Broken Radiator Hose Nozzle?

[XiKeiyaZI]

Has anyone experienced an issue with the fitting(nozzle) from the top of the radiator breaking off? You know, the fitting that your upper radiator/coolant hose clamps onto?

I was driving home and about the time that I pulled onto my street I noticed steam coming out from under my hood. I pulled into the driveway, popped the hood, and wouldn't you know that my upper hose had blown off? So I was like " great... bad T-Stat? "

No. I looked closer and half of that damned nozzle had cracked and broken off. SO I only have about 3/4 of an inch to clamp the hose onto. -_-; And I HAVE to have this car running on a daily basis.

Has anyone dealt with this before? Is there a cheap/clever way to fix it?

I was thinking of heading to Lowes and getting a pipe fitting that has threads a little smaller than the diameter of the hole, threading it in with teflon tape, and then epoxying around the outside to seal it up and allow it to sit.

Any ideas?

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[XiKeiyaZI]

Update :

So I ran the Mutt-Epoxy (made up of loctite super-glue, a heating solution, and a few other things to increase friction and grip) for 2 days before it gave. I was sad...

I took a stainless steel ring and tapped 3 holes in it. I then placed it into the broken nozzle of the radiator to reinforce it. I drilled, in line, with those same three holes around what remained of the nozzle, lined them up, placed the hose on, and screwed the hose down. I then used a rubber cement and made sure the hole wouldn't leak. Doing this, I was able to apply more pressure AND it did not leak. I drove around with this all day without a single incident. However, the responsible mechanic in me wouldn't allow me to continue driving with this. It was proven to work, though and all for under $15 for a proper bandaid that should get you from point A to point B. I will post up pictures and directions on how to do this soon.

Onto the next part - I tore the Radiator out and measured it against the radiator of a Dodge Stealth R/T Automatic Radiator that I had. The measurements are in a post above. It may not seem like it, but the radiator does fit, there are just a couple of modifications to the lower body of the vehicle, specifically the two pieces that stick out for the bottom 2 radiator mounts to hold it in place. These simply need to be bent down about an inch and everything will fit properly.

The only issue that I've run into with this is that the hood prop will simply not lock in place. This causes the hood to be a little more difficult to lock in place as opposed to just pressing down on it gently. I am currently working on a way around this and will get back to you once I have thought of a convenient way to resolve it without removing it.

Anyway, my issue has been resolved.. but let it be known that the Bandaid AND the radiator out of a 93 Dodge Stealth R/T Automatic will fit properly into our 2G DSMs.