Cooling System overhaul

[RickyJ]

I Started on my VX's cooling system at the weekend and have removed the radiator/hoses/top rail to give the whole system a clean thru and replace the hoses with silicon items where possible. I was expecting to find an O-ring in the the top rail where it meets the top of the engine but there isn't one there - Is this right? I'm going to rub down/repaint the rail but am not sure if I need to put an O-ring onto it before bolting it back on or should I use some sort of silicon gasket?

The other thing is does anyone have any recommendations for hose clips? It seems you can spend either 70p or £7 on a single clip - I've had a look at ABA and Mikalor clamps - I've got a set of Betaboyz repro Silicon Hoses to go on and I'm not sure whether it's worth spending the extra money on "posh" clips.

[Will]

I've seen only two types of gasket at that point, both are a flat, "washer-type" ring, either a) rubber, or b) cork.
Both are about 3mm thick uncompressed and about 9mm wide in cross section. The outside diameter is roughly the size of the recess in the head, and the inside diameter is significantly SMALLER than the size of the hole in the head.

In the states, we can use the tailpiece flange washer off of a kitchen sink fitting, which is 1-1/2" I.D> and available anywhere (well, at least in my garage). I don't know if that helps you in the UK, but stay away from an O-ring there for two reasons: a) It may extrude into the opening and leak, and b) the thing does not have to swivel since the outlet fitting is fixed, so the sealing surface is the bottom edge of the outlet fitting.

Do clean this surface up a bit if it has corroded.

[Pope1]

I fairly sure that mine only has some of the high temperature silicone stuff out of a tube and it's fine.

I've never bothered with any of the posh clips and have never had any problems with the standard "jubilee" type of thing. I'm sure they all work well, it's just that some look nicer than others perhaps.