With summer hittin' hard here in the Houston area, I have once again begun to battle cooling problems with the flatty in my coupe... was even puking quite a bit on the drive back from the RoundUp. This time I decided to quite pissin' around and fix the bitch once-and-for-all. So, after some digging around and a little advice from those in-the-know, I ponied up and got a Walker Z-series radiator and shroud. Go it all put together... had to modify the shroud to fit this radiator and my old electric fan... and road tested it today. Even without the fan, I had a hard time gettin' it above 185'!! Still room for hotter weather, so we'll see how it goes... but so far I'm happy. Figured I'd pass this along if anyone was fightin' the same problems and lookin' for feedback.
I've used Walker's for yrs. my Model A radiator blew a few yrs ago, I called Walker and they told me to send it to them. they couldn't repair it so they sent me a new one no charge
I am glad I am not alone, when I purchased my Walker for my model A truck in 1999 everyone was throwing shit that Walker sucks, well 13,000 miles later and for the guys whom told me shit this is official, ALL OF YOU SUCK I AM STILL DRIVING.
that's good to hear, my '36 isn't on the road yet but i did some looking/posting here and came up with the same conclusion. i bought mine from speedway and hopfully ready for summer.........some year.
Three years, Houston heat, 25,000 miles, 4.5 inch chopped 32 radiator in front of the 312 in the coupe and no problems. Even in the summer, I'm running just over the thermostat temp. When it gets down in the low 60's or so outside, it barely wants to warm up at all.
i looked around the web alittle, hit all the major rod shops and found speedway was the best price......i was looking for the z-series not the cobra.
Did you have a shroud before? I also use walker radiators but found the shroud was the key to effecient cooling.
Me too on the good cooling with the Walker. Bought it in 85, got the car running in 93, 44,000 miles and it still runs cool in hot weather. 182 on the highway, 188 in town. 17" mechanical fan and shroud. I ran shroudless for a while in 90 degree weather and the engine still ran cool. 462" Buick in 32 roadster fwiw. Nice part about Walker and their standard construction is you can repair them out of town. Not necessarily true for the aluminum radiators.
A LOT of rodders complain about Walker radiators ... usually the price ... but rarely about the quality. I run a 1988 made Walker Z series in my 32 Ford roadster. I ran it without a shroud for 15 years. I do have a 18 inch mechanical fan on a Zip's water pump riser. When I upgraded from 370 or so Horsepower to 430 Horsepower ( new engine ) I had to go to a shroud. The extra 60 or so Horsepower and a brand new tight fresh engine put the then 15 year old Walker on the edge of 210 - 220 degrees, sitting for a few minutes, in heavy traffic at 90 plus degrees weather. The shroud ( a Walker made unit also ) put the engine right back on the thermostat. I just purchased a new Walker for my 32 3W project ... a Z series
Vernon Walker has always been very honest and helpful to me. He should be a HAMBer, he has a complete 50s gas station in his back yard. Rich
Re: cheapest place to get one, I talked to Walker directly to make sure I was getting the right radiator part number... '32 shell, Z-series, flathead, no AC, 2" shorter than stock, etc... While talking to Walker, I asked for some places they might suggest getting one, and one they mentioned was Southern Rods and Parts... $40-50 less than other places I checked.
Be VERY careful dealing with these people. It's almost like they TRY to treat paying customers like dirt. Better search the HAMB for gripes about these blokes before you buy from them. But back on topic... what's the difference between Walker's Z-Series and the Cobra series?
cobra is the standard radiator and the Z is the heavy duty and has a thicker core. not much more money and well worth it..go for the Z the best place to get one is Speedway...good price and they will have it in stock. some places advertise a good price,then they order one from Walker when you order one from them
Southern Rods was easy/cheap for me on this purchase, but I don't know their history... caveat emptor. Actually, they were a pleasure compared to one place I called which pissed me off... I just hung up on them... then the dude called me back at my house to bitch at me! I did get the shroud from Speedway.
Shane T ... a Hamber here ... works there ... and he has always treated me with respect and gave me great customer service and support. I have read and heard about others saying that Southern Rods was a BAD place but I have not experienced that ..
I must have gotten a Walker reject. I drive my '30 coupe to work daily and my Walker has broken the top tank seam or the header to tube joint eleven times now. The top tank is too thin and not reinforced so it breathes and the seam joints, which are WAY too wide, crack. My radiator guy says it's typical and in the spring has 30 to 40 Walker radiators come in for the street rodders who are getting ready for the summer. I'm going with a US Radiator unit when I can get the money together without the wife finding a way to spend it.
Hopefully things are turning around there. I just know that a lot of HAMBers have had trouble with Southern Rods, and the one time I bought something from them they charged me twice. Took forever and way too many phone calls to straighten it out. But that was several years ago. Like Blake said, caveat emptor. Back to Walker, I'm glad to read all this GOOD about a company for once.
i bought my walker (looks new) that is used...how do you tell the difference between cobra and Z series...
Running a 16# cap are you? Go to a 7#. That'll stop the problems. I had a top seam pop when the radiator had been running about a year. I was running a 16# cap at the time and the radiator shop that soldered it up recommended I go to a 7# cap because a 16# was too much for the radiator design. All that happens when changing to a lower pressure cap is the boiling point comes down. Instead of 257 degrees - at sea level - with a 16# cap, your boiling point with the 7# cap will be about 234 degrees. I don't know how high you want to let the temperature go to, but when the engine hits around 220 degrees or so you're probably getting into a thermal runaway situation and you may as well shut down.
My Z-series core is 17" wide, with down tubes being 4 rows deep and 48 rows wide in that space. I'm assuming the Cobra series is less 'dense' than that.
If the radiator is fairly new, and for a flathead, it will be a Z series. Walker will not make a Cobra for a flathead, no way, no how. I tried to get them to last year to save a few bucks.
I have a 1981 Walker radiator in my 37 Chevy and just had to have it recored a couple of years ago, it never has run hotter than 190 degrees....
5 years on a Walker in my '32 2dr. No overheating, just runs a little over the thermostat setting when in slow moving traffic on the hotest days. Frank
Did that, still broke. It may be finally fixed, though, it's held since January. He's added gap filling shims and doublers on the header and hand-made some combs to put on the outside corners. He sees it as a personal challenge to get this radiator to live.
I've had a Walker in my Highboy for 5 years and it never seems to get hot. I also do not run any type of fan ( just a belt from the water pump to the Alternater) and she's always cool. My buddie has his blow out 2 years ago, and they had him send it back, and gave him a new one for NO Charge. $600.00 is alot of money for a radiator but pales in comparison to the cost of a overheated motor. My .02 Spoons
I have a walker in my 32 mor-door,,,,been coolin' the ol' flatty for 5 years now,,,, I have a walker in the 32 roadster no problems,, I have a new walker for the pickup that is still in the box' And last weekend at the nats south I won a new z-ac walker for the 54 wagon,,,,do I like em,,,Hell yeah! and as a side note about Southern Rods,,,,,I had a problem with them once ,,,,several years ago,,,,Tom fixed it pronto,,,, I like dealin' with Shane at Southern Rods,,,,he is a Hamber and allways treats me fair! HRP
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