These clamps are still in common use on American cars today. I just pulled
a bunch off a 91 Pontiac Sunbird, and a 91 Buick Park Ave.
Patrick
-----Original Message-----
From: Phil Ethier [mailto:pethier@isd.net]
Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2000 4:58 PM
To: Michael D. Porter; Bob Labuz
Cc: Mike Kitchener; triumphs@autox.team.net; > --- John Macartney
Subject: Re: Cooling system hose clamps
>BTW, the wire clamps are not just a legacy of old British
>manufacture--they were still being used on Japanese cars at least
>through the middle `80s, and for a fairly sound engineering
>principle--for the same amount of application pressure on the tightening
>screw, the wires, having less surface area than a band, will bite into
>the hose more completely. Avoiding obvious places for leaks during
>assembly reduces the time necessary in the so-called hospital lines.
>
>Of course, if the clamp is old, rusted and distorted, none of the above
>may apply. <smile> And, I suspect, the wire clamps probably tend to
>crush the hose reinforcement a bit more, causing the hose to fail a bit
>earlier than it might otherwise.
These things can be a real pain when they get old and are in inaccessible
places. The screw comes out OK, then the clamp sits there bonded into the
hose in some place you can't reach. A worm-drive "airplane clamp" will
force itself open and break its bond with the hose. The damned wire loops
just sit there, grinning at you and your vain attempts to break them out of
the hose.
Anti-seize and stainless airplane clamps for me. Concours is not a sport
I'm likely to take seriously any time soon. And I don't say that to demean
folks who do take it seriously. More power to them. They hold the history
in trust, and show the rest of us the way things were.
Phil Ethier Saint Paul Minnesota USA
1970 Lotus Europa, 1992 Saturn SL2, 1986 Suburban, 1962 Triumph TR4 CT2846L
LOON, MAC pethier@isd.net http://www.mnautox.com/
"It makes a nice noise when it goes faster"
- 4-year-old Adam, upon seeing a bitmap of Grandma Susie's TR4.
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