davidbrady]

Hi Greg,

I gave my frame rails the full POR treatment including the marine clean and the phosphoric etch. I tried to avoid any phosphoric etch contact to high grade fasteners to limit hydrogen embrittlement. It's almost inevitable but I tried.

My CAC crack was due to some bonehead dumping the suspension and dropping the Rad/CAC and Hayden assembly onto an immoveable object (a rock or a tree stump). No, the bonehead wasn't me. I didn't find out till much later.

For fasteners I use lots of anti-seize and I coat threads with corrosion X, which I buy by the gallon.

[halkading]

POR 15 is the toughest paint I have ever run across. It should be good for bolt heads. It also comes in silver. If you get any on your skin you have to wear it off.

Hal Kading 2003 LX 40 Las Cruces NM

[davidbrady]

(09-04-2015 00:31)halkading Wrote:  POR 15 is the toughest paint I have ever run across. It should be good for bolt heads. It also comes in silver. If you get any on your skin you have to wear it off.

Hal Kading 2003 LX 40 Las Cruces NM

It's great stuff. I use it all the time, but you do need to follow the directions. I find if I paint the stuff over rust with no preparation it really doesn't bond well. If I marine clean it and phosphoric acid neutralize it, which also puts down a primer layer, then the bond is tremendous. Also, because it's moisture curing, on a really humid day it will set up very fast and it becomes very easy to over brush it. I use foam applicators which helps in keeping brush bristles out of the paint. Choose a dry day, get it on quick, don't over brush, and let it self level. It usually comes out super glossy!