MTFCA Forum

anyone taking any decent used high radiators to hershey ? or have one to sell in general for that matter. philip

Don't spend a lot for one. There's a reason it's being sold.

yea i cant afford a new one now. i think i can patch mine up but its one of those thin core jobs that dont cool well. philip

So Steve. ALL used radiators are junk???

Guess I should haul mine to the dump instead of saving them.

Including a couple that are almost NOS?? but don't fit my brass t or my 27??

Probably should haul the rest of my warehouse full of a 60 year collection in for scrap or just throw it in the landfill.

I have one that needs a neck if interested, Bob

fatman i sent you an email. philip

Philip you mentioned yours may not cool well if it was fixed. That’s the key word, cooling.
The majority of used original radiators you may find probably don’t cool well. The odds of finding one that hasn’t had much service or even NOS are pretty thin.
Old radiators can look good but after you spend a 100.00 dollars or more to buy it you may find out that it doesn’t.

If your engine doesn’t have much scale or rust in the water jacket and runs pretty good a good or new radiator can make a real difference. Unless you know if the radiator your buying was a good cooling radiator it’s a toss up if it still cools good enough not to boil over in a few minutes of use. I went down the used radiator road 3 times and finally bought a new one which I should have done to begin with in my case. Good luck.

So Steve. ALL used radiators are junk???

No, that's not what I mean to say. Some are OK. But a lot of them aren't. I just wouldn't gamble a lot of money on one. When it comes to brass era, if the tank and trim look good (even if the core is junk) I'd buy it and have it recored if necessary. In fact, that's what I did with mine. I much prefer a recored original brass radiator rather than a new one.

mine leaks and i can likely fix it. but the core is only 1 inch or so thick so i thought i would try my luck with another one.
sometimes i have to make do with what i can afford. i dont plan to pay alot for a used rad. philip

If your car has the thin radiator, does it also have the fan that is supposed to accompany the thin radiator? Ford used that thin radiator for a short time in '26 or '27, and had an extended fan hub that positioned the fan about an inch farther forward. If you do have the "forward" fan, you will need to replace the fan hub also to keep the fan from hitting the radiator. It is also possible that in the car's past, the radiator may have been replaced and the motor may still have the usual fan hub. Check to see how close the fan is to the back if the radiator core.

Century old radiators are funny things. I have used several over the years that worked fine. However, I also believe that some restraint is in order and the price carefully considered before buying one. I have seen some beautiful old radiators that could NOT cool the car enough on a freezing cold day.
I also had an ugly old beat up low radiator that always worked just fine. I used it for about fifteen years on whatever car I was restoring at the time. I probably used it on four or five different cars. Once the car was done enough and a nice radiator acquired, I would replace it for aesthetic reasons. That also gave me a comparison for the nice radiator to decide whether it was good enough or not. I think that junky looking thing went on about five Endurance Runs, on three different speedsters, and never over-heated. Not even on a hundred degree plus day climbing mountains!

I bought one used for the ‘25 from a pile in Illinois one time and it was no returns...but only like 25 bucks...and yup leaked like a sieve! Took it to an old school radiator shop, he recored it with something meant for a forklift for $ 175, and that pup cooled like a champ...

Conversely...although the ‘19 Hack had a good honeycomb low radiator, and it could pull 120 mile trip with no blow over or needing water topped off, it had a motometer that always hovered at 195 or so...so I just called Gery one day and said ‘ship me one’, and he did. That honeycomb is sitting in a Gery shipping box and would probably be a good find for someone.

Point is, you just never know with used....you pay your money, you take your chances. Having a 15, 19, 25 makes radiators triple the fun...lol

I do not have the long fan hub. At this point I would rather try another radiator.
Philip

I have a Yale fork truck core in my 27 speedster. I have had it for over 35 years and it never overheats.

He's I may go the record route I have also been looking at the alum. T bucket radiators
That I could modify. Philip

I am presently replacing the radiator in my 23 T with an aluminum radiator purchased off eBay for $136.00 that was designed for a T Bucket with Ford motor. I had to reposition mounting tabs and fabricate an "S" shaped radiator inlet connection pipe. (I can't weld aluminum very well). I also added a brass filler neck that was flanged to the top tank.

Paint it black and no-one will know with the hood closed as mine is a driver and not a show car.

IMHO, I have the best of both worlds, functionality and practicality.

Kim, please show us some photos of what you have done when you are finished.