High Reliability project - teaser pics

I'm just getting this together and will post a full worklog but here are a few teaser pics for the time being.

The rare G1/4 to -6 AN aluminum fittings are from Kinsler Fuel Injection (more in my full log).

The CPU block - using a Swiftech GTX because it has a metal top and it uses G1/4 fittings (their previous blocks use weird-ass threads that are impossible to adapt):

http://www.pcdominion.com/images/HR-Block1.jpg

Video block - EK with acetal top on 8800 GTX:

http://www.pcdominion.com/images/HR-Video1.jpg

Dual redundant Laing 350 pumps with Alphacool dual pump adapter:

http://www.pcdominion.com/images/HR-Pumps1.jpg

Quick shot of the external reservoir from Billet Specialties, and Black Ice 360 GTX radiator (my other toy in background):

http://www.pcdominion.com/images/HR-Side1.jpg

Interior with hoses assembled and test fit:

http://www.pcdominion.com/images/HR-Inside1.jpg

Yes, that's genuine Russell Pro-Flex braided line and AN fittings, not fake hose wrapping.

Mainboard is an Intel D975XBX2, CPU is a QX6700.

Here's the system at the moment, with the motherboard & video card removed, and a Pentek filter from Petra's installed for leak testing (haha, right) and loop cleaning.

http://www.pcdominion.com/images/HR-Testing.jpg

WS

oo Sexy :clap:

Nice.

Do tell where that dual Alphacool top can be aquired?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by soccerswim8

what is AN if i may ask?

---

AN fittings use a 37 degree bevel surface on both parts for a perfect seal that doesn't require O-rings or Teflon tape. This is high-performance racing/aircraft stuff.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hard H20

Nice.

Do tell where that dual Alphacool top can be aquired?

---

Performance-PCs has 'em, but they don't sell the bracket (nobody does in the US as far as I can tell) so I ordered the bracket from Alphacool Germany. Shipping was steep but it arrived instantly.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WonderSausage

Performance-PCs has 'em, but they don't sell the bracket (nobody does in the US as far as I can tell) so I ordered the bracket from Alphacool Germany. Shipping was steep but it arrived instantly.

---

Appreciate the info!

so the fittings aren't anodized aluminum?

nice idea on the braided line stuff!

More info on those fittings/tubing please!!!! Awesome! I assume this is the site... http://russellperformance.com/new/

Are the fittings G1/4 threaded? On the Russell site they look like NPT... do they work ok with G1/4 taps?

Will the annodization of the parts stop galvanic corrosion in loops with copper? What about stainless steel fittings will that be a problem?

Where's a good place to get such tubing/fittings for a reasonable price? I like it!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by virtualrain

More info on those fittings/tubing please!!!! Awesome! I assume this is the site... http://russellperformance.com/new/

---

Yep, but these are industry-standard fittings, Russell is just the best manufacturer. Some of the other fittings I used in the setup are from Earl's (a division of Holley, as in carburetors), Aeroquip, and a little outfit called Kinsler Fuel Injection. All AN fittings are interchangeable.

Quote:

---

Are the fittings G1/4 threaded? On the Russell site they look like NPT... do they work ok with G1/4 taps?

---

The fittings for the water blocks are G1/4 to -6 AN adapters, which are almost impossible to find. I got them from www.kinsler.com part # 8280 (here I am giving away my secrets :) now everybody's going to be doing braided lines).

Quote:

---

Will the annodization of the parts stop galvanic corrosion in loops with copper? What about stainless steel fittings will that be a problem?

---

These are heavily anodized to withstand much harsher environments than PC watercooling (e.g. gasoline, diesel, nitro methane) so I have confidence in the galvanic corrosion situation. Just to make absolutely sure I'm going to be adding some Pentosin.

Quote:

---

Where's a good place to get such tubing/fittings for a reasonable price? I like it!

---

Well, there is no way to get them at a reasonable price (LOL) but the place to buy is www.summitracing.com. They're almost the monopoly on internet race parts.

