FE Expansion Tank on ERA

[kgs365]

how many of you have modified the expansion tank on a FE to fit a ERA?...was it a hard job (i.e. worth the $$ savings and pain) ?...is there anyone on the forum that will do this work?

thanks

[cobred]

I did mine and it was worth it. I bought one one ebay for 20 dollars. Glass beaded it to clean it, cut the bracket and unsoldered it, turned the tank and shortened the neck. Then I clamped it with vise grips and gave it to a radiator shop to resolder all the joints. I think I spent about $60 and 2 hours total.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by kgs365

how many of you have modified the expansion tank on a FE to fit a ERA?...was it a hard job (i.e. worth the $$ savings and pain) ?...is there anyone on the forum that will do this work?

thanks

The ERA expansion tank is a pretty nice piece of work. It's brass, covered with black expoxy, that has been shortened down and and fits with the FE's distributor cap. Mind you even then it's a tight, tight fit under there. ERA's web site quotes the price at $450. Personally, I'd go with the ERA tank (and I did go with the ERA tank.) -- getting it modified elsewhere is going to be a "hit and miss," cross-your-fingers type of deal; but you might end up saving a couple of bucks.

[elmariachi]

Originally Posted by patrickt

Personally, I'd go with the ERA tank (and I did go with the ERA tank.) -- getting it modified elsewhere is going to be a "hit and miss," cross-your-fingers type of deal; but you might end up saving a couple of bucks.

I jacked around with three different expansions tanks from eBay and made 4 trips to the radiator shop before getting mine to fit right and not leak. I then used a nice spray on epoxy coating and it looked great. Til it started weeping again. There are plenty of other places on your car to cut corners and save a little money, but if I were doing it again, I'd buy one already assembled, tested and painted. $450 is cheap vs the time and $ wasted.

[cscobra]

FYI--ERA no longer coats the tanks.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by cscobra

FYI--ERA no longer coats the tanks.

Are they still brass?

[cscobra]

Yes.

Apparently, ERA stopped coating the tanks because some of their customers wanted to chrome-plate them.

[kgs365]

...thanks guys...your not helping my budget!

[strictlypersonl]

As far as I know, we'll still epoxy-coat the tanks per your preference.

[kgs365]

strictlypersonl...im coming for a visit this week or next...if you have one in stock i'll pick one up, along with the alternator bracket needed for a FE so i can get the motor finished up

[xracerbob]

I went through 2 ebay tanks that I had a really good shop go through (with the warning that these old tanks were unreliable) that worked OK at first but later developed tiny leaks. I gave up and went with the Kirkham tank. Only problem is, it needs to be raised a little to work due to interference with the alternator brackets supplied by ERA. The Kirkhams made me a little spacer that lifted it up and it works really well, especially in conjunction with an overflow/coolant recovery tank.

[kgs365]

sounds easier to go to the source.....ERA

[RAO-3]

FWIW, I spoke to Peter about this recently for my build. They will epoxy coat or chrome the tank for you, but they can't be powder coated as the temp that that coating is fired at is too high for the solder joints.

I'm getting an epoxy coated one for my build.

Ray

[cscobra]

That's not what I was told, but OK. Mine came unfinished.