Remote Radiator Drain

This is going to be a really short one, just to introduce you to a great product that will make your life way easier if you're concerned about messy and toxic coolant spills when draining/servicing your cooling system.

The other day I had to drain my cooling system, and I always dread the mess that it potentially makes. I have dogs and cats, and so toxic coolant is always a big concern for me. Whenever faced with this job, I always try my best to not spill a drop, but I always do spill at least a little bit. I had noticed about a year ago that Lindsay Racing sold this "remote drain hose" kit for the water cooled transaxle cars (924/944/968/928), and now I wanted one.

I ordered the kit from Paragon Products, as I like dealing with Jason. I got it today - but unfortunately I hadn't waited for it to arrive before re-filling the system. I had a couple of rainy days in which to work before a week of awesome warm fall weather, and I didn't want to lose driving time! So since the drain kit isn't actually installed yet, I'll just detail my plans now, and perform the installation next time I have the coolant out of the system.

This is what you get with the Lindsay Racing remote drain kit. There are also a pair of stainless Norma clamps that I forgot to include in the picture.

The drain kit from Lindsay comes with a piece of hose, two 1/8" NPT hose barbs that fit the hose, a pair of Norma clamps, a stainless ball valve, and a custom machined fitting that mimics the stock radiator plug perfectly on one end and has a 1/8" NPT female port on the other end. This is what you're mainly paying for, as this piece is what makes this kit work and is unique; I looked for a fitting like this for quite a while and I don't think it exists for sale anywhere else.

It's a great but simple idea and the custom fitting is well engineered and finished. The kit is designed with flexibility in mind; you don't have to assemble and install it in any particular way, and I really like that. You basically take the parts in the kit and cobble up whatever works for you. I wish that it also came with a bracket that bolts down somewhere to keep the end of the hose positioned, but that could be easily fabricated out of aluminum or stainless. Some poeple will probably just tie-wrap the end of the drain hose to the AC hose or anywhere else in that area to keep it from flopping around during driving, but I don't want to do that.

What I'll end up doing is add a couple of fittings and make the hose an item that's connected only when I want to drain the system.

These are the only parts I'll use. I've added a 90 degree street elbow and a 1/8" NPT plug. When I want to drain the system, I'll remove the plug and screw in the hose barb, then push the hose on and direct it into my bucket or coolant jug.

I added a 90 degree 1/8" NPT street elbow after the blue radiator fitting so that the ball valve can point straight down. If it doesn't clear the undertray, it'll have to point left and down so it clears the edge when the undertray is installed. To guard against the ball valve failing or leaking in the future and also to keep dirt out of the end of the valve, a 1/8" NPT plug will be screwed into the outlet. Keeping the dirt out is important to me, because if the coolant is not due for replacement and is clean, I drain the coolant, filter it, and put it back in when I'm done any cooling system work.

When it's time to drain, the plug will be removed with an Allen key and one of the hose barbs screwed in. Then the rubber hose can be attached and directed into a container, turn the ball valve handle 90 degrees, and Bob's you're uncle. Once I'm done, close the valve, the hose comes off, the barb comes out, and the plug goes back in.

The only thing I don't like so far about my arrangement (and this has nothing to do with the L-R kit) is that a 1/8" NPT plug comes with a 3/16" SAE Allen socket. I don't have SAE anything on Gretchen, so I'm going to try enlarging the soft brass Allen head to 5mm by cutting a bit of straight 5mm Allen key off to use as a broach and performing the operation in my arbor press. This involves removing only 0.2375 mm of material, so I think it should work.

Thanks for stopping by! Just for the record, I have no affiliation whatsoever with either Lindsay Racing or Paragon Products. There may be a follow up post when I install this setup, but next time it will be part two of the Tools and Test Jigs for the 944 series.