You don't really want to know how much this cost :) You'll need a hacksaw with 2 blades (both mounted simultaneously in opposite directions), a sturdy bench vise, various open-end wrenches, hose assembly lube (I used water-based lube from an "adult toy store" to avoid getting grease in the loop), and various fitting adapters.

The first billet reservoir I got had 3/8" NPT taps, but NPT doesn't look that great with the tapered fitting sticking half out of the hole, plus I hate teflon tape and all that crap, so I got this Billet Specialties power steering reservoir which uses AN straight O-ring boss taps and also has a nifty slotted tube on the intake to prevent frothing (which if you've ever worked with Laing pumps, you know is a very handy feature).

WS

WonderSausage, nice wcr, but were there any problems with tubing bending?

This is one BEEFY reservoir from Billet Specialties. It weighs a few pounds, extremely solid. It's tapped for -8 AN O-ring boss fittings, and comes with one -6 AN flare and one -10 AN flare (which I replaced with another -8 AN ORB to -6 flare from Aeroquip).

http://www.pcdominion.com/images/HR-Reservoir2.jpg

The hefty lid has a double O-ring seal with a pressure equalization valve:

http://www.pcdominion.com/images/HR-Reservoir1.jpg

The intake is equipped with a tube that has 4 slots (two on each side) to eliminate frothing and re-intake of bubbles. Please ignore the fingerprints, this is a work in progress:

http://www.pcdominion.com/images/HR-Reservoir3.jpg

The reservoir was so beefy that I was afraid it would distort the case side panel since it has a single mounting bracket (with really cool hidden screws, BTW).

To ensure the reservoir would have enough support, I got some heavy aluminum stock, trimmed it to length on my metal-cutting band saw, and attached to the inside of the side panel with adhesive prior to drilling for the reservoir mounting bolts. This makes an extremely solid mounting point for the reservoir:

http://www.pcdominion.com/images/HR-Reinforcement.jpg

Note the mounting hardware visible to the left in the above picture. Those are the bolts for the dual Swiftech Radbox units which secure the 3x120 radiator. There is no reason I need to use stainless-steel screws, washers and nylon security nuts for this, but of course it's a moral imperative :)

Another side shot with the reservoir mounted:

http://www.pcdominion.com/images/HR-Side2.jpg

WS

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by L'enFer

WonderSausage, nice wcr, but were there any problems with tubing bending?

---

Nah, this hose has a bend radius of 2-1/2" so as long as you plan your hose routes ahead of time, it's no problem at all.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by L'enFer

WonderSausage, nice wcr, but were there any problems with tubing bending?

---

Sorry to say but yes compared to other tubing known here ..... I know first hand testing some custom brake lines myself. the lines won't blow with the PSI though !!!!!!

Looks 10+ trick :woot:

Good effort WonderSausage, like the oil cooler styled res - wonder how worked your car is ..... :stick:

(it gets in the blood - modding cars / computers are a common link)

looks really cool.. that braided tubing looks sick.. and the res wow. all you need to do is polish the whole case so that the res matches to the rest of the case. then it would look perfect.

you have an excellente watercooling setup, it looks awesome ;)


regards

NICE System! :toast: What case is that? Sorry if its been asked before.

Very nice!

I think you can get these hoses elsewhere too, not just racing supplies. There
are a few metres of it in our heating, around the boiler. I'll ask my Dad where
they can be found, but I'd guess it's shops that sell heating fittings and other
stuff.
The hoses here have 9mm ID - there's a half-visible sticker on it.

Hmmm sweet!
Used a solid billet Y junction to split off a parallel loop two years ago. Was tempted to go the whole hog myself back then but as you say, it's silly money.

"heavy metal" rig :D.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by soccerswim8

that dual DDC looks so sick

what is AN if i may ask?

