MTFCA Forum

Has anyone figured out a way to secure the neck on a Bergs "black" radiator so it can support a motometer? Mine came off twice before I gave up and just use a cap. The Bergs neck is just soldered on - no mechanical attachment.

Three or four 5/8" wide strips cut from 22 gauge galvanized steel or copper flashing and secured to the tank and neck with small brass screws, then soldered, should do it. Silver soldering the stock neck to the tank might be sufficient. Plating on the neck might be a problem for any soldering if it is chrome. There isn't room in the shell opening to do much.

Tim,

I have found that after reattaching the neck with solder correctly, come back over it after masking off the pretty chrome (only a 1/4" showing above the black radiator upper tank) sanding the shine dull and the radiator area just about 1/4", then apply JB Weld regular set epoxy. Build a nice bead smoothing out with your finger with acetone, Let set for two days. From the upper mask line repaint and it does not show at all. It helps support the solder preventing fatigue. Been doing this for 20 years with no failures.

Hank

Probably the best solution. JB Weld is very durable when used as directed.

Just do like Berg's said. "You don't need anything other than a cap." Forget the motometer. Keep it in your pocket.

My Berg's radiator has been problematic since new. The neck was soldered in
the wrong place and would not allow multiple shells to be installed, so it was
taken loose and aligned with the shell. It later came loose (I have a dog bone
and motometer). I resoldered it a 3rd time, and it came loose again this last
summer. Not wanting to keep playing this game, I sanded and cleaned up a much
larger surface area and laid in solder blobs with an iron. This does a poor job of
finishing, but allowed me to get a lot of solder in place with little heat. I then
swept the whole area with a torch, flowing the solder out into a smooth and wide
berm for maximum support/surface area bond. The process got good results
without risking unsoldering other nearby joints/seams. In this process I finally
discovered the source of a leak that has been a problem since installing this
radiator, ... a bad solder at the overflow tube. I will pull the whole thing this
winter and hand it over to a radiator shop for repair. I am pretty good with this
stuff, but will leave that one to the professionals.

There needs to be greater contact between the neck and the top tank. If you cut a large flat washer in sheet brass, and silver solder it to the neck, that will give you a wider flange to solder to the tank. My radiator shop uses blind copper pop rivets to hold the outlets in place for a mechanical bond before soldering. You could do the same with the flat washer on the neck.
Hope this helps.
Allan from down under.

What troubles me with the thought of a JB Weld reinforcement, is the prospect of chiseling away the JBW if ever I have to make any future solder repairs.

Jerry VanOoteghem wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 02, 2023 11:49 am

What troubles me with the thought of a JB Weld reinforcement, is the prospect of chiseling away the JBW if ever I have to make any future solder repairs.

I wouldnt consider it either.
I think Allan's idea will provide the necessary permanent fix.

All good ideas. I know I don't need a motometer but my daughter bought it for me and it looks cool! My filler neck is nickel plated if that makes a difference.

I had this idea (pictured) of soldering a piece of brass with a flange to the top of the tank and the circumference of the neck. I'm not convinced it would lend that much support but may try it.

Leaks like this are not unique to this supplier. I have a brass radiator (for a 1912 T) supplied by the other supplier and also installed wings. The neck on this radiator should had three rivets but didn't have any. I installed the radiator and liked the look of wings and motor meter. Leaked the first trip out. Sent it back and paid dearly for that experience. When returned, I reinstalled with the wings. Leaked soon after. I decided that the wings were the problem. The weight and the wind resistance caused excessive vibration and caused the solder to break loose. I replaced the wings with a dog bone and solved the problem.

I had a wings mount cap too and the neck came loose ( not a Bergs radiator). I then replaced the wings with a plain chrome cap mount for the Moto Meter. I recently had a radiator shop reattach the neck.
BUT, this is now what I use on both my Ts. I don't have to worry about weight or if the Moto Meter is in view of the driver.

If I were faced with the challenge of reinforcing the neck to tank joint, I would find some 1/8th inch soft copper tubing (pre China era) clean it and the seam and lay a ring of the tubing on the joint and carefully but thoroughly solder that in place to reinforce the neck. That being said, KirkieP has the best solution. Respectfully, jb

kirkiep , that looks not good ... but great . How did you get that upper connection done ? Im glad that this topic is here . I wasnt really paying attention to that rad neck. But is something to thing about when considering the $ 1000.00 cost. tx

Marc
I drilled and tapped the outlet for the brass fitting. Some of the temp gauges come with 2 different size mounting fittings. I found a temp gage at O'Reillys with a black capillary tube which is not as noticeable for my other T.

I have silver soldered many bergs necks and run motor meters afterwards with no problems. Sometimes the chrome gets a little damaged. I rather have a serviceable neck.

I installed a temperature gauge in the water outlet on my speedster very similar to how Kirk did his. I had an old aftermarket water pump housing similar to a Nims pump. It was missing the shaft and impeller so I tapped the hole and installed the temperature bulb. Seems to work well.

Great versions. Im going to look for 1. CrapAzon has a Bosch.

Cordes_jeff wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 04, 2023 3:21 pm

I have silver soldered many bergs necks and run motor meters afterwards with no problems. Sometimes the chrome gets a little damaged. I rather have a serviceable neck.

Could you use something like this to avoid damaging the chrome finish on the upper part of the neck?

https://www.nucalgon.com/products/speci ... rap-paste/