Coolant Tank

[Loadco]

Does anyone know if the Kirkham Billet tank will fit under the hood of and ERA 427 car?

[xracerbob]

I have one fitted to my ERA 758. I had 2 "rebuilt" original tanks and both developed pin hole leaks after a short time. The standard Kirkham tank will not fit (at least not on my KC 482) without a minor adjustment. The Kirkhams made me a little spacer to raise the tank up a little bit. I have some pics of what I did somewhere. Let me know if you would like to see them.

[Loadco]

Yes, I would be very interested to see what you did to make it fit.

Thanks,

Gary

[xracerbob]

Here are pics that I hope explain it. First pic shows where the original tank has an area that is angled at 45 degrees for clearance. You can cee the Kirkham tank does not have this, and this area interfered with one of the frame tubes, but just barely.

Second pic shows tank installed- I had it powdercoated black.

Last pic shows the spacer that the Kirkhams made that raises the tank enough to avoid the interference and still has good hood clearance.

[xracerbob]

I am realizing now that it wasn't the frame tube but that alternator mount/tensioner that interfered. I looked at all sorts of relocating options for the alternator, but couldn't come up with one that didn't require frame modifications which I did not want to do. If you have a different alternator mount, the spacer may not be necessary, but if you are using ERA's hardware for a FE, I think you would have the same issue. I think the Kirkhams charged me like $30 for the spacer.

Hope this helps.

[Loadco]

I am also on my 2nd tank. When it goes I was thinking of the Kirkham tank and my main concern was hood clearance. Your pics and comments have explained everything. Thanks again for taking the time to post the pics.

Gary

[kevins2]

ERA offers a reproduction of the original done in black epoxy, but it costs $450. Was it one of these that originally failed? Also, can you share the cost of the Kirkham tank? I have my deposit in and am slowly working through the details.

Thanks,

Kevin

[xracerbob]

The two tanks I had fail were refurbished by a very good radiator shop. He told me the material in these tanks is not very strong, and particularly mounted to a high performance engine he warned they may develop pin holes, small cracks, etc and he was right.

the Kirkham tank is $500 now; I got it when they announced them and they had a special price available, can't remember how much exactly. See here: Options and Accessories Info

The other nice thing about the Kirkham tank is the provision for the overflow line to a recovery tank as well as another port which connects to the top passenger side of the ERA radiator which helps greatly in purging air from the cooling system.

[mickmate]

You can get new tanks from a couple of places, Southern Automotive and Concourse are a couple. If you put a new one together you shouldn't have any issues. Cobras had a couple of mods to improve them originally.