Aluminum Coolant Overflow/Reservoir

[steen3rddensity]

I'm at a point in my fixing up/modding where I don't feel guilty if I put a little money towards "dressing up the engine." I'm pretty stoked on the new electric fan i just got, Proform Electric Fan 67017, so I was thinking why not keep going down this cooling route. My oem plastic reservoir tank is looking like butt right now so I started looking into aluminum "racy" ones.

A lot of tanks I've come across are definitely just for "overflow" and I've seen these small shiny bottle type catches at car shows. But I have come across an anecdote on a random DSM forum that "our" cooling systems need that re-circulation. I've definitely seen some tanks that have bungs at the top of the tank, bottom of the tank. And others with 2 bungs on top and I've been reading about people needing to put a feeder hose and blah blah and I don't even know what to listen to anymore!

I'm just trying to wrap my head around it and learn stuff. I'm hoping that one/some of you can explain whats going on, what kind of features to look for in buying a nicer reservoir suited to the needs of our trucks, maybe some suggestions on specific products, or maybe someone to say "don't buy that man."

i've included pictures so there's stuff to look at

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[steen3rddensity]

this isn't the random DSM forum I was talking about earlier, but I did find this other DSM reservoir related thread
http://www.3si.org/forum/f1/aftermarket-coolant-overflow-tanks-388883/index2.html
it's from 2008 and they're talking about what I'm talking about but it doesn't seem like there was a conclusion...

[geezer101]

Whatever overflow bottle you use it will need to have 2 features - an internal hose that will reach as close to the bottom of the overflow reservoir and it has to be vented (if you use a sealed tank it will self pressurise and prevent coolant from reaching it). I guess you can have an overflow that plumbs into the bottom of the tank but the shorter the return/feed hose, the better it will work. I took the top off the original overflow tank and put it onto an alu sports/hiking drink bottle on one of my cars as the plastic overflow tank had degraded.
http://i1089.photobucket.com/albums/i351/geezer1011/parts/LD%20Astra/shedstuff060.jpg

[steen3rddensity]

!!! I've seen some people use energy drink cans and even glass liquor bottles. It looked really trick, but not for me. The aluminum canteen bottles are a great idea! I'm surprised that I haven't seen it more. I'm seriously going to look into it, thanks.

[noahwins]

Check out Chase Bays. It's spendy but really nice.

http://www.chasebays.com/brands/chase-bays/chase-bays-coolant-overflow

[BradMph]

Seems funny to me that we can run an overflow radiator tank that dumps excess onto the street, yet get caught dumping antifreeze from a bottle on the street and the EPA would be on you in a second, lol.

[steen3rddensity]

that chasebays is pretty nice. more subtle than a mishimoto and it looks like they have better bracket options too.