I came home from Iola by way of Berg's and picked up a new radiator for my touring. I won't be using it right away, so today I did this to it. It may be a mystery to some, but in certain parts of the country everybody will instantly know the reason.
Probably so nothing tries to build a nest in there while you aren't using it. Either an insect or small mammal. If not that then I don't know why.
Mice and or Daubers
I would suggest adding metal screen also. The mice we have here would just make a meal of your duct tape.
Steve...yeah, I know, they are beautiful...
Did Gery have it in a box or did you get it naked? Gery custom box is/has evolved for a reason. Those fins are not much thicker than tin-foil and just have something bounce against them and they look like a bad pair of cordouroys!
Either back in the box, or make a cover for your fins...I tried something like you since it was worth looking at until I got around to the change...even put the old honeycomb in the box for long term storage since it was still a decent radiator that held 99.9% of its water, and then in the usual working about managed to scar across the fins of the new one and sat there with two screwdrivers like chopsticks for days until they were all reasonably straight again!
That is what was thinking Keep out hornets, bees, wasp, mice, etc!
Steve
The next time you'r in a hardware store look for rubber caps the correct size that are held on by hose clamps, a few bucks but nothing will get in there.
Bob
PS I know spending money#$@&^%*.
I learned this one the hard way!! Bought a restored radiator for my uncles 1937 1 1/2 ton Ford and just took it out of the box and installed it. After a short time it started overheating and I found the mouse's nest floating in the top tank. After draining and back flushing I installed about 5 pairs of those copper mesh dish scrubbers in the hoses over the next few months to catch all the cotton interior stuffing the mice had made their nest out of. Apparently the radiator had sat around the body shop I bought it from with the outlets open for months before I bought it. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy!
Howard Dennis
Steve, you are from Kansas, where they have bugs and "critters". Here in Arkansas we have a spider and a wasp. They survive off each other. They will fight till one stings the other. The "loser" is not dead, just paralyzed. It is then dragged by the winner to a hole, like a head bolt hole, or similar hole, and stuffed inside. The winner then lays eggs on the body of the paralyzed loser, and then cements the hole shut with a white cement like material. When the eggs hatch the babies have a nice living meal to feed on till they get big enough to leave the hole by burrowing thru the white plug. That white plug if inserted into one of your air tools will hold over 275 psi with no problem. Im like you. I tape or plug everything I can. .....
I don't get mice in my shop because of the cats. Our little six-legged friends are another story. In these parts it's wasps called mud daubers. They don't sting, but they make their presence known by putting their nests in the most inconvenient places. Some smaller bugs do the same. One time I hooked up my sand blaster and had no air. Some critter had entered the compressor's drain tube and gone through the open valve, the tank, and fifty feet of half inch pipe to plug the outlet with mud.
We have an EAB V8 on the stand has been boiled
thoughly cleaned ready for assembly. Yesterday
I noticed four or five pan bolt holes plugged
with mub dauber stuff, this was not there yesterday
How in the world? I dont see these things flyin
around- what do they have a night shift?????
In response to G.R. Cheshire, I would not think there would be a problem with bees in that radiator...it's not a "honeycomb" style core. Sorry, couldn't resist!
Verne Shirk
Wichita, KS
Good one Verne! As my British Literature professor in college said "The louder the groan, the better the pun."
For "George_Cherry Hill NJ", You need one of these:
http://www.harborfreight.com/radiator-fin-straightener-69024.html
Ken,
Hmmm...next trip to HF will look at it.
Unlike a bunch of others, I have no issue with HF tools and trinkets...I subscribe to the 'you get what you pay for' expectation and some of their trinkets have actually been fun for me.
Not sure yet about the sparkplug base sandblaster attachment for your compressor, but bought one last time there Will have to give it a try one of these days.
If that radiator pictured above is really a Bergs, I don't think I would be interested! It doesn't look anything like a Ford radiator.
Steve, I'm got the correct answer, so what is my prize for the winning correct answer. It is obvious that the new radiator is going to cool so well that you water temperature is never going to be higher than the ambient air temperature on any given day that you are going to run your T, so you have placed water restraint devices to slow the flow and warm the water. Pretty neat trick. I'll bet your the only T owner who has a cold blooded T that needs that modification, except those that use foreign made water pumps.
Larry smith;
That was what I was thinking. The Inlet don't look right.