I sprung a leak today its on the very top of the outside edge a pinhole stream until it boils the its quite impressive. Anybody ever soder this kind of thing them selves, or should I leave it to the profesionals on Monday. Is it just me or dose everybodys cars have something go wrong every week. It should be all new in no time at this rate. One day I want to make it look good, but I guess its better to have a driving turd. Than pretty broke down driveway ornament.
I fixed the radiator in the Rocky Rambler after Rocky put the fan into it at the HAMB drags. It's not hard to do. Make sure it's clean. Use a hot soldering iron or a torch. Be careful with the torch, you can get it to hot. Dean
I used to do it all the when we ran stock cars. When I put a big block Ford in my 34 Ford I sealed off two of the hoses and slit the bottom and put in a transmission cooler. Worked great. Had a friend that sprung a leak when leaving on vacation, was on a Jeep, ended up having to redo the whole top side before getting it plugged. Held for years even when he was out running in the hills in AZ. After the initial soldering is done I put another coat to give it strength. On the Jeep I even used Body Lead on the weak spot. Wasn't the best looking job but it held up good. What happens is once you heat it up the hole kind of grows larger. Make sure the spot is tinned good!!!!
Cleanliness is the key word...............also, use a bit of soldering acid where the crack or hole is....helps the solder stick.
Clean the br*** with a wire brush or sand paper. Don't forget the soldering flux. It won't "take" without the flux. Use the same soldering paste that is sold in Home Depot etc. for plumbing. If you use a small torch be quick. Be careful with a small torch. It will work fine but new users tend to over do it and make more work.
clean clean clean, i sand first than steelwool it till it shines flux it and go easy with the heat .i don't like using the lead free soder for rads , i use an acid core 60/40 it flows better for me. somtimes i even cover small holes with a penny or a peice of copper too reinforce the repair.
If the hole is big enough, after cleaning, strip the insulation off stranded primary wire drag it in the flux and stick the strands of copper in the hole as far as they'll go. As you apply the solder the copper wire will sweat the solder down into the hole.
yea... CLEAN IT WELL !! Use a soldering flux LIBERLLY .... If you are not familiar with soldering I would use one of the SMALL PROPANE hand-held torches -- NOT aceteline !! It is VERY easy to melt ALL the solder off the tank instantly if you're not careful with the heat ... I use a 50/50 solder as it has a LOW melting point ( that is what the rad was built with most probably). Take your time and WATCH the heat ..... you CAN do it but again--BE CAREFUL with the heat ....... Jersey skip
use muratic acid to clean the area, my grandpaw owned a old shop fixed radiators for years, he gave me all his old stuff, fixed many since. its not that tough i use a propane torch too, just enough heat. clean with muratic with a wire brush, flux and solder. i cant rememder if i use acid core or solid. dale watson:
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