Price to recore a radiator??!?! Holy Crap!

So we went to add water to my buddys galaxie after putting in the new motor (60galaxiejj) and the rad sprung a leak. After some poking and prodding, we found the rad was done for and the tubes were paper thin. So in the back of the truck it goes and down to the local "radiator and muffler" joint. No go. He only flushes and replaces. Next joint, same thing. Tells me to call the only place around that will re-core a radiator. So we dial up Performance Radiator in S. Tacoma. Ask whats the going rate to recore a 19x26 rad. He says without checking price on the core itself, it usually runs about $650 to $900. HOLE -EE-****!!!

Said it had something to do with the epa and the state charging these shops that recore rads ridiculous amounts of money.

Whats your take on this?

 

My last recore was about two years ago, $600, on a 52 F7 truck, four core radiator. Had a radiator job just this past year on a 36 GMC, the recore on it was going to be 600 again, Walker Radiator (Memphis) wanted about 50 more for a brand new one with a 10 year warranty. We did send them the old one (pictured below) to reuse the brackets, but the new one was a perfect fit, and the overheating issue is long gone. They did tell me the old tanks inside were about rotted through in spots, so any recore would have been short lived.

 

Another sign of the disposable society .. Does anybody repair a TV set anymore?

 

Try Seattle Radiator, should be a bunch cheaper

 

Greenwood radiator about 1/2 block east of 100th and Aurora has done all of mine. Small shop, low overhead, good work.

 

I was quoted $400 to recore the radiator in my '52 Chevy. Instead, I got a new "optima" 4 row radiator triple p*** from U.S. Radiator direct fit for $567. With the old radiator that was rotted out, the car ran at 210, now it runs at 140.

 

I paid almost 600 to recore my stock 34 radiator for my 34 truck. Complications of my installation kept me from using an aftermarket radiator.

 

I needed one recored a couple of years ago and they wanted about 400 bucks and that was the friends price. I don't think it can really be blamed on the EPA at least as far as recoring is concerned. They will have to deal with strict emissions rules just to stay open recoring or not. I think it has to do with labor and the cost of copper/br***.

As far as disposal which someone is going to mention, lead sells as well as br***. They no longer use led solder to braze them back up.

If you think just your average recore is high wait until you try to get one done without a generic core and need one done with a period correct looking core. The price goes up exponentially.

 

I thought I was paying a fortune (250.00) to get the radiator recored in my 37 Chevy p/u recored 20 years or so ago,my last recore was on my 55 sunliner and it was not much more then the 37 in the 300 range about 7 years ago and all I can say is I hope they last a long time as I would hate to see hgow much they would cost now.

 

Well, I hope I don't get stoned or piloried for mentioning the aftermarket generic aluminum radiators that are available just about everywhere. They come in many sizes, but they are not "exact" fits and will need some adjustments, which is what hot rodders do anyway! The price is generally less than a couple hundred bucks. I've got them in three of my cars and the work fantastic! Just a suggestion...

 

Over $700 to do the radiator in my ragtop. Could of bought a new one cheaper.

 

Wow, that F2(?) Ford truck radiator looks just like one of the early 30s Chevrolet radiators, say about 33-36.

 

I feel your pain. Rebuilding radiators is becoming a lost art. There used to be a dozen shops within 20 miles. Now there is only one. Most of them were regulated right out of business. They are easier to build in china and charge you $500-$700. That is why if I find a good one I keep it for future builds.

 

Good eye, it is.....

 

I have a friend who owns one of the VERY few shops left in our area that does radiator/gas tank repair, he told me he'd starve to death if repairing radiators was all he did - everything now is aluminum with plastic tanks, and you can buy a new one cheaper than the labor to fix it. It's a shame...

When the radiator in my DD '55 Chevy pickup started leaking a couple years back (and best I could tell it was the ORIGINAL fifty-something year old radiator) I looked in to every replacement option, and ended up with a 'generic' aluminum downflow radiator. Less than $200 shipped, fit with minor t******* and drilling, and keeps the truck cool in the hottest Southern weather. It was really my best choice seeing as the original six was replaced with a SBC and I have A/C.

Owners of 20's - 30's era cars will have fewer choices than the later cars with much more room for 'generics'.

 

Yes all the shops that I grew up using are long gone. I asked around and found a shop on the eastern shore which is an agricultural area. He does a lot of farm equipment work that doesn't get the throw away mind set. I can't imagine what it costs to get a combine radiator re-cored.

 

Regulations and our domestic labor rates have priced us out of the repair business on many items when compared to new items (usually manufactured over seas). Politics aside, it's simple math.

