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From: Chris Lemos
Email: mopar@njrnr.org
Remote Name: 138.89.95.11
Date: August 19, 2002
Recoring is replacing the center (core) of the radiator. Rodding the core is a very labor intensive way of cleaning an existing radiator core. One of the tanks is unsoldered from the core, and a flat metal rod is forced down each and every one of the cooling tubes while water is flowing thru the core to flush out the debris. It's a wet and nasty job!.Sometimes the tubes will split open, after which they are no longer repairable and have to be pinched off later. The core is then pressure flushed again, and the tank is soldered back onto the core, and all the leaks are repaired. Very few shops will do it anymore, one because modern radiators are plastic and aluminum, and two because they can sell a brandy new made in china radiator for the almost the same price and no work involved. I'm "only" 38, but I've had the luck of working in a few places that specialized in antique autos, and I had the benefit of the old timers teaching me things like rodding a radiator, relining brakes, pouring babbit bearings, and mounting tires on wooden wheels (those last ones are WAY older then our FL cars!). I worked in one automotive machine shop that had been in the same family since 1913. It was founded by the guy who invented cylinder sleeves, and the old machinist who trained me had worked there most of his adult life. I wish I could learn half of what that man forgot.
