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Well Gents, my car is here, and it is time to start fixing what is broke so I can at least start driving it.

The radiator leaks, so I can get that fixed no problem.
However, at least one of the lines are leaking and it looks as if the builder used rubber radiator hose and exhaust pipe to plumb the car.

Is that right?

If I replace it all, what should I use for "hard" lines

I am looking at same issue right now ..crown originally suggested exhaust pipe ,, but it corrodes fast ,, I like most used copper water pipe but need to redo them for new setup .. I have been thinking about trying exhaust pipe and using fuel tank coating to coat the inside and slow corrosion ,, anyone have thoughts on that ? my brother in law built a Fiero with 383 ,, he bought stainless handicap hand rails at home depot , cut them up and pieced them together , tacked them and took them to a pro to be TIG welded ,, they are pretty reasonably priced ,, I will probably use copper again ,, one member used some type of flexible hose to run his ,, what was it and where is it obtained ??

I have not heard from anybody, but it seems that the way to go with this is copper or aluminum

Initially my car was built using the Crown manual. The cooling lines ran across the trunk and then through the front "firewall" and then back through the floor and followed the tunnel. It had a front mount radiator with a puller fan and had the inner wheelwells cut out for heat dispersal. There was enough heat from the pipes coming through the firewall that it would cause my cd player (mounted in a built center console) to malfunction. I cut away the front trunk floor, leaving about 9" of flat floor left. I filled the holes in the firewall and used a combination of steel coated exhaust pipe and radiator hoses to run the cooling lines completely through the tunnel. The radiator is mounted leaning to the rear and the front panel is cut out for a home built grille. The hot air exits straight down out under the car. I then closed up the inner fenders. System worked great on the 2012 Power Tour to Arlington, TX. Temps well above 90 and stop and go traffic for over an hour but guage never went above 210. Currently up grading to an LS and going to a 20% larger cooling system with dual fans and with electronic controls on the water pump and fans. When I get it going I'll try to report.

Well - I'd kind of expect exhaust pipe to be ok, if the coolant was really well maintained. I know the factories use aluminum for radiators, but no idea what alloys.
Mine was done with steel in the early 70's. If I didn't let it sit outside for 20 years, even the thinner pipes might have been ok. But a number of them were rusted through, and the V6 isn't where the 327 was.
Anyway, much of my system is 1 1/4" PVC sprinkler pipe. At the ends, I use slip-to-thread adapters, and galv pipe stubs for the hoses to clamp onto.
It works. It does tend to sag, so it needs to be supported over any distance.
It has been in service since late 2009.

thanks for posting that about the pvc pipe.
I do not need to go cheap but I don't want to buy high dollar pipe either, especially if I do not need to.

PVC is rated to 400 degrees, so I guess it would work. I am into more thinking about lasting performance [rust] or lack of it.

Might be easier to work with also

Has anybody else used pvc??

my car originally used 1 1/2 copper to the radiator,,with new radiator and location some changes were needed ,, after considering different materials and sizes I decided that it would be easiest and cost effective to modify and reuse what was already there ,, only needed a few more feet and a handful of fittings to route pipes to new location ,, went tonight to both home depot and lowes .. neither carries 1 1/2 copper anymore ,, no fittings that size ,, no reducers from 1 1/2 10 1 1/4 .. so its time for alternate plan "B" ,, I am not sure what that is yet

Richard

Keep me posted, my radiator is out for repair now, and the cooling lines will begin shortly.

Bob

since I had copper already under the car I ended up making the needed changes using it again , went to a plumbing supply and bought fittings and pipe .. but it has gotten expensive ,, fittings 15 each and pipe 10 per foot , I only needed six fittings and two feet of pipe to make changes so not too bad ,,, I think I would use aluminum tubing , 5052 alloy annealed , .063 wall .. and 1 1/4 diameter if starting from scratch ,, I am lucky to have a place locally that custom bends tubing on automated mandrel bender but I imagine a muffler shop could do the aluminum ,, would have to try a piece to see how it works in their benders .

I know cooling of our cars is and will be a subject of much debate, and there is lots of help on this board around which way to go, placement and location of the pieces plus materials to use. So hear is my 2 cents worth for material for cooling lines , in terms of cost exhaust tubing seems to be the most affordable and easily available so I chose that for my build, bearing in mind that corrosion is first on my mind to worry about ! To address that problem there are products out there that help slow down or possibly eliminate that corrosion issue, I will be using RMI -25 added to the coolant to maintain a ph of about 8 in order to keep acidity level from being problem . Like all other manner of regular maintenance we do to our cars, coolant should be on that list too. Other than checking the ph level and as a option of draining out the coolant at the end of the driving and show season for some of use northern folks, as we may not drive our cars in the winter. Of course there is the best material for corrosion resistance is SS 316 , but the cost is higher ! Any of our respected members with ideas please
Jump in , debate is always good.