Re: Rad repair

[Schuyler Wrobel <sky62@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Don that's great you were able to fix it yourself. I guess I've been  
lucky, after reading all these posts on radiators. there's a couple  
of shops I have used here in Pasadena, one is Crown radiator, they  
solder on a tag when they fix a rad. and if it ever leaks, you bring  
it back and they fix it for free. sometimes they charge a little,  
depending on the abuse, but never another $100.00.  this other shop I  
found after scoring the radiator of my dreams, out of a 65-66  
plymouth 383 car with AC, at Pick-a-part $25.00. I also found the  
shroud for it cast aside in the dirt $10.00. anyway it was late in  
the day and Crown was closed and I wanted to get it pressure checked  
so I went to this other shop. their was this elder guy there, gettin'  
ready to close, but he went ahead and checked it for me, for free!  
and cleaned it all up too. so I install the rad after I painted it  
etc..., works great car runs cooler then ever. so I decide to get a  
nice chrome cap for it. that was a mistake, cuz it was a 16lb. cap.  
and sure enough, a small leak started to develop at the seam in the  
front, just like yours, Don. I decided to take it back to this guy,  
he seemed to know alot about rads, and told me 13lbs. cap tops, for  
this type of rad. he charged me about 70.00 to fix it, and he painted  
it too. cool!
shortly there after, I was at a car show and someone points out a 3"  
long splinter of wood, shaped like a dart, stuck right in the center  
of my rad. WTF??
I figure, no big deal, just stuck in the cooling fins, right. so I  
pluck it out. and no such luck, it starts to pee a perfect stream of  
coolant. soo, I take it back to the ol' guy figuring I'm gunna' loose  
that rod and a little cooling capacity... but, although it's not as  
pretty, the guy was able to save it! and only charged me $40.00.
anyway, that's my rad story. hope I didn't bore you all to much, I  
just can't believe these outrageous prices for radiators, either. I'm  
still under $200.00 after my screw ups. and the radiator been workin'  
great for over a year since the last incident. ...knock on wood and  
count my blessings.


Schuyler
 62 Dodge Dart 440 wagon w/ Poly 318
 <http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.org/ml-wrobel62.html>
FYI - I Do the Decal designs for the Poly head 318 and more! email me  
with your needs -
 <sky62@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>



On May 15, 2008, at 1:40 PM, Don Dulmage wrote:

> Just completed a rad repair on my 63. Every year the top tank would  
> develop a crank at the seam on the front side. I take it to the rad  
> shop who made it for me and they hit me $100 every year to repair.  
> I only ran a 13 lb cap and last year a 7 lb  so it didnt male  
> sense.  I went to my old employer (1970) in the machine shop  
> business as we also had a rad shop back then. I asked hom what he  
> knew and he said remove the top tank cmpletely , clean and tin  
> everything then reinstall and solder.
> Sounded scary but I did it. found paint on the lip of the core  
> where it kept splitting. Looks like it was never cleaned and tinned  
> in the first place so only a bit was holding. I did my best but i  
> am no rad man however  just reinstalled it and so far so good. Time  
> will tell. I am not going to get too cocky yet but I hope I have  
> it . Ticked me off to find a whole 3 to 4 inches painted and  
> untinned. I hope this fixes it. Anyway am always interested in new  
> experiences. Never had a rad apart myself before. (And Hope I never  
> do again) but it was still interesting.
> Don
> Author of
> Return to Deutschland (True Adventure)
> Old Reliable (Mopar)
> http://altonapublicschool.faithweb.com/
>
> http://seniordragster.bravehost.com/index.html
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
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Please address private mail -- mail of interest to only one person -- directly to that person.  I.e., send parts/car transactions and negotiations as well as other personal messages only to the intended recipient, not to the Clubhouse public address. This practice will protect your privacy, reduce the total volume of mail and fine tune the content signal to Mopar topic.  Thanks!

'62 to '65 Mopar Clubhouse Discussion Guidelines:
http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.org/mletiq.html.