The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors Heater core needed

Can anyone tell me where to buy either a new or rebuilt heater core for my '50 Deluxe fresh air heater? Having a heck of a time finding one.

Thanks much!
Spot

Good luck... You could post in the Swap Meet section here or keep an eye open on eBay, they do pop up occasionally there. The good news is with the economy softening the prices seem to be going down. I've seen these go for $200, but I think the last one I saw sell on eBay went for under $100.

Be patient.

Have you checked with a radiator shop about the possiblity of putting a new core in it? If you find a used one it may not be any better then the one you have.

Here's another one of those problems that pops up pretty often. Maybe it's time I started asking some questions of my own.
There are plans in the future to pull my heater and restore it but for now I’ve been pleasuring myself be driving my truck. And since I haven’t seen any signs of leakage from the heater core when I did have the water flowing to it, I haven’t been to worried about it. Other than the fact that the capillary tube is missing and I just have to run it on full flow, I’ve used it through two winters and it works just fine. So I haven’t had my heater apart and don’t yet know what sort of surprises await me.
The only pictures of the heater core that I have in my reverence files show only the one surface of the unit when the cover is removed. It simply looks like a standard construction for a rectangular section of copper radiator core that is capped on both ends with brass tanks. In other words it’s just a mini radiator, is my assumption correct?
So what’s the big deal with unsoldering the tanks and mounting them to a brand new section of core material?? That’s almost an every day task in any decent sized radiator shop. Now if your talking about the round heater cores then I can see where there is a problem but to re-core the Deluxe heater should be pretty straight forward, no???
If any one has a six dimensional photo documentation (Woddy) of the Deluxe core when they restored their Deluxe heater, I’d really like to see it just so I can begin to work on what I might run in to down the line. Cuz if the core does need service I might be able find a shop that can get the core material ordered now.
By the way, has anyone measured the dimensions of the core, i.e., length, width, thickness and number of rows????ß nervous index finger!
Thanks
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Denny, yes the core is a simple affair and with only one "box" on the end. I guess a capable tech at a radiator shop could fabricate one for me out of stock radiator material, but haven't gotten to that point yet. Am still trying to locate one to buy. I even thought a shop could dip the side that's worn into a shallow pan of molten lead and seal it off that way. I'll try to take it to a radiator shop this week and get their opinion.

Thanks!
Spot

Denny,

You ask a good question... why can't the be recored? Although I've never asked, all you hear is that if the core is shot, it's scrap. It sure would be nice if that were false.

I've got my spare core on the top shelf, but will pull it down tomorrow and photograph all 6 sides next to a ruler.

All you have to do tell me which country's ruler and I'll have him here in the morning and we'll introduce him to your scribe.

there's 2 problems with the old heater cores - 1st is frequently the tank[s] are corroded/oxidized so thin re-soldering them to a new core is near impossible, and most rad shops won't try to deal with those ... the 2nd is that they don't use a "section of rad core", they order the correct dimension pre-made, and there's gotten to be a limited selection now ... I took 3 cores to a shop to check and rebuild and they repaired one, found the right size core for another, said 'sorry' about the 3rd, a size nowhere near anything available

Bill

I had an old friend from my midget racing days that opened a radiator shop in Indianapolis. He builds custom radiators for all types of racing cars from Indy champ cars to hot-rods. I haven't talked to him for decades but I'm sure a shop like that could make you up a heater core.
Looks like there's a golden opportunity to develope a new product. Making a die set to punch out the brass tanks wouldn't be a major project either from the couple of pictures that I've seen. The one is rather a shallow dish and the other is a relatively shallow draw.
I got a few to many irons in the fire now to work on something like this.
Thanks Woody, I knew we could count on you to get out the Kodachrome and post some pics for us.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Thanks Woody, Denny and Bill for all your comments. I agree with Denny that there's a need for a company to come up with heater cores for these old trucks. Can't imagine why no one has done it yet unless it's either too expensive or not enough demand. Keep this post in mind if anyone runs accross any suppliers or sources for a heater core.

Spot

You can see all six sides with scale HERE. Pictures average 250 MB each.

EDIT: That should say 250 KB, not MB

it's both, that's why the cores that are available are spendy unless they're 60's or newer

each series is different, there's 2 or 3 different style original heaters for every series, each with a different core .... the more common ones or ones that are the same across a number of makes, are available, if you wound up with one that isn't, or a local rad shop that isn't helpful, get inventive ... or wear a coat

Bill

Hey Woody, thanks a bunch, I ever meet you in the flesh I’m gonna have to buy ya dinner and drinks. I really appreciate your taking the time.

I’m just now getting to it because I just got up the strength to sit up in front of the confuser. I had a hamburger at McDonalds Friday afternoon and think I got food poisoning from it. I’ve had real bad stomach cramps since 0:200 Saturday morning and am just starting to feel a little better. Still weak and shaky and gut still hurts a little.

I just down loaded the pic and am printing some full pages out for study. Again, it doesn’t look like that complicated of a part to make. I’m assuming that the plates that are soldered to the tanks locate it in the housing. I would guess that they are steel? Or did they spend the money and use brass on them also? I can’t make out from the pics right off how many rows it has, but I haven’t got all the pics printed out and had a chance to study them, maybe it will show in the picture.

Bill, not sure I’m reading you correctly on this one. Are you saying that all the AD Deluxe heaters were different over the span of the series??? I thought they were all the same. It seems to me that there would be a pretty big market for these cores. A run of a thousand or so would not be that big of an investment and if I was a gamblin’ man I’d bet they would be gone on a national level in a couple of weeks. I mean look at the reproduction AD radiators that they are selling, still quite reasonable and there is a whole lot more work and tooling in making them. Those are some serious punch and dies to stamp out a part that long and that deep.

You know, I haven't checked the three-foot pile yet, just haven't had the time, to see if any of the vendors do offer a core. Seems to me that I have seen them somewhere before. I thought the rectangular ones were available but the round ones were not.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Correct on both counts. If you need any details just let me know.

BTW, on both of my cores the brackets had come off the tanks and the radiator shop resoldered them.

Denny - the deluxe heater may have changed during the run of 47-54, but there are also standard and dealer installed versions, and those 3 variations for AD's are different than for Decos or TF's [at least 4 different for them] ... the 60-66 is the oldest core everyone carries, a common type [similar to the TF deluxe one], older than that there's obviously no market as far as mfgr's are concerned

I would be suprised if anyone could sell 1,000 deluxe AD heater cores in their lifetime, let alone a couple weeks .... check the gallery, how many AD's here? is every one of those owners going to want a new heater core? do even half of those trucks have the style of core you'd pick to repro? and the vendors aren't going to scoop dozens each to have sitting on the shelf, they'd just note the maker and get one when they had an order

things that are profitable to reproduce get done, and with the amount of rad stuff in the world, if it was an easy deal to do some AD heater core [which?], it'd be there ... I think Carter had some of the round cores for awhile, probably NOS someone found

Bill

Okey doky, your mention the standard and dealer installed heaters, I thought we were talking about the "Deluxe" heater. I may be mistaken but I thought they were all the same..
Beleive it or not all the guys with Advance Design arn't regestered Stovebolters. I would say that I run into at least one person a week on the street that has one or knows someone that has one. Talk to many more at the meets and surprisingly very few know about Stovebolt.com and a lot of them have never heard of VCCA. There have been attemps to document how many AD's are still registered but I doubt if that would be possable. One thing for sure, there are a lot of them left out there. I you figured that only 1% needed a replacement heater core you would eat them up in no time. Of course these are only opinions on yours and my part and taint worth dickering over,I give, you Win!
I'll still make up a drawing of mine when I get it out just incase I get all may projects finished and need something to do.

Woody, I took a good look at those pictures, great shots. Looks like a 3" four row copper core. Two rows are covered by the inlet tank and the other two by the outlet tank, both are the same shape. The bottom tank which looks to be nothing more than a brass flanged box and just covers all four rows. I'd like to check with a radiator shop and see if they could get four row cores that were 8 1/2" tall, width wouldn't matter, it would be easy enough to split a wide one to make a few cores.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Denny,

Three out five of my trucks came with the "deluxe" (actually an air-flow or outside-air) heater. These were available from 1947-55 (Chevrolet trucks and GMCs) with slightly different housings in 54/55 but the same core.

The less expensive heater was the recirculating heater (round core) that did not change from 48-55 (Chevrolet trucks and maybe GMCs).

outside-air & recirculating heaters

In 1947, the first A-D trucks also had a deluxe heater , but I think this was only available in 1947. This heater had two motors/fans, one for normal heating of the cab and one for defrosting the windshield.

Here is the 1947 fresh-air heater.

Denny, I agree with you that there would be a market for the round-cores and the air-flow rectangular-cores. The round-core style is more common but the air-flow type is not at all rare.

Of course, you could have any of your old/bad cores refuilt by Chevs of the 40s for $375. Bet a "good radiator shop" could beat that price - if anyone finds that good radiator shop, let us know.

Tim

Hey guys,

Darn good discussion going on here about a problem that I thought was fixed years ago, but obviously not. I'm new to this stuff, just having bought my '50 back in March, so I've got a lot to learn. There are dozens of online businesess dedicated to selling us parts for these old AD's, and I just never thought you couldn't buy something as simple as a part to make your heater work. Geeeezzz!! Thanks to everyone for the discussion and especially Woody for the photos. I'll report what the radiator shop here in San Antonio says about fixing mine or recommending a source for a new one.

Spot

That matches my experience. There are four in my area besides mine and none of those guys either heard of or go to the Bolt. Who knows how many more in this area are being made road worthy.

I'm going to take my radiator to my local shop to be tested and I'll take my heater core along and see what they say about re-coring it. Radiator shops are dying out because radiators are being replaced these days instead of repaired so they are glad for your business.

there's lots of AD's here in the Valley and on Vancouver Island too, with owners not at all interested in the "restoration" scene ...... the majority of them are "updated", complete with one of the many current aftermarket heating/AC systems offered by every vendor from multiple mafgr's

Bill

I'm finding the same thing out here in the Chicago suburbs. Almost every good-sized town around here used to have a radiator shop when I was a kid. Now I only know of a couple and I have to travel 30 or 40 miles to get to them. One of them is a young kid that was a truck mechanic for a construction company, no experience but he bought out one of the last shops and told me that the owner gave him a crash course in radiator repair. One of those deals where the wife and six kids, two in strollers, are always hanging around the office and shop.
I mentioned earlier that there are still some specialty shops that make a good living from custom make radiators for performance vehicles. In the past we’ve had a few made for the midgets and sprint cars. But you will most likely find them on the west coast or around the big tracks like Indy, Daytona, Darlington etc.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Woody, you have recently taken and posted photos of the heater core for our Deluxe heaters. I've measured mine also to compare with your photos. I've tried several large online auto parts stores to locate cores to fit and they don't offer them. One place, Auto Parts Train, had an intensive offering of cores and I wonder now if I could find a core with the same demensions and use that one, regardless of it's intended application. My heater housing has some play in it enough that even a core that comes close to the demensions should fit and work. My question is do I measure the demensions of the fin portion or the entire unit including the "box" on the end? I'm sure I'm missing some reason why it wouldn't work, but I'm beginning to believe there isn't any source for a direct replacement and I'm trying now to think out of the box and am thinking I should just try to find a core with the same demensions and that should work. Obviously the two nipples would have to be in the same location, or close to it. I'm also noticing that the prices of later model cores are much cheaper than the old stuff. If new works then why not go with it. I still can't believe such a simple part is causing me so much grief!!

Your thoughts guys?

Spot

I wouldn't know. Perhaps Denny or someone else can answer that question

Well Woody since I don't have mine out I'm only goin by your excllent set of photos. From what I can see the mounts that are soldered to the tanks determine the fit. looks like the core is screwed in at 3 or 4 places at the top and bottom.
The nipples would have to line up unless you don't mine hacking up the cowl Spot. Who is this "Auto Parts Train" are they online or just a local flaps?
Denny G

There are four screws holding the unit in, but on this particular one, one of the brackets is off a little and the scew hole is very close to the edge.

THIS PHOTO shows the bracket with the misplaced hole... in the upper right corner.

Denny, "Auto Parts Train" was a website I ran accross in the wee hours of the morning trying to locate a heater core. Pretty intensive listing of cores and other parts, so thought they would have one, but alas, they did not. Thanks for telling me that the demensions are measured including the tank.

Woody, thanks again for your photos.

My search for a heater core continues.........

Spot

Denny - Parts Train ... have some parts for trucks back to 47

Bill

Thanks guys, I'll add it to the Auto Parts list.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I am a lucky guy. I too was seeking a heater core for my deluxe fresh air heater. I spent I dont know how many hours on the internet looking for the real deal, looking for cores with similar dimensions and connections. All with no result other than a twitchy eyelid. I finally decided to take my core to a radiator shop and see if it was ok. I check the yellow pages, and found just one radiator shop advertising there.

I pulled up to the radiator shop, which looked like it hadnt been busy in a long time. As I crossed the threshold, a deep voice rang out of the back of the back of the shop. "I dont work on those anymore" says the white haired, overalls wearing owner. The conversation wasnt going anywhere fast, the gent saying that he was more or less retired and he explained how my heater core in my hand was a honeycomb design and nobody in world uses that anymore, its not available and its too hard to work on.

Then, out of nowhere, the old gent says......"I got a new one though" I said "No kidding, lets have a look" The old gent digs around in a metal storage cabinet and pulls two new heater cores out. As he continues to talk, it turns out that this man had made up a batch of a hundred of these cores many years back. These were the two remaining examples. After some back and forth conversation, the gent agreed to sell me one of the cores, my choice for a hundred bucks and yes, he would trust my personal check.

I have installed my prize in my heater. I have to hook up the heater hoses yet to try it out, but it was a pretty close fit, a couple of the screw holes needed a bit of coaxing. I got my heater out of one of dad's junk trucks, and I have spent many an hour grinding and sanding the waste products of rodents out of the guts of the heater. After all that work, a new core and blower motor and a coat of paint, I am a proud papa.

One of the last treasures we have in this country that will be sorely missed, is those old white haired overall wearing men who kept our wheels rolling in the years before everything had a wire sticking out of it. Fella's, we will miss you.

AD heater cores new bad news.
Well since I’m waiting on parts, I spent most of the day looking at all of the 60’s up Chevy heater cores.
You weren’t just kiddin’ when you said that Parts Train had a lot of heater cores, 32 pages 480 items and that was just the Chevy heater cores. I looked at each one and printed out the pics and sizes of all the different versions.
Two things stand out, one is that all of them, bar none, have their IN and OUT tanks running across a horizontal row of holes with one in the front and another in the back. With the AD Deluxe cores one tank covers half the tubes on the right and the other tank covers half the tubes on the left. Also the AD appears to be a three-inch core and the later tanks all appear to be two-inch cores.
The second thing that stands out is the prices. A very rare 60’s Corvette or Chevy LUV runs almost $100, the common passenger car and truck copper cores run from $20 to $50 with the average running around $30. Now if they can find enough market for a ’63 Vette or ‘75 LUV to make and stock heater cores, then they certainly orta find a market for tens of thousands of Advance Design Chevy Trucks.
Now I need to see how many look like they would fit in the Deluxe housing if they were modified.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

You're right Wrench Fetcher, you are one lucky son of a gun! Good for you finding that old fella and that he had what you were looking for. I agree that he and his kind are the last of a special breed. Won't be any more of his kind.

Enjoy your new part and think of us other saps this winter when you're basking in the heat in your cab while the rest of us are blowing our breath into our hands to keep our fingers warm.

Just jealous,

Spot

See, I told ya that Auto Parts Train website was a doozy!! Lots and lots of heater cores but not a darn one that I could use. I'm hoping that you'll find us all one of the newer cores that we can adapt to our AD heaters Denny. Let us know of your progress and what you recommend to the rest of us to buy.

Thanks for all your work!

Spot

I got real lucky too and picked up a complete fresh air heater for $10, took the core to the local radiator shop and it checked out, leaving me with two good cores. I've considered selling one a few times but then I realize I'd be screwed if the one in the truck ever died on me.

Wow....two lucky Bolters who found gold!! I'm happy you found the heater Woody, and yes, you should keep them both. Never know when you'll need the spare. If ever you should locate another find like that one consider emailing me or calling to let me know about it.

I don't like being cold.

Spot
704-564-6298

Just keep watching eBay... they do come up once in a while and with the economy the way it is they're going for reasonable prices.

One place I have stumbled across for classic radiators and heater cores.

www.caparadiator.com

They have a section for classic radiators and classic heater cores. They prefer the older stuff so this is right up their alley. They are currently doing a radiator for me for a 51. They will keep all the correct build and date codes. Neat little shop. Have a look.

Royv

Has anyone contacted them for an AD Deluxe heater core???
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Classic Heaters re-cored my round recirculating heater core. Outstanding workmanship but a bit pricey.

Bob

Based on the info from Royv I contacted Bill Carberry at Classic Radiator (once you hit the link above you navigate their website to Classic Radiator). He quoted a re-core of the radiator for my 53, retaining the OEM numbers at $595 with a 1 year warranty. I checked with him on recore for the heaters, the fresh air heater is $200-$225, and the re-circulating heater is $395. Pressure test and repair of the fresh air is $30 and up. I will be able to drive mine down to him if I go that way, so no shipping.

Mike

Well, that's a breakthrough. If they can recore a fresh-air heater for $200-$225 at least we know it an be done and where to go for the service.

THANKS!

Welcome to far market economy, Denny. A fair price is any price agreeable to both buyer and seller.

You have the right to do business with someone who will provide the same service at a better price... and someone else has the right to start a similar business and perform the same service for less.