My 54 ford customline sprung a leak! Bad one to! Damn heat wave ........ I cant find who makes one or were can i get this thing recored in norcal. Someone help me out
Reasonable radiator shops are harder to find now a days I've found out. One quoted 145.00 just to clean and test. They want to sell you a new one and make more money with less effort. The ugly cheap aluminum radiators are starting to look better now.
Personally I'd recore... but it won't be "cheap" by any means. Copper/Br*** pricing has caused cores that used to cost us radiator shops $100 a few years ago to run $200-250 today. It ****s but what can you do... everything metal is high. First of all does it leak? If not chances are it just needs to be taken apart and rodded and cleaned. The beauty of an original is that it can still be repaired. Not true of aluminum radiators. (have you ever held a torch to a pop can for a few seconds?) If you have a genuine "radiator repair" shop in your area take it to them and have it flow tested first... you can even do this yourself by shoving a garden hose in the top hose neck and seeing if the flow coming out the bottom is at a similar rate... if not... it's most likely just plugged up and will need to be taken apart and gone through. If you can't find someone in your area and want to send it to us your more than welcome to... we have an old timer here that has been doing old car stuff since the 50's. Just don't expect a two day turnaround... the weather has warmed up and everyone is getting out their old cars right now... he has about a dozen to do this next week alone. EDIT... also... there are cheap replacement cores and quality replacement cores... if you have to get it recored make sure it isn't the cheap p.o.s. as you will be sorry later. We redo a few a month that people have had done other places and the thermal efficency is ****. Cores are based on the number of tubes, tube styles and fins per inch. The more you have of each of these... the more you will end up paying. Semi truck drivers and farmers like buying these cheap **** foreign made radiators... when their rigs are running hot with the new radiator they purchased for far less than ours and they end up bringing them in it's usually pretty funny. A few weeks ago a trucker brought one in because he was overheating... our radiator core weighed 60lbs more than the generic pile of **** he bought online... now why would ours (an OE type core) weigh that much more? Less material maybe??? To say the least he bought one of ours and sent the other one back... but his truck was layed up for two days... and a semi that isn't moving isn't making money. Lesson learned.
What city are you in? I've dealt with a good shop in Concord that I have had great luck with. They actually make the cores from scratch in house to fit your original end tanks.... DAVE
Cook's Radiator in Vallejo is a real honest guy that does quality work and won't break your bank. Our family has been going to him since his dad was running the place.
Honest! Go pick a the biggest rad that sortta fits and has the hoses in the right place. You can go to Pik-em-parts and look to get ideas. Then do the same thing NASCAR short track guys do: Put foam round the edges and tie-wrap that pup in. End of story end of overheat. Cheap easy and it will shock your friends I ustta be able to change the Buick rad in my chopped Merc in less than 10 mins
US Raiator makes some good one for the tri 5 chevies. Think one of them would fit with very little whacking and welding. Under $300 for the high effectaulywedt whatever missed spelled... where's spell check ????
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