MTFCA Forum

How difficult/expensive is it to cosmetically fix something like this repair solder weld on a brass radiator?

I had mine fixed by applying gold leaf over the solder.

Well the first rule is DONT apply all that excess solder!! OK so it’s there, so now how to remove it. With careful use of a torch and a rag you can remove a lot of it. A good place to practice is with some copper plumbing pipe and solder and flux. Some fine grit sandpaper (600) can be useful. It will be fidly and time consuming. Fortunately I have always been able to avoid this problem!!

Les is on the money. I would not be confident enough to use heat. When I added period type reinforcements to the joint between the side panels and the top tank, I had the need to remove excess solder, [pronounced sodder???] I used a sharp curved blade to remove most, then finer and finer grades of wet-n-dry sanding sheets until I was back to the underlying brass.
Hope this helps,
Allan from down under.

I had a similar solder overflow. My solution was similar to Allan's but I added a small wire brush on a Dremel-type tool, followed by small buffing wheels. All the way through I was very careful not to dig into the brass. I am another who didn't trust himself with heat for cleaning up.

My radiator developed cracks below the corner seams. You can see coolant leaking out of this one.

I cured the leaks by soldering on brass reinforcements over them. Note there is some solder in front of this reinforcement and along the front seam of the tank. I didn't want to get overly aggressive with the clean-up and risk wrecking my work.

Steve, those are the same application I made on my radiator. They are not uncommon. I fancied mine up a bit making the top and bottom edges like a bracket.... {

Allan from down under.

An old time sheet metal soldering manual says that before soldering, wipe a little shoe polish onto areas you don't want solder on.

Solder is softer than brass, so judicious use of a buffing wheel with rubbing compound will slowly remove the solder. In any event, all that excess solder on the surface is doing nothing, what counts is the solder in the crack, itself, so you can polish away the external excess without damage to the repair if the soldering was done correctly.