I went to the monthly meeting of the Early Ford V8 club here last night. They had a local radiator shop's tech give a talk on radiators for old Fords, and it was very interesting. More so because the tech was a young gal who is the one who does all their work -- when she isn't racing sportmans!. She's the one who did my radiator 10 years ago.

The big news to me was her comments on "cheap aftermarket aluminum radiators that cost about $250". She said they find them coming in with major leaks at the tanks after about two years, and said there is nothing they can do for them. Why? Because instead of a welded or brazed joint from the tubes to the tank headers, they use an epoxy sealant. They GLUE the tubes in! They go straight to the scrap pile, there is no repair possible.

She had some interesting comments on new technologies available on brass radiators that give a big increase in cooling compared to the original Ford radiators, which had the three rows of tubes aligned one behind the other, instead of staggered. New fin materials with little louvers to provide more heat transfer area, for instance. Also some good comments on running the really old radiators under pressure (many were atmospheric).

Caveat emptor! It sure hurts to shell out $700 for brass, but it sounds like a gamble going cheap!

 

Yup, been hearing about the cheap epoxied rads failing for quite some time. Some vendors are selling fully welded ones though. More expensive of course...

 

True on the epoxy, but not all of the aluminum radiators use it, shop for ones that are fully welded. My champion radiators work great and use no epoxy according to them, and the prices are low.

 

That confirms what my rad shop told me when I mentioned there were cheaper aluminum radiators out there.

 

I would loved to have heard the part about running an original radiator under pressure and how much pressure they might be expected to withstand.

 

Thanks Ross, as with most things. You get what you pay for.

 

Champion states right on the box to use only distilled water for the glycol mix in their aluminum radiator. It's tough to believe a small amount of minerals present in tap water could cause issues but there it is.

I bought one for $205 delivered. Haven't installed it yet, the idea is to get the original evaluated by a good shop and repaired if possible, or not too pricey. At least there won't be any downtime this way.

 

Good info. I have a very small leak in my radiator. It is an aluminum one that the PO installed. I don't know where it came from so I wont know if it can be repaired until I take it out. My guess is I will be replacing it...

 

Good stuff. The aluminum radiator comments are most interesting. Knowing a little about industrial metal joining, I never understood how all AL could really be cheaper than traditional CU versions. Epoxy to the short term rescue!

 

Keep in mind the audience was mostly pre-war vehicles with no pressure. She said they can add stiffeners to some tanks, use new tanks designed for pressure, but mostly just look at going to 4 psi. With our elevation that takes boiling point from 204 deg. to about 215. They also have to replace the filler neck and cap.

One other thing she mentioned was that some radiators are made with fin spacing of 12 or more fins per inch. She said they work OK but only with a large electric fan, like 3900 cfm. A stock fan just isn't made to pull thru that much resistance. She also noted that even at 12 fpi, plugging with bugs and little rocks (common around here) requires attention.

 

Very good info to think about! So tell me, considering the above statement and natural curiosity, did you happen to take any pictures or, better yet, make a very informative youtube video of the presentation.

 

LOL! I'd marry this gal in a heartbeat. She came wearing bib overalls, had no makeup, fingernails dirty... low maintenance. Sorry, no pics.

 

Make sure you invite us to the wedding! Chris and I will take a road trip.

 

Truckstock 2015 wedding !

 

Interestingly I have seen two different core designed in original Ford radiators. Many 1948 and later truck radiators (and 1949 and later car radiators) have the tube in line with each other and fins sandwiched between the tubes. Others have offset tubes slid through fins that run the full width of the radiator. My observation is that most of the offset tube radiators seem to come out of cars built in the Dallas Ford plant.