The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Rodding radiator

The radiator in the ol Green Truck has sprung a leak. I've strongly considered pulling it, cleaning, and soldering the pin hole. Not really concerned about doing the repair but since I may one day install the 261 that's been taking up shop space for the last 10 years and then installing AC, I'm thinking I need to find a radiator shop that can rod the core, test and do a real, repair.

The only concern is if they pull the tank and then decide it's not up to their standards and don't do the job I'm stuck with likely buying a modern aluminum radiator, not really what I want to do. So anyone had one of our now 70+ year old radiators rodded lately? The truck's never ran hot, has 59k original miles and I've always kept Preston 50-50 mix and changed when the Fluke said it was time (that's been the case for the past 15 years, can't speak to the previous 60).

Of course I may just be being a worry wart.

RonR

The do make original looking radiators that if painted black, most would not be able to tell the difference. Here is an example.

The problem I have has with pin holes in radiators is that if there is one pin hole there are many that are close to opening up. I end up playing a game of whack-a-mole. I fix one and then the pressure test reveals another. As a physicist I can't see how you can coat the inside of the radiator without losing efficiency unless it was a very special coating. I pulled the radiator out of my 53 3100 a couple of years ago and it's fine. I bought the truck in 1980 in SoCal and never put anything in it but water. I lived in the desert so it was a dry water.

Back in the dark ages when dinosaurs roamed the earth, radiator shops actually fixed them, and new cores were available when patching them up became impossible, or at least unprofitable. That's probably not the case these days, as most of those guys are looking at the brown side of the grass. If you can find an old school radiator shop, they might still have a source for new cores- - - -and reuse your original tanks and mounting brackets, etc.
Jerry

Ron if you can not find a shop to install a new core up your way call Active Radiator (214)462-7855 I haven't used them but a friend said they were good.

However for a different look at this, I bought a 3 core aluminum radiator about 8 or 9 years ago and it has been just fine. The tank and bottom are heavier aluminum than I expected. I bought it on Amazon and at that time I think it was around $115 delivered. For something like $30 more I could have had 4 row but I figured 3 would be okay. None of the radiator shops around here at that time said they could fix my old one using brass and copper for anywhere less than $300 and one place said $500. So that's kind of a ballpark. I don't know what they would charge today. The one shop in Dallas that I had used in the past closed a few years ago. I have a 1951 GMC radiator in the attic. I had it re-cored around 1985 using the old style core and it was leaking when I gave up on it. Rather than find the leak and fix it, I decided the same thing you are thinking...another leak is just waiting to happen. Besides that I can't tell the aluminum one runs at any different temperature and as you know Dallas in the summer is like the waiting room for hell. Good luck!

Lots of good info, Thanks!

Mick53, I do appreciate the tip about dry water. I was aware of hard, soft water, heavy water, dry ice, and of course the old standard, wet water. Dry water, I didn’t know about till now.

Dry water does in fact exist and was first reported in the late 1960s, when it was patented as: ‘Predominantly aqueous compositions in a fluffy powdery form approximating powdered solids behaviour.’ The term denotes a powder, each grain of which is a micron-scale droplet of liquid water.

The droplets are formed by blending water (95 wt%) at high speed with a surface-adsorbed layer of silica nanoparticles (5 wt%), which have been pre-treated to make them intensely hydrophobic. Once coated, the droplets cannot flow back together, providing a powder that is effectively a form of high surface-area water.

It has a huge basket of applications and uses today.

Who knew.

RonR

I also have water wetter for the drag strip. If you use antifreeze and have a leak they will skin you and hang it on the tree.

Yep, a Long time ago, the overflow hose slipped off the catch bottle, it was s good day, money to be made, then flagged down and back to the pits.

RonR

Ask the local cruise folks where they get work done.

Also, companies with fleet trucks.

Johnson Radiator in Gadsden, Alabama makes custom copper radiators if you really need one.

We still have an old school radiator shop here in Cape Girardeau, MO. Looks like a pretty good ways for you, however.

I had the Radiator in my '58 recored at a local Shop. It's a larger 3 row core that uses the original tanks. The owner told me it would cool whatever I put in the Truck. I decided to use the original as I knew it would mount correctly and have no issues with the shroud or clearance.

I'm not going to tell you it was cheap, but it's a brass core just like the original..