Technical How old is the radiator in your hot rod or custom?

I installed a new Walker radiator in my old 1932 sedan in 1988 when I was building the car, I'm coming up on 33 years the car has been on the road.

I have replace shock's, installed new busing's in the suspension, replaced the carburetor and I will be replacing the water pump this coming weekend, I've done the normal maintenance like tune ups and replacing tires as needed but the radiator has never let me down.

I have been building hot rods most of my life and believe me i have had my fair share of radiator problems, I have used original re cored radiators and my 1940 Fords and watched helplessly it turn into old faithful spewing water and antifreeze, howling in bumper to bumper traffic driving into the Columbus fair grounds at the NSRA Nationals in 1988.

In my 1939 Convertible I turned to Buddy Griffin who was making aluminum radiators for NASCAR and he built me the first aluminum radiator for a hot rod, he made it to the same dimensions of the 39/40 Ford radiator, it never cooled properly, I added a huge electric fan, plus a engine driven fan,different water wetters, all kinds of coolant and assorted pulleys to move the coolant faster and then slower, the car never ran cool.

Finally out of frustration Buddy told me to pull the radiator and he would make me another one, he decided to cut the cooling fins away from the tank and discovered that the epoxy had seeped into the cooling fin tube and more than have of them were clogged up, no wonder it ran hot.

He made me a new radiator and I installed it, I drove it to racinman's place and traded it to him for the original non running sedan he had, that's the 32 I am driving today.

So, the Walker Radiator has served me well for going on 33 years, how about your radiator? HRP

 

While off topic , the radiator in my 84 GMC is original..

 

yeah that's off topic for sure.

I have a walker also but mine is just 6 years old.

 

I had the radiator in my '51 re-cored in 1988 because it was overheating a little. Since then, with regular maintenance, it has soldiered on with out a boil-over or even spitting out the overflow.

 

Until 3-4 years ago Clarence had the original 1948 radiator. I had leaks patched a couple of times but never recored. Obviously when the flathead left and the 283 went in an inlet and outlet were blocked off. It was still cooling just fine when the 283 was replaced with the crate 350 but I replaced it with an aluminum one "just in case."

 

had a 35 chev standard that ran the original radiator

 

My '56 looks to be original, my '60 Elco is an original 4 row from the junkyard (I pulled it in the 90's), '60 Stude was just re-cored, The '47 was re-cored maybe 90's and my '41 is a Jim Babb from the 70's.

 

Most of my old cars had the original rads in them, or at least old rads,never let me down.

in cars I car about I like flushing the coolant, replacing it with regular old glycol And once a year drain the rad and refill with new stuff.

is it excessive for something that might get driven 10-15k ? Maybe but I’ve never been stuck with a cooling system issue.

I know we are talking rads but a well built and maintained system will last a long time.hoses, clamps, stats, belts etc are all wear items, keep it clean, keep it full and your good to go!

 

My sedan has a 15 year old Walker. The 3-3/8” bored Flathead runs about 175 degrees on the highway.

 

My 33 pickup has an original radiator that had the necks reworked for a small block chevy and to move the cap to under the hood as the grille shell cap was smoothed over. Its held up over 30 years with all the work done to it The 55 Chevy has its original radiator in it still looks good and works great, car never overhears. Taboo has a new original looking aluminum unit as the original had been hammered on pretty good. It doesnt cool very well, but being a show car its not running long enough usually to get hot. My two O/T 68 Chevy's both have their unrestored and original radiators. Both work as good as the day they left the assembly line.

 

My '40 coupe radiator is a 1980 Walker. The tank soldered joint cracked in 1994......Walker repaired it free. Otherwise, been cooling the 327/375 FI motor just fine.

 

The first custom one I had made in 1959,was cooper n brass, for my cut down 28A shell feeding a Ford "Y"v8. Was my biggest $$ out lay at the time. South Miami Rad. did a good job,it both cooled an lasted over 20 years. Others not as good. Now I'm using alum one,dose cool OK an so far been good for about 10 year now. Now to get off my butt an replace the fan shroud like I had to start .

 

More important... how old is your rad cap?

 

I know several people locally that brag about using the original radiator but they never get too far from home, one guy with a 40 Ford coupe drives his car around town but has never driven it 20 miles from home.

We recently drove the old sedan to Knoxville and back, around 450 miles.