Our 5 yr. old (out of warranty) washing machine just blew the motor. $375 was the quote from the local parts house for a motor! I WAS intending to repair it myself until I got the part quote. Bought a new/better machine on sale for about the same price as a replacement motor.
Same goes for TV's, DVD palyers, etc. They're disposable once out of warranty. Remember the days of changing your own belts on VCR's and tubes on TV's?

A co-worker told me he was quoted by the local Sears service center counter $125 as their standard bench rate to diagnose and do simple repairs to his (18") gas chain saw. He declined because Sears had the same unit on sale for about the same $ as the repair!

 

Don't know about a combine, but I had a Peterbuilt done on '80 and it run me 1200 bucks back then. This was in a shop that did all of our work so it wasn't the over the road stranger just in off the interstate price.

There are several shops here in KC that will still repair of recore one. It isn't a lost art but it is slowly dieing.

 

A new aluminum radiator for a 60 Galaxie is $479, free shipping, from Summit.

Rich

 

Yea and a can of black radiator paint is about 7 bucks, if you buy it at the same time you will only have one handling charge.

I have a big gnarly universal aluminum cross flow from them for 250 shipped. I haven't used it yet so it sits in my ba*****t awaiting the day hat it is needed. In the proper car with a clean installation and a light coat of paint it will be hardly noticable. I am hanging onto it in the event that my big old race engine is exceptionaly hard to cool.

All that said with the type of cars that we strive to build a recored original or original looking radiator is the best option. Something to keep in mind is that most of you fellas build way nicer cars than I do and that I am not a purest a lot of the time. What i can get way with should never be your goal.

 

Hey Marty
I just had Kellys Studebaker re-cored at
Stan's Radiator Repair
(425) 334-5729
9014 42nd St NE
Lake Stevens, WA 98258

He charged us $350 for a complete re-core
He only charged me like $60 to add 2 more outlets on a 60's mustang rad for my flathead and he repaired my 30's heater core for $40.
Great guy fast and affordable.

 

x2 on the new generic radiators available almost everywhere auto parts are sold. Take some measurements and get one at is close, do some simple brackets or adjustments on the stock ones and go down the road with the latest core technology and about 1/2 the price of a recore. Summit and Jeg's are popular sourses also.

Frank

 

The radiator shop I used for a long time went out of business a couple of years ago when the owner retired and no one wanted to buy the business. One shop services the whole lower valley now and the farmers keep him pretty busy.

I'd agree though that it's most often less expensive to buy a new radiator than it is to have an old one recored. When I needed the radiator for my son's Elkie redone the previously mentioned shop sold me a new exact replacement for less than a core cost. Even the guy who owned the shop didn't understand the cost structure on them.

 

Why do you think OEM went to aluminum price was a big part but one less type of metal in a cooling system is less likely it will become a battery. Copper and large amouts of aluminum don't seem to get along together.

 

This past summer my brother needed a radiator recored for his 60's ford f600 and the shop wanted $750 the guy said the core alone was around $600. so my brother called up napa and got an original replacement brand new radiator for $200. its not a junk one like the ones at advance or autozone it is identicle to the original one he removed.

 

This is who I just PM'ed you about Marty.

Oh yeah.....BTW Last time I was in there he was working on a 1930's rolls Royce re-core........wait for it.......$2500 dollars......

 

At my nearby radiator shop the old timer recored and fixed the upper gooseneck on my '63 galaxie for $100 bucks...old timer retires, son takes over shop....I needed my '54 chevy recored (i figured 100-200 bucks), son quoted me $795 clams for a recore! Chevs of the 40s has the br***/copper replacement for $325!!
I s****ped the old one and bought a new one all for a quarter of what he wanted!

 

Down here it seems standard to be about $1200 to $1300 for a full size flathead recore. Buy a cheapie aluminium one that may or may not hold up $450 for a 32 where as walker is around $1200 new.

 

So I just saw a radiator built by this place for a Lincoln. What a ****ing joke. Half of the outer fins were plugged do to sloppy ***embly and the 1/4 inch steel plate to adapt the core to the tanks is really high quality work.....I would not ever recommend or use this place.

 

I had the radiator in my 33 pickup recored when I put the V8 in it. It was 600.00...more then I hoped but I wanted an original radiator do sprung for it. A year later it has a leak. The shop I had it done by is no longer around...guy retired shortly after I had mine done. Took it to another good shop here in town. Bottom tank is fatigued and brittle...cracking all over. 350.00 for a new bottom tank...So I'm into that radiator a grand. But it does cool extremely well