The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors need help finding a heater core for 50 chevy truck

I have been restoring a 50 chevy 3100 truck. The truck does not have the original engine but a 400 sb and a aftermarket radiator. I think the preasure was to much for the orignal heater core When i looked down at the floor baord I noticed water streamng down. After taking the core out of the box I found that it has already been brazed before so the core is more then likely to rotted to mess with. Does anyone happen to know a vendor that sells new cores? The core i have is the round type. thanks ahead for any help

if you're using a 12-15# cap on the rad, even a new core of vintage design may not like it, but Jim Carter has them - for a price - put heater core in the search box

Bill

Thanks for the reply Bill, I would like to use the original heater box but you brought up a good point about the design of the core. I didn't think of that. I think I'm just going to break down and put a after market ac and heater unit in.

Those original heater core will begin to expand out at about 7lbs. Any more than that and
it will damage the tubes which were very thin and designed for no more than about 4lb
operating pressure.
Got that from a radiator guy that I've known since high school, we were class of '60 and it
was a family business which just closed a few years ago. I also did some pressure testing
on my own and I can guarantee you that it you try going past 7lbs you will hurt the core.
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/113977758

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

thanks for the heads up Denny, I had a fella call me that had a original heater box and core. The blower motor has been changed out to 12 volts. He said that the core was good and did not leak. But after hearing from you and Bill I wasn't going to go back with the original heater. I told him about my concerns with the core not holding up to 14-16 pounds of preasure. So thank you both for the help. I would have wasted 100 bucks and then have to turn around and get a aftermaket heater for the truck anyway. I'm looking at a vintage air heater/defroster setup. I have used the vintage air heater in a kit car I built a few years ago and it worked real well, even when i had the rag top down. Oh well, I wanted to try and use the orignal heater box, but that doesn't seem possible with the engine setup I have now. thanks agian for the help. And if you know anyone that needs a original heater for a 50 chevy truck I know where there is one available.