A friend of mine gave me this very cool looking heater for my roadster project and I wanted to know a little more about it...I tried looking for vintage harrison heaters and what not, but couldn't find anything on this particular model. I saw the thread there is on vintage heaters...its great but not enough info...looks great and I'm about to do a restoration on it...any pics of how it looks original? or what year was this from?
neat! looks like it's missing the back cover and mounting studs? Usually Harrison stuff has dates stamped on it, month and year. Late 40s-lat 50s there were some round heater cores in Chevys, but the styling of the front looks a bit older than that.
Harrison made the heaters for GM, and Willys had some Harrisons as well... not sure who else they may have made them for. I've bought /sold/ restored a few heaters. I'd guess that one would be between 1936 and 1940 based on the ones that I know what year they came from.
Well its a harison, probably would have been used in a GM product, I am not sure that Ford or MOPAR used harrison products but I do know that Harrison was the main stay of general motors for a great many years.
I have the back covers and all, ill try some ivestigating on those panels...thanks thats interesting to hear, I was thinking it could have been around the 40's cause the emblem design looks a little deco'ish
...all the Mopar heaters I've ever seen say Mopar on them. Ford never used that style or Harrison for that matter..
I don't think Harrison had the round core before 36 or 37. I know 37 was round, though not that style. if you are going to run it in a V8/modern cooling system I was told it is best to restrict the water flow through the hose since the early stuff wasn't made for as high a pressure from the radiator cap as well as more pressure caused by "modern" V8 water pumps. I had one boiled out and repaiered at a radiator shop, that's what he told me... makes sense. I didn't do that in the car I used it in and had no troubles, but you never know.
this is the rest of the parts and what I can make out of the tag...looks like the number 45....other than that the rest is pretty hard to even figure out
thanks, thats a very good point...the actual radiator looks good....a few kinks here and there but nothing major...I ran water through it and there weren't any visible leaks.
if that tag above was legible it would have the date on it. if it turned out that was a 1945 I'd be suprised.
Harrison was/is a subsidiary of GM, and all the GM heaters and radiators were made by Harrison. The ones sold through dealers got Chevy, Pontiac, Olds, etc emblems on them instead of the Harrison name. Harrison sold essentially the same heaters through the aftermarket with the Harrison name. Prior to WWII, few cars or trucks came with a factory installed heater. Even the "correct original" heaters were a dealer installed option, most optional equipment was dealer installed back then. There were dozens of brands of these aftermarket heaters. Henrietta the '38 Ford pickup has a Hot Wave brand heater that supposedly came out of a '35 Olds according to the guy I got it from at Hershey, doesn't matter as it's a universal aftermarket unit. Most people bought one of the aftermarket brand heaters instead of buying one from the car dealer, so your Harrison heater would be at home in any late '30s or '40s vehicle.
That seems very accurate...makes sense that way since it is named "Harrison" instead of Willy's or GMC... Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
my 56 chevy pickup has the exact same heater core in it, just a bigger cover with the door for heat to the windshield vents or the cab, cool piece you have there
any idea what color this was originally? It was given to me sandblasted and acid dipped so, not that hard of a restore left....just to replace the fan with a small electric fan (probabbly some hard drive computer fans or something small like that) and fix the fins that have been flattened out a bit... I was thinking of polishing the emblem, re-painting the red lettering and decoration, and just painting the housing black....
I like the Hammertone paints. I did a couple in a tan/gold color, and one in charcoal. it comes out pretty cool looking.
im going with the black or charcoal hammertone rustoleum. I have to wait until my 7" electric fan comes in the mail, then fit it and then ill be spraying it... thanks for your help guys.
So I got the fan and everything fits perfectly...and the hammered black is looking great Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
More pics It's the first coat and I still have to weld internal brackets for the fan and paint the lettering in the emblem but it's looking good. Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=628228 I bought the one in this ad, and love it. THis black 32 roadster is where I got the idea for mine... http://www.brightbuilt-hotrods.com/32fordhiboy.html Be sure you pinstripe the tips of the louvers!!
where did you get that fan? one thing I've found out about those original fan motors, if they don't work get a piece of shrink tubing and slide it all the way down and stick it into the hole in the housing. 9 times out of 10 the cloth covered wire is shorting out where it has worn away from rubbing on the housing.
that sounds like a good trick...but i just figured it would benefit with a better fan anyway and the new fan was only $13 on ebay
oh man, that is just too cool!!! exactly what I want to do! I was thinking to pinstripe the louvers too! to match the trunk lid...lol BTW...what does the tag in the back say?
I had to post those pics here...beautiful restoration! I love the color! The black looks great too...mine is black hammered paint rustoleum spray can....but it looks dark charcoal which is fine cause I couldn't decide what color I liked better Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
I came across this picture of the tag in the back on some other heater and it says model number 45 in the exact place mine says 45 so its probably not from 1945...(I think) also it looked completely different Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
So here's what I got so far...looks great...still have to paint the emblem and weld the new fan bracket inside. But it all fits together fine and looks awesome Thanks guys for the hammered paint suggestion Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
Hi all, I am looking for your help in identifying this heater that we pulled from my Dad's '46 CJ2A. It's a working 6V box heater (and we guess) from 1930s-1950s. Harrison made a ton of similar for Willys, but I couldn't find any marks on it. It was never connected in Dad's Jeep, but works great when we bench tested it. I'd appreciate your help in identifying it so I can accurately describe it when putting it up for sale. It's in good shape with slight surface rust as shown. Thanks in advance. [/URL][/IMG]
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