---

AN means ARMY/NAVY. For the last 7/8 years of my life, I have had many sponsors sponsor my 2000 camaro Z28 drag car, and Russel/mr gasket corp were huge for me. That is how my screen name came to life, as I saw 3 beautifully polished "OLIVER" rods sticking out from my oil pan, I then quickly came to the assumption, "Hey I need a new LS1 motor AGAIN":D I love having sponsorship monies.......

very clean metallic look to it, braided tubing is fine, looks cool.
so long as you have enough elbow room and not force a tight bend.

The rig is nice but what about that Z4? Any work done on that?

Please take some care not to let the metal braiding generate a short on anything sensitive... Otherwise looks solid, though perhaps slightly more than needed :)

Can you crush the copper gasket enough on the water block to make a tight seal?

Looks great, can't wait for the final results

That dual pump is sexy as hell :slobber:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sideroxylon

The rig is nice but what about that Z4? Any work done on that?

---

Hey fellow Bimmer guy... good guess but that's actually an 06 E64. Only mod so far is an LED light-source upgrade for the Angel Eyes so they match the color temp of the Xenon HIDs (stock Angel Eye source is incandescent).

WS

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by newls1

Can you crush the copper gasket enough on the water block to make a tight seal?

---

Those are actually sealing washers, they have an inner crush ring of plastic. Here's a pic from my worklog-in-progress:

http://www.pcdominion.com/images/Kin...Transparen.png

:slobber: :slobber: (drooling is an understatement)

I really love the looks of that car

is that the cabrio or the coupe??

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WonderSausage

Performance-PCs has 'em, but they don't sell the bracket (nobody does in the US as far as I can tell) so I ordered the bracket from Alphacool Germany. Shipping was steep but it arrived instantly.

---

I wanted to order some fittings from them but the shipping was like 50 euros. Is that what it cost you or were you able to get it cheaper?

BTW, your rig looks great. I'm not a fan of external rads, but overall it looks sexay :toast:

WS - very nice, clean setup. Keep up the great work! ;)

I have been looking into combining AN fittings with Tygon/Compression fittings in my new build for a while now as i find using jubilee clips over barbs rather ugly when you have a case window.

Do you know if you can use these fittings with existing watercooling tubing of the correct diameter? I will be using Tygon R3400 as am wanting to go for an all black hose and silver fittings look.

ps this is a great source of info for AN fittings - http://www.speedflow.co.uk/helppage.htm

Nice use of automotive components and nice implementation. Sorry I'm not much of a BMW fan, but I congratulate you nevertheless.

I am in love.............:p:

Nice work, and can't wait to see her complete.

I just want to ask, if you don't mind, adding a couple of pics of your Rig to the STACKER SLACKER thread, be it that you have a Stacker, and a sexy one @ that.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WonderSausage

Yep, but these are industry-standard fittings, Russell is just the best manufacturer. Some of the other fittings I used in the setup are from Earl's (a division of Holley, as in carburetors), Aeroquip, and a little outfit called Kinsler Fuel Injection. All AN fittings are interchangeable.



The fittings for the water blocks are G1/4 to -6 AN adapters, which are almost impossible to find. I got them from www.kinsler.com part # 8280 (here I am giving away my secrets :) now everybody's going to be doing braided lines).



These are heavily anodized to withstand much harsher environments than PC watercooling (e.g. gasoline, diesel, nitro methane) so I have confidence in the galvanic corrosion situation. Just to make absolutely sure I'm going to be adding some Pentosin.



Well, there is no way to get them at a reasonable price (LOL) but the place to buy is www.summitracing.com. They're almost the monopoly on internet race parts.

You don't really want to know how much this cost :) You'll need a hacksaw with 2 blades (both mounted simultaneously in opposite directions), a sturdy bench vise, various open-end wrenches, hose assembly lube (I used water-based lube from an "adult toy store" to avoid getting grease in the loop), and various fitting adapters.

The first billet reservoir I got had 3/8" NPT taps, but NPT doesn't look that great with the tapered fitting sticking half out of the hole, plus I hate teflon tape and all that crap, so I got this Billet Specialties power steering reservoir which uses AN straight O-ring boss taps and also has a nifty slotted tube on the intake to prevent frothing (which if you've ever worked with Laing pumps, you know is a very handy feature).

