The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors round heater core

im not sure where to search for help on this. i have a 1952 gmc truck totally stock but heater box say pontiac. im thinking my uncle, the original owner must have changed it . but truck is all like new so no idea why box says pontiace. core is shot. anyone know where to start looking for a core i found one but you need to use old tanks and im sure mine are no good as i had to put in a new rad well.any helpwould be appreciated

Mike,

Please post a picture so we can assist you.

Chris

Heaters were installed at the dealership. GMCs and Pontiacs were sold at the same dealership so they may have done that when new.

I recently replaced the heater core in my '50 3100.

The best deal going is Classic Parts.

Another company wanted the same amount of money for just the tubes and fins without the tanks. You are supposed to have your radiator guy use your old tanks and solder the thing together. What a pain in the a$$!

Classic parts sells the whole thing for $225. It's good quality, too. As you can see it's already assembled and ready to put in the heater housing. They sell a new switch, too.

Classic Parts 800-741-1678


Here it is. They've raised the price $50 since October.

www.classicparts.com/1947-57-Heater-Core-Round-Recirculating/productinfo/68%2D222/

www.classicparts.com

Good to know you can get a replacement at ClassicParts. If I recall there were some post a couple years ago and you could not get a new round heater core. I think there are even some post hiding somewhere on this site about fitting a square peg in a round hole because there were few options. I bought an original heater core at a swap meet cheap with my fingers crossed hoping it was in good shape just in case my current original fails. I have not tested it yet but if it is bad I will be looking at ClassicParts.

Another option is a new heater core and motor from Brassworks. I posted about it and showed the steps necessary to install it in this old post
https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthread...rks_Recirculating_Heate.html#Post1011395

Got mine from Jim Carter, fit perfectly, MEH248, $225 plus tax and shipping.

I bought one from Jim carter last year. The bolts didn't line up with the holes on my 56 but otherwise it was good.
Fred

I 2nd the new brassworks core. You cant really beat the new style core with a new fan all attached as one unit. Pretty slick. Mines a bit loud on high but my truck is also so quiet nobody knows its even running. Ive never had one with the stock metal fan so im not sure how loud those were.

Put a brassworks in my 55.2 3100. Not too bad a job to install.

There actually is one of the Chevy Parts suppliers selling a square heater core that's fitted into a round housing. The mounting holes and tanks tubes line up perfectly with the round ones. I forget what catalog I saw it in.

i can thankyou all enough for your help. so appreciated very much. ill get started on it right away. plus i love now knowing the about pontiac and gmc in same plant.i couldnt see my uncle buying a after market. my truck was assembled in california . apparantly that took place over a two year period.once i figure out how to post pictures i will. THANKS AGAIN

20 years ago you couldn't find new round cores and none of the radiator shops here would work on them (not easy to fix). A friend of mine went to the hardware store and bought something like a 20 or 25 foot roll of 1/4 inch soft copper tubing and a handful of reducer fittings. He carefully wrapped the copper tubing into circles spaced about 1/2 inch apart and then made increasingly larger circles above those, staggering the rows until he had used up all the tubing. Then he soldered on the reducer fittings, fit those to the original holes in the mounting bracket (where he could connect the heater hose) and left it at that. It took a bit longer to warm up, but worked as well as the old one ever did. I think it cost him something like $20 for everything to do this. Later a friend who does HVAC work said he could have bought some clamp on fin material and used that plus 1/2 inch copper tubing to replicate the old core using fewer rounds of tubing. Good luck.

you can buy new round core at filling station in oregon its parts house i bought one i like