converting 3/8" to 1/2"
 

On A black ice rad, how can i do this ?

Personally I would dremel off the origional fittings, drill the propersized holes for 3/8" NPT fittings (probably about 3/4" or so) then used a proper ammount of plumbers goop and seal in 1/2" barb x 3/8" NPT fittings. You could solder in the new fittings, but I bet it would f-up the paint on your black ice and you'd hafta sand and paint the thing again.

know where i can get a black ice extreme, that already has 1/2" fittings, IN THE UK

i think you have to order it directly from hwlabs.com if you want the bigger size.... send an email to the guys there and they will surely help you out.

decoded, wouldn't it be better to use 1/4" NPT instead of 3/8" NPT? i have some 1/2" x 3/8"NPT hose barbs laying right here, and they are really big. 1/4" NPT is what you see on all the waterblocks and stuff.

dannzig, the BIX comes standard with 1/2" fittings.

deez, it's been a while!!

I think 1/4" NPT would be easier, but would much more flow restriction than 3/8" NPT. I don't have a Black Ice sitting around here to know if you could even fit 3/8" NPT into it to know unfortuniatly. You could get some 1/2" or 12mm Cu pipe and solder it in I suppose.

You'd want 15mm or 5/8" copper pipe to solder 3/8" NPT barbs into. Alternatively 3/8" or 10mm should fit into the bore of one.

it'd be hard to find one in england I think.

what is wrong with ordering from the US anyway? Some places will ship intl

Chip showed me a trick once that's supposed to improve the performance of the black ice, turns it into a 2 pass instead of a 4 pass, would go well with a 1/2" system. Goes like this.. Take your 1/2" hose to a Y, split of two 3/8" lines, one into each nozzle on the rad. Now your going, how the hell does the water get out? Drill a hole in the middle of the top middle tank, and install a 1/2" fitting there, 3/8 NPT should do the trick for that, use that for the output (or hell, input if you want, your choice).
This really does work, according to Chip, and he should know, he helped design these things. :) Although the way Chip said to do it was kind go goofy, I think my idea with the Y splitter is the best way to go. You may have trouble finding 1/2" to 2x3/8" Y's, your on your own there. :)

yeah, that will make the water go down, up, then out. That would actually work really well...

Chip claimed a 50% performance increase. We all know how much Chip exagerates tho. Figure more like 10%.. ;)

well, flow would be 50% better I presume. Actually I think it could be a bit more than 10%.

or maybe he is saying 50% better than a 4x4" stacked plate