Someone Said the Magic Word...,

[Henry K. Lee]

A Champion Brand aftermarket radiator for a street rod.., is it adaptable to a stock Model T? $178.00 vs ????? You tell me!

Just need to dimple the bottom for the front engine mount, weld in steam relief tube, reposition upper/lower hoses, filler neck, and mounting wings.This is a 3 row and appears to be pretty good quality.., will see when I start welding.

NO..., Not interested in doing modifications for others, just posting to show it is not that hard with a little skill.

Hank

[tdump]

Good to know sir! thank you!. gives me motivation to practice with my tig welder!

[varmint]

Hank,
It's looking excellent so far.
The radiator shop told me that if I needed to cut the intake tube shorter that they had a tool to put the bead roll back in the end of the tube to accept a hose.
I'm looking forward to seeing the other parts.
Vernon

[Henry K. Lee]

Vernon I have bead roll machine too so that is the plan, just mocking up at the moment. Will keep you all posted. These radiators come in both high and low styles with pretty close measurements. Just a cheaper alternative for the driver and on a budget person. OPTIONS!

Hank

[John kuehn]

That’s a pretty well made aluminum radiator so I’ve read elsewhere. It really beats me why the company won’t make a standard original fitment radiator because they have the tooling to do it I would think! They would have a market for it it would seem!
Or do they think there are more T bucket Hot Rods being built up than original T restorations?
Just my thoughts but ?!?!? Makes you wonder!!!

[Craig Leach]

Just looked into this with a Speedway T radiator. It looked close @ first for a low radiator. I found the neck to be to far back to fit the shell.
They sell the inlet & outlet to weld in but found the bottom tank needed a lot of work to clear the motor mount & decided that the labor to
move the neck, inlet, outlet & modify the bottom tank was more effort than it was worth I found a radiator shop that would do the work.
But wanted $400 -$500 dallars and I was not sure my TIG skills ( have not Tigged anything for two + years ) where up to that much.
I did see a youtube video of a rat rod shop that painted a aluminum radiator flat black then brushed some brass & copper accents on with dry
rag & made it look like a copper & brass radiator. There is a lot of alunmium radiators that should work for a high radiator & a Model A.
My biggest concern is that the flex in the frame will rip the alumnium radiator apart! Hank I'm looking forward to seeing how this comes out
because I would like to drive my my speedster when it's 110 degrees out in traffic.
Craig.

[Henry K. Lee]

Craig to absