The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Removing Paint from 1951 Copper Top Radiator

I will be reusing my 1951 Chevy Truck radiator and need some assistance. I want to polish the brass top of the radiator and simply paint the rest. Any ideas of how best to remove the old paint so that I can polish the brass surface on the Harrison radiator?

solvent or paint stripper or sand it off with a 3M stripping pad

Bill

If you are "restoring" your 1951 Chevy Truck radiator, then it would not be polished it would be painted black like the rest of the radiator. If your polishing the "brass" upper tank on your radiator then you would be "customizing" your 1951 Chevy Truck radiator.
I know Bill, you don't have to say it, I know I'm a nit-picker!!!!
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

actually I might have mentioned that if he'd said "restoring" Denny, but "reusing" is different .... a lot of us give these old relics a new lease on life - "resurrect" them - and like to let their true soul shine thru

one initial polish with BrassO, then benign neglect, produces a beautiful dark patina that works as well as proper rad paint to dissipate heat .... and I love the look of non ferrous metals

Bill

Soda blasting is also a way to remove paint without abrading the underlying metal, even for softer metals like copper and brass.

Well excuuuuuse me, I would have sworn that said "restoring", must be that dyslexia again, or it could also be senility, oh well, polish away boys. A little squirt of MarHyde Aircraft Coating Striper and a scotch bright pad orta take care of the paint and your right about the Brasso, I use that a lot for my old radio restoration work, it works wonders on Bakelite also.
Denny G

Denny... you're excused... it's always interesting to read the feedback that is received to posts... sometimes... conversations occur that don't even answer the question that you posted. Just for anyone else that might be interested in doing what I'm doing... i've discovered that a product called "Lime Away" works wonders on the old paint and deposits. Will post some pictures of the radiator when I get things painted and polished. Thanks to everyone for replying.

I'm not going to say how I stripped mine because then everyone would jump in and tell twenty reasons why that product doesn't work, but while in the process of cleaning mine up once I saw the brass I couldn't help myself.

PICTURE

Don't know how long I'll be able to maintain it but it'll look good for a while.

It looks really sharp Woody! If you can't post the how to would you PM me.
I like the way it looks! Could you clear coat it after it's polished?
Dan

Dan,
I clear coated mine with duplicolor high temp clear it isnt holding up well at all, think im gonna strip it this winter polish it ..an just leave as is ...just have to get a can of BRASSO to keep it shinin.
Tim

Wow! Woody that is beautiful. How did you do it??

I used my "secret weapon"... NYALOX BRUSHES for stripping the paint. I used them in progressively finer grit: the gray first, then the orange and then the blue, each step removes the sanding scratches of the previous. Then I finished with Brasso.

FYI, it's been at least a year since I did it and it's looking like an old penny now.

I have wondered for a long time if nicely preserved black paint hid a majestic brass radiator top on my 56 Cameo. After I saw Czechman's picture I decided it was time to look, so I did some scraping. It's brass! does anyone know what years were brass capped? Mine is a 56 and I just assumed it was steel -- till now. I'm ordering the nyalox brushes--- now. This will be a great winter project (along with the others). Thanks Woody --- Dale

all rads were brass tanked into the 60's at least, pretty hard to solder steel to the copper cores

Bill

So - I'm part way through stripping the paint from my copper top radiator, and I see a lot of solder all along the bottom. I see in other photos (like Woody's) that solder is not there, so how do I (should I) remove that "excess" solder? Was It a result of a manufacturing process that didn't care if it ran, since it was all painted black anyway? Thanks-

Dale

it wasn't made that way Dale, the factory wasn't that sloppy, no doubt happened during a repair job when the tank had to be removed [done while it was on it's side judging from the runs] - you might try something like the tool Woody used, but you won't get all that color off because the brass is porous enough to 'suck it up' - if you don't like the look, paint it

Bill

Not what I hoped to hear, but thanks Bill. Maybe I'll try some sanding - coarse to light - first - if that doesn't do it - like you said, there's always black paint. Good to hear the factory wasn't that sloppy though. It is messy

Dale

Well - who would have thought it - sandpaper (800) does a fine job of removing the solder and sands to clean brass if you sand long enough. The flat surfaces are not too hard - it's the indents that really present a challenge. -- but I'm getting there. Sorry - I'm feeling like I'm hijacking this thread, but it's still the same subject. After sanding I go over it with 0000 steel wool, and then 0 steel wool to polish. Final will be brasso.

Dale

Wow, that is a great idea, I think I'am going to go ahead and polish the tanks on my 55 and 50. There is a old man that used to have a gas station and mechanics shop here in town years ago. And he helps me a good bit on the old trucks (when I can catch him sober) he said to use meratic acid, like the stuff you use to clean concrete?? He is a little on the mutty side, but would that work??

SW Radial, that is one sharp truck you have. I hope my project turns out at least have as nice.

HI, I did mine, And I used scotchbrite pads Then polished with a soft buffing wheel. It turned out great!!

Thanks for the info, I think I will go that way. The acid way sounds like it may be a little to extreme.