Stainless Ford FE Expansion Tanks

[Lloyd Barnes]

Hi gents

I’ve had a run of original style stainless steel header tanks for FE’s made. Had 3 brass ones fail on my car so enough is enough. Wanted something I could fit and forget.

These are properly pressed from 304L stainless, laser welded and powdercoated in satin black. Rotated to match original and 1” dropped to help them fit under the hood. The min order was 100 so I’ve had 50 made for Cobras and 50 as “standard” for Thunderbirds and Galaxies to help me shift the 99 I don’t need for my car! So 49 available for cobras.

There is another thread on this in the FE section, where I've added a more detailed post (awaiting moderation).

Ebay is so expensive these days so I’ve put them on a basic ecommerce website to keep the price as low as I can. Loads more info on there. Saying sold out at moment to stop people ordering as stock wont be with me until around December time. You can sign up to get an email when stock arrives.

Link to website here. If anyone wants to know more, please give me a shout

Lloyd

[MaSnaka]

Lloyd that looks really nice. I would be interested in purchasing for the Cobra when they are ready. I have had my brass tank resoldered and seamed several times and it always springs a seeping leak. Let me know.

Thanks,
John

[Lloyd Barnes]

Hi John,

Thanks. Appreciate that.

Not just me fighting them then! My rad repair guy reckons the original ones just get thin. I’m sure some will get lucky with them but I’d just had enough.

I”ll update this thread once I have them in hand and the website will automatically notify those that have already signed up for that.

Lloyd

[Grubby]

I don’t have a horse in this race.

Stainless steel work hardens faster than brass. So a new brass tank would last longer.

Long life is likely a non-issue for a Cobra replica.

John

[Lloyd Barnes]

Hi all,

Quick progress update on these. The press tooling is complete. Needed a few tweaks but overall very happy with the quality. Stainless is not the easiest to press! The assembly jigs are about complete and we are now testing the laser welding process at the moment, then onto powder coating.

Should be receiving 4 samples in the next couple of weeks. They are sending 2 in raw stainless so we can carefully inspect all of the welds and detail, as well as 2 in satin black powdercoat. I've had an enquiry for raw anyway as some may want to polish them. We'll sell them off at a reduced rate once we have inspected them. 2 of them I have a potential buyer with their name down.

Powdercoated Cobra - possibly sold
Raw Cobra - available
Powdercoated standard - available
Raw standard - sold

We'll stock in raw too for adding the puke outlet and also custom colours/polishing.

We're expecting production stock in mid January now

Few pics below. Just in the raw stainless, prior to welding and prepping for powdercoat, but hopefully gives an idea of where we are and the base quality.

[mrmustang]

Your website appears to not be legit per Nortons who blocked it stating it was potentially associated with a hacker scam to get our information. Might want to consider another host and a more legit way of dealing with the public

[Lloyd Barnes]

Hi,

thanks for letting me know

We had a problem with a certificate a while back which we sorted I thought. It got highlighted on another thread on the forum a few weeks back so we jumped on it. Is it still doing that?! It has an https url now which we thought had this problem nailed. Its a shopify site, so pretty well known.

I am going to put them on Ebay too, but they are taking best part of 20% now, so I really wanted to get them on a website as well so I can offer them at the best price.

The tooling is so expensive, I really have to sell this first 100 direct in order to pay for it. If they did fly off the shelf, and we had to re-order we'd probably hunt out a US distributor.

https://www.oespecplus.com/

EDIT I've submitted the site for review to Norton. It was just showing as uncategorised

[Lloyd Barnes]

Ebay has just dropped all its fees for private sales (at least over her in the UK it has). We still pay 3% for overseas orders, but that's broadly the same as we would pay for payments through our website.
So we'll now be able to list these on Ebay at the same price as the website when they arrive. Give folks the choice which they are more comfortable with

[Lloyd Barnes]

Samples shipped, should be with me in around a week. Getting a few in the raw so we can check weld quality. Finalised versions will be powdercoated satin black as standard.

You can see the 1" drop on the Cobra samples at the top compared to the tanks that are made to fit Galaxies and Thunderbirds.

Nice job on the packaging as well.

[mrmustang]

Pictures look nice




website still blocked

[S1965C]

Originally Posted by mrmustang

website still blocked

I’m accessing without issues and that’s even using Bitdefender and VPN.

