What did I find inside my rad?

[drfromnc]

I was piddling around in the “pit” (my nickname for my 1 car garage) and peaked inside the radiator to find a small washer shaped round gasket ( 1” od , 7/16” Id) just under the water level. Where the heck did this come from ?

This is on a newly rebuilt 59a flatty with cleaned out (by rad shop) 34 radiator.

[Seth Swoboda]

How thick is it? Valve guide seal? Anyway, evidently something someone mistakenly dropped in there.

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by drfromnc

I was piddling around in the “pit” (my nickname for my 1 car garage) and peaked inside the radiator to find a small washer shaped round gasket ( 1” od , 7/16” Id) just under the water level. Where the heck did this come from ?

This is on a newly rebuilt 59a flatty with cleaned out (by rad shop) 34 radiator.

[Jack E/NJ]

Maybe a good luck radiator charm Better put it back..

[drfromnc]

Seth, gasket is 1/16” thick. It appears to be made of paper or some composite not rubber.

This engine was rebuilt over a year ago and was run on a test stand for several cycles and sat until 3 weeks ago when I ran it for 5-10 minutes. I pretty certain I’ve not dropped anything in the radiator. Especially any gasket of that size because I don’t recall one that size in anything I’ve rebuilt on my project.

[Seth Swoboda]

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Someone else might have dropped it in. Regradless, it's out and I would not worry.

[drolston]

Maybe the seal washer from a bottle of some additive to the radiator water?

[dean333]

The washer and nut at the bottom of my greyhound for my 33 fell into the abyss of the radiator, never to be seen again.

[drfromnc]

Ding..ding…ding. Tim I think we have a winner. I do remember now several months ago I had an issue where one of my rad caps (maybe even the greyhound one) came apart while removing. I thought I got all the parts out but I guess not.

So how do I keep the bolt holding the underneath cap parts from coming loose, loctite?

[deuce_roadster]

My guess is from inside an anti-freeze cap that had stuck to the gallon jug and went into the radiator when pouring in the liquid.

[cadillac512]

Originally Posted by drfromnc

Ding..ding…ding. Tim I think we have a winner. I do remember now several months ago I had an issue where one of my rad caps (maybe even the greyhound one) came apart while removing. I thought I got all the parts out but I guess not.

So how do I keep the bolt holding the underneath cap parts from coming loose, loctite?

When I want to keep something like that tight but may want to remove it undamaged at a later time, I use rtv silicone on the threads. It sets up and won't vibrate loose but is easy to remove when you need to.

[fordor41]

ditto on the RTV. I even use it under the car