Tech; radiator fix, maybe

So I've been driving the big white truck, and it's been going great. It actually has a very comfortable ride. I've been noticing a faint coolant smell from time to time though. Man I hate that smell. That is the worst car smell, in my opinion. Then I found the coolant leaking yesterday. I took the upper radiator hose off at the radiator end and inspected it. It looked ok, and the radiator didn't appear to be leaking, so I put the hose back on and suspected that the hose clamp had just not been on completely.
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Today I found the radiator leaking again, and a closer inspection in good light revealed that the plastic radiator tank was cracked. Not right at the hose outlet to tank junction like I expected, but right next to that on the tank proper. You see that little curving vertical black line to the right of the hose outlet? That's the crack. I could not get a new radiator same day, so I tried plan B: fix it myself.

I drained the radiator so the coolant level would be below the crack, so it might seal better. I have this siphon pump I use. Get one of these, it's way better than siphoning stuff with your mouth.

I had picked up this pack of epoxy one day at a store for possible future use. I don't remember how long it's been hanging on my garage wall. Today's your day, big guy. I am using the epoxy for 3 reasons: 1. A new radiator costs about $300, and I can't get it today anyway. 2. The coolant system only goes to about 16psi, not a very high pressure. 3. I already have the epoxy.

I sprayed the cracked area with brake cleaner, then sanded it lightly to give it some tooth, again to promote the epoxy adhesion. This is what sanding looks like, in case you somehow could never visualize it. Epoxy. Epoxy. Epoxy, epoxy, epoxy. What an odd word.

After nearly destroying the epoxy pack trying to get the 2 parts out, I finally squeezed some on to this lid and mixed it well with this craft stick. The epoxy had that great chemical smell I remember from when I was kid and my dad would mix up some epoxy for some repair job. Mixing the epoxy up made it look like that nice shiny, pearlescent salt water taffy you can see mixing at the store on the boardwalk.

I applied it liberally to the cracked area, and most of the area around it as well. Mmmm, smells nice. Why did I use so much? Because that's how much I mixed up. Actually, I used the old drag racer's motto: If some is good, more is better, and too much is just right.

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I'll put the hose on, refill the radiator, and give it a road test tonight. We'll see it it makes it to Newburgh and back, about a 20 mile round trip.