The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Heater coil - any source for a new one

In the process of rebuilding my 49 3600 I've removed the heater. The coil is leaking. Is it an easy fix by a radiator shop or should I replace the unit? If it needs replacing are after-market units available? If so, where? I've checked LMC, Am Classsics & Dennis'.
Thanks for the help!
Dierks

Your local rad shop should be able to fix it.

First, can you get the core out of the heater housing and actually find the leak? There are sealants available at NAPA which might work if the leak is small and easily isolated.

Second, is there a radiator shop nearby that can repair and pressure test the heater core? They can tell you what it will cost for 10 minutes of labor.

Third, do you care about maintaining stock appearance? Chevy Duty sells a replacement heater unit that's easy to install and works great, but it's a small black cube and not much to look at. Have you looked in the Swap Meet yet?

Thanks for the help. I've removed the heater and core. I'll take it to my local shop and see what they can do. The leak is very obvious so I don't think that an additive that I'd run through the core would work.
Dierks

I had zero luck with my local rad shop and they took a few days to tell me that they had no sources for a new core. They were not comfortable working on it because something that old can spring new leaks just from the stress of working on it.

OLDCarKook gave the name of one source in a previous thread on this subject. I believe that there are new cores available, but they cost big bucks.

I bought a 57 with a 350 done by previous owner. He have the 350 radiator cap on it and the presure was to high for the heater core. It was popped and by passed . Put a new (junk yard) core in it and theright cap and worked just fine.

OldCarKook,
thanks for repeating that information. I will save it this time!