MTFCA Forum

Did Ford relocate the hole for the priming wire in 1915? I've seen two examples of original radiators lately where the hole is slightly lower that was used previously. There is one pictured on ebay now too.

There were probably several radiator manufactures that paced the hole slightly different. I have two 15 brass radiators, one I believe to be original and the hole is through the brass trim and the other I have restored with new brass trim and I chose to place the choke pull beside the brass trim in lieu of drilling a hole. I don't know if the choke pull passed through the brass trim or beside it between the fins?

Here's mine. Not everything on this car is original, but I'm sure the radiator is.

Did Ford use a rubber grommet? I think probably not.

On my original brass radiator the hole is in the same place.

You really do want to run the choke wire through the brass trim or the shell. Repro radiator on my ‘13 was not drilled for one, and the wire was run through the core next to the trim piece for a number of years. In time, this damages fins, and possibly tubes if there’s enough chafing. Thanks to the forum I found measurements for the location, drilled a hole and repositioned the wire. Much better !

I think Lang's catalog has the dimension for that hole. The one I'm after is in a slightly different place.

The hole should be 5/32". The rod is 3/32".

There is a library publication on the Fun Projects Inc web site (www.funprojects.com). If you select the library that is in the list of places you can visit you will find a page from the MTFCI magazine that is titled Archifacts and is in the 8th one published by myself some years ago. I was researching the radiator for a Stynoski car that I was building and I found a drawing in Henry Ford Museum archives that was part of the radiator drawings and since many had asked, I posted an exact copy of the size and location and the date on the drawing when that hole was first added. Before that date the the choke rod was simply placed between fins of the radiator at various up or down amounts from the hole location that it was defined to be used from that date on. I looked at future radiator drawings from that date and did not find any change to its location but I did NOT research further than my own early 1912 Delivery Car so if there was in fact a relocation of that hole it had to have occurred within a couple of years to that date since the brass radiator disappeared in 1916. My own measurement of original brass radiators I have come across always had the hole in the same location as the drawing I found at the archives except for some early cars that had no hole punched in. If you look at the level where the choke rod is at you will see that regardless of carburetor used the choke rod emerges toward the front of the car at pretty much the exact same level.

My original rad on my early ‘13 wasn’t drilled. Canadian built in September/October 1912

Where mine is on my 1915. May or may not be the original location.