WS

---

Thanks. A couple more questions...

Why did you choose the -6 AN vs. -8? If I understand correctly, the -6 is equivalent to about 3/8 whereas the -8 is about 7/16.

How flexible is the tubing (can you measure the minimum bend radius/diameter)? and how easily does it kink on tight bends? Is that bend from your CPU to your GPU about as tight as it will go?

When you cut the tubing, how easily does the stainless weave fray? I assume if you are careful, you could put the tubing over a normal water cooling barb and clamp it before it frayed beyond repair?

To be honest, I've been looking at stainless-steel braid sheathing for my tubing for a few weeks, but it would be ideal to find some pre-braided hose instead such as the summit racing stuff you are using. I can't justify the fittings (as nice as they are) since I have two loops with 18 terminations in total, it would be rediculous.

Any thoughts on this?

hmmm.. high reliability.. i think not. while this project surely looks cool, the use of aluminum in the fittings is about the worst idea you could have. As soon as you screw them into the blocks, the anodization already starts to wear off.

Is that res stainless steel or something? And I'd be pretty scared of the aluminum fittings...

Other than the aluminum it looks great. That is really unique!

he already said it is highly anodized aluminum, hence the use of the extremely nice car parts. if you guys read his post you would know what you are talking about

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by soccerswim8

that dual DDC looks so sick

what is AN if i may ask?

---

AFIK DDCs are some of the most unreliable pumps, even in series or parallel, this cheap plastic crap just isn't something that you can trust to leave on for long periods of time...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by fhpchris

AFIK DDCs are some of the most unreliable pumps, even in series or parallel, this cheap plastic crap just isn't something that you can trust to leave on for long periods of time...

---

DDC, D5 both are not reliable. Hence the DOUBLE pumps ;) The chance of both failing in a given period of time is tiny.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by soccerswim8

WTF is everyone commenting about the car?

we see one wheel and part of a door.....and everyone is like "woah sick car"!

---

ROFL, that made me laugh.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by serialk11r

DDC, D5 both are not reliable. Hence the DOUBLE pumps ;) The chance of both failing in a given period of time is tiny.

---

True but, with double the pumps comes twice the odds of failure.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by nikhsub1

True but, with double the pumps comes twice the odds of failure.

---

Odds of failure? When he puts 2 pumps into his loop, the goal is to A. get more performance/satisfaction B. act as a failsafe. Because the water will still be circulating with just one pump working, we take the probability of the pump failing at any given time, as the probabilities of each of the pumps failing multiplied together. Each pump has the same chance of dying, but you have 2 pumps, so yes the odds of A pump failing are 2 times as high. However, the risk of your system overheating as a result of the pump failing are now MUCH MUCH MUCH lower. Not to mention, if a pump happens to break, you can still use the other.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by serialk11r

Odds of failure? When he puts 2 pumps into his loop, the goal is to A. get more performance/satisfaction B. act as a failsafe. Because the water will still be circulating with just one pump working, we take the probability of the pump failing at any given time, as the probabilities of each of the pumps failing multiplied together. Each pump has the same chance of dying, but you have 2 pumps, so yes the odds of A pump failing are 2 times as high. However, the risk of your system overheating as a result of the pump failing are now MUCH MUCH MUCH lower. Not to mention, if a pump happens to break, you can still use the other.

---

actually the probability that both pumps will die at the same time is

1/y x 1/y

You just multiply it. I believe the DDC-2 was at like a 5% failure rate. Dont remember what exact number alex gave.

so thats 1/20 x 1/20 = 1/400 chances both your DDC-2's will die at the same time.

mmmm.... i still prefer my RD-30 which has like a 1/1000 chance of dying :toast:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SNiiPE_DoGG

he already said it is highly anodized aluminum, hence the use of the extremely nice car parts. if you guys read his post you would know what you are talking about

---

I did read his post (hence how I knew it was aluminum barbs) and I saw that. Still doesn't mean I like the aluminum ;)

serial knock on wood for both pumps failing at the same time...