These are very nice pieces here.

[undy]

Originally Posted by mrmustang

Pictures look nice




website still blocked

Same here and I also have Norton.

[bwcobra15]

Are you making them for 351W SBF ?

[Lloyd Barnes]

Originally Posted by bwcobra15

Are you making them for 351W SBF ?

Hi Bob.

Yes, that’s the plan.
As soon as we”re satisfied that the production quality on the tanks is where we need it then the next step is to get them onto the small blocks.

We”d be manufacturing an adaptor to bolt the FE tanks straight on. Hoping that should be pretty straightforward. One of your forum members was giving me some welcome advice in this area.

Lloyd

[Lloyd Barnes]

Last of the 4 prototypes now on eBay if anyone is looking for one. Fully powder coated black cobra tank with the 1” drop.

The other 3 sold and shipped to the states over the last few weeks. Actual production stock should be with us late January.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/286259282...mis&media=COPY

[Mark IV]

As seen above we now have available the newly tooled "FE" expansion tanks produced in stainless steel and laser welded. These come in semi-gloss black powdercoat or raw stainless that may be painted or polished. Includes a 13# pressure cap, gasket and mounting hardware. Two versions are offered, a duplicate of the C1AZ-8A080 as used on many 1960's Fords with a left hand (US driver side) outlet. Also, a similar setup that is dropped 1" to allow clearance to the hood of some Cobra replicas where the engine sits higher, and the hood inner structure fouls the tank. Optionally a tube outlet on the right front corner of the tank is available; this is as used on original 427 Cobras and some replicas.

Specifications are:

The main tank body, inner level plate, inlet and outlet are made from 1.2mm (16 gauge) 304L stainless steel. The inlet manifold flange is machined from 10mm (3/8") stainless steel with the larger 63mm (2.5") thermostat recess for improved flow.

The bracket thickness has been upgraded to 2mm (12 gauge) stainless steel from the original 1.2mm mild steel, to prevent any movement leading to hairline cracks developing.

The whole assembly is then laser welded on a jig to ensure accuracy and a permanently leak free tank. Each tank is pressure tested to 3 Bar (43.5PSI) before leaving the factory.

Lloyd and the people at OE Spec have done a superb job on these tanks.

We will be offering additional configurations with right hand outlets as used by 61-66 Thunderbirds and some other Ford products. Also, in development are tanks for use on Windsor engines allowing Windsor powered replicas and others to have the "FE look" with a quality tank at a reasonable cost. The other source of stainless FE style tanks is over $1300.00!

This is the last expansion tank you will ever need. No cracking brass, no separation of the lower tank from the bracket, no failure of the seam for the upper to lower tank. Tanks carry a 1-year warranty with full replacement and a 5-year pro-rata warranty.

AutoventureUSA, LLC is the distributor for North and South America. We have received some initial inventory with more on the way. These are $595.00 as shown. They ship in a heavy cardboard outer pack and are well protected with bespoke packing. Shipping is via UPS or USPS with our discounted rates. Dealer inquiries are invited.

716.812.3938 rick@autoventureusa.net Our new website will be active shortly. I have been active in the "Cobra" world for many years and have imported the AC MK IV cars in the 80's and was a Superformance dealer for 13 years. More details and photos here: https://www.talkcobra.com/threads/ne...ainless.21213/

[Mark IV]

Here are renderings of the adaptor that will allow these tanks to be used on a Windsor engine. The adaptor mounts to the intake manifold with countersunk Allen head screws. The tank then bolts to the adaptor as it would to an FE intake. The bypass hose comes off at an angle as compared to the factory system, but we can supply part numbers for a molded bypass hose. The adaptor allows use of a small cap distributor or a late style Duraspark or GM type cap. Taking orders now.
rick@autoventureusa.net 716.812.3938

[1985 CCX]

Rick,

Will these be options on new SPF cars?

[Mark IV]

Originally Posted by 1985 CCX

Rick,

Will these be options on new SPF cars?

If dealers order and sell them, yes. They will be at the discretion of the selling dealer, but a buyer can always purchase themselves or spec with the powertrain people.

[Mark IV]

The first production adaptors for the Windsor engines are in transit. These are aluminum and anodized with a stainless-steel nipple for the bypass hose.