 

My '46 and '66 both have stock radiators of unknown age- '46 running small block Chevy- '66 running stock 352 Ford- both will sit running all day and not overheat- not so for the Falcon which has a 3-core Champion Alum rad-
I drive them not just locally-

 

Well; I wasn't bragging. Quite the opposite. I ran it 'cause I couldn't afford better. That said, though, Clarence has been as far east as NSRA York and west to Bonneville 3 times; first 11 Americruises; BTT50's; several Frog Follies; most H.A.M.B. drags; NSRA Nats in Columbus, Oklahoma City, & Louisville; NSRA Pueblo; all over the Rocky Mountains including up Pike's Peak and over many passes; several SK-500's; and I can't even remember all the other places. Those are places he went with the 1948 radiator.

If he ever gets out of paint jail I hope to put that many more miles on him with the Portell aluminum radiator.

 

Put in a new Brassworks radiator about 8-9 years ago. Still looks and works great

 

Walker in my 47 has been there since 1993, 44000 miles. Ordering one soon for my 34 Victoria project.

 

I used a new copper/brass radiator (Well known Ozzie manufacturer) in my 35 Chevy, I would never use or recommend the product or manufacturer to anyone. Poor construction with incorrect mounts that required new mounts to be fabricated to fit in OEM shell yet it's sold as a 'Direct (Bolt in) fit'. Then there was poor after sales service, it was my fault it wouldn't fit. Top and bottom tanks didn't feature side straps that caused radiator to eventually fail due to fatigue cracks over time, more work to rectify. It hasn't leaked yet, despite being over 15yrs old. I heard many similar complaints with poor fitment, breakage and leakage having seen similar in other cars fitted with them. I mounted an electric fan behind grill shell and in front of radiator for cooling.
This time around I paid the extra and went with a new 'Bolt in' Walker for my 46 Olds with electric fan since I hadn't heard a bad word about them; great fit, well built with no issues.
My 64 Fairlane uses an OEM 63 Galaxie crossflow radiator with expansion tank. Good cooling with clutch fan.

 

The radiator in Brenda's Ranch Wagon is also a Walker, no electric fan just a 17" mechanical fan and the can has never over headed in traffic. HRP

 

Griffin in my Austin is a decade old. Griffin in my old Suburban is older, but can't recall the age? Just put a '32 Ford High Boy Champion in my '39 Chev coupe. Hope it holds up as well as the others.

 

I've got a 35 year old Walker in my 29 and had a small leak on the seam of the top tank repaired this year. My 30 pickup has an original radiator I had cleaned and checked 20 years ago when I built the truck. I have a Brassworks in my flathead powered 30 that I'm just finishing up now, has about 100 miles on it. I'm a believer of using the old school brass radiators, they are costly but have a lot longer live span.

 

I never had much luck with originals. I had the original in my '47 until the top tank split open. Put a Walker in that around 2005. I had the stock radiator in my '40, even went through the work to cap it off for the caddy swap, but that still ran hot in traffic. Didn't even use it for the summer before I bought a Walker for that too.

 

Rad in 55 Fargo is stock type non recored from a donor truck a 56 or 57.
So 63 or 64 years old.
Touch wood she is still good.
Its an early pressurized type that uses a 4 lb cap.

 

I have an original, but the closest shop is 110 miles away! An aluminum one is enroute from Jegs or Summit or.... pick one, I forget. The tanks will be painted black.

 

Well, my old survivor 32 sedan has an original 32. I had it boiled out and pressure tested, and a couple leaks fixed. Runs cool on the road and slow traffic. Has new water pumps, and a very clean block internally. Four blade steel fan.
Fingers crossed!

 

Henrietta the '38 Ford pickup had an original radiator for years with a small block Chevy, extra outlets top and bottom plugged with freeze plugs. About 10 years ago I found a NOS radiator still in the original box for a '38-'39 big truck. It fits in place of the pickup radiator but has a thicker core, runs cool in 100 degree weather.

 

My 49 and 55 Fords are still running the OEM radiator. Couple repairs made, but still working great.
My T roadster radiator is about 25 years old. It’s aluminum and already has more repairs than the 2 original ones in my 49 and 55.

 

This came with the parts when I brought the car. A place in New York built it. 14 years and only issue has been a cracked solder joint this year.


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My Walker is 20 years old