VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1912-1928 1923 Radiator problems

In posts earlier this summer about my 1923 sedan I reported on problems with overheating. Ultimately I determined I had a cracked head. After locating a suitable head I had that rebuilt. All well and good but the car was still overheating. My mechanic who did the head rebuild pulled the radiator and had it boiled out. Good news was that improved the flow. Bad news is it now leaks like a sieve. I was going to order a new radiator core from the Filling Sation but found out there is a 9 month wait time to have the thing built and shipped from NZ. Any ideas on other sources? It's hard to believe NZ is the only place in the world that makes replacements.

In the meantime what is the best stop leak product out there in your collective opinions?

If you are not going to show the car then you have several options on radiator core. A fin & tube core can be made to fit your tanks. That is a modern type core and will do an adequate job. Or you can have a V-cell or cellular core built. It will be more efficient that the fin & tube. Your local radiator shop should be able to order from one of the specialty radiator core companies and then install for you. Or you can wait on the honeycomb core from the Filling Station.

Bars leak is one of the better ones. It is primarily ground ginger root, or at least used to be.

Found this company in Australia. http://www.ftrs.com.au/honeycomb/estimate.php
I have fitted modern cores into my own cars with no problems. You have to look to notice the difference. Modern cores don,t have the flow restriction of honeycombe cores so I place a plate in upper outlet with 2x 1/2" holes to restrict flow. This stops the water from running through the radiator too fast and not having enough time to cool. Hope this helps

With all respect for the opinion expressed above. Don't use the restriction in the top of the core. The common misconception of coolant flowing too fast through the core is just not the case. Cooling systems are designed to function with free flowing radiators. Adding restriction just inhibits flow and creates turbulence which further restricts flow. And the system needs as much flow as possible to remove the heat, particularly the hotter areas of the head.

The problem solved by adding additional restriction is air entrainment typically caused by air being drawn past the shaft seal on the water pump. It can also be from a loose hose connection but that is less often experienced. This has been discussed on ChatII numerous times.

Chipper,

As always you are a wealth of information. Still I guess the question that I have is why we don't have any after market manufactures of the honeycomb style cores in the US?

I'm going to try a stop leak product today. Will let you know if it works.

As far as why the US doesn't have a manufacturer of honey comb radiators is a group in the UK has somehow locked up the market on the thin wall brass tubing and I think sheet as well in the thickness needed.Since demand in the US for that tubing is almost non existant, no US companys are willing to make it and the UK group charges a lot of money for what they make. Sounded crazy to me, but was told this by an antique car radiator guy who sets up at Chickasha Pre war swapmeet. He buys the stuff all the time and wishes he could get it cheaper as he would sell more radiators and radiator work. His name escapes me, but he set up in one of the main buildingsand may be from IL.

Bob, your explanation seems reasonable if unfortunate for my pocket book. I thought I would let you know that I tried a stop leak product this week manufactured by CRC. It is a copper and liquid glass product recommended by several folks. It took two treatments of the stuff but I got the radiator that was leaking like a sieve to just two persistent leaks. They were slow enough that I was able to drive the car to it's new storage site about 4 miles away. Without the product the car couldn't have gone a block without overheating. So it was not a total success but I least I got the car to where it needed to go without calling a tow truck.

For you radiator experts out there have you ever seen a modern radiator core faced with a facade of honeycomb radiator. I know its a stretch but I'm just looking for options at this point.

Hi Dansker,

I have heard but not seen in the flesh of a modern core concealed behind a slice of honeycomb.

Cheers

ray

That's enough to make me think I'm not totally crazy and will continue to explore that as an option. I'd love to have the cooling efficiency of a modern radiator. I just don't want to change the look of the car.