- Location
- West Haven, UT
Started another project last night.
I have decided to fabricate a new surge tank for our Monaco Dynasty coach. The plastic surge tanks on the late 90’s through mid-2000’s are plastic and have quite a high failure rate. I feel mine is living on borrowed time being 15 years old and has 116k on clock.
Although Monaco Coach has been bought and sold a few times now since around 2009, they continue to have pretty good support for their coaches. They are now owned by REV Specialty Vehicles, who also owns Fleetwood and American Coach in addition to the Monaco line.
There actually is a replacement surge tank available through Monaco as well as a company called Veurinks that is an RV dealership in Michigan that supports the Monaco line in addition to many others. This new surge tank is a nylon tank vs. the original plastic and has been reported to be a very nice bolt in reproduction of the original.
Not able to leave well enough alone nor have something like everyone else I opted to fabricate one from some 3003 aluminum sheet that I had left over from a previous project. Another thing that I don’t like about the original surge tank is the long rod style low coolant level sensor. This is no longer available and is the rubber grommet style and I would prefer to have a NPT style threaded level sensor.
I purchased an aluminum radiator filler neck, a 5” long sight glass and did some research to locate a 1/4” NPT thread in style of coolant level sensor and pigtail to graph into my wiring harness.
Original surge tank bolted in coach.
Surge tank removed.
Surge tank on the fab table ready to measure.
Purchased aluminum filler neck, 5” sight glass with threaded bungs & banjo fittings and a piece of 1” diameter 6061 in which to machine a few 1/4” NPT bungs for the sensor and bypass hose connections. I also would like to add another feature that the original tank did not have, a drain plug. I will use the aluminum stock to machine a 1/2” NPT bung for a drain plug.
The aluminum cut to the proper height and in my press brake.
Bent and ready to trim the one leg to match and then cut the back.
Trimmed and back cut, deburred and ready to tack weld.
Probably unnecessary but I decided to make a pair of baffles to weld inside the tank as well.
Thanks for looking, more to come on the tank build
Mike
I have decided to fabricate a new surge tank for our Monaco Dynasty coach. The plastic surge tanks on the late 90’s through mid-2000’s are plastic and have quite a high failure rate. I feel mine is living on borrowed time being 15 years old and has 116k on clock.
Although Monaco Coach has been bought and sold a few times now since around 2009, they continue to have pretty good support for their coaches. They are now owned by REV Specialty Vehicles, who also owns Fleetwood and American Coach in addition to the Monaco line.
There actually is a replacement surge tank available through Monaco as well as a company called Veurinks that is an RV dealership in Michigan that supports the Monaco line in addition to many others. This new surge tank is a nylon tank vs. the original plastic and has been reported to be a very nice bolt in reproduction of the original.
Not able to leave well enough alone nor have something like everyone else I opted to fabricate one from some 3003 aluminum sheet that I had left over from a previous project. Another thing that I don’t like about the original surge tank is the long rod style low coolant level sensor. This is no longer available and is the rubber grommet style and I would prefer to have a NPT style threaded level sensor.
I purchased an aluminum radiator filler neck, a 5” long sight glass and did some research to locate a 1/4” NPT thread in style of coolant level sensor and pigtail to graph into my wiring harness.
Original surge tank bolted in coach.
Surge tank removed.
Surge tank on the fab table ready to measure.
Purchased aluminum filler neck, 5” sight glass with threaded bungs & banjo fittings and a piece of 1” diameter 6061 in which to machine a few 1/4” NPT bungs for the sensor and bypass hose connections. I also would like to add another feature that the original tank did not have, a drain plug. I will use the aluminum stock to machine a 1/2” NPT bung for a drain plug.
The aluminum cut to the proper height and in my press brake.
Bent and ready to trim the one leg to match and then cut the back.
Trimmed and back cut, deburred and ready to tack weld.
Probably unnecessary but I decided to make a pair of baffles to weld inside the tank as well.
Thanks for looking, more to come on the tank build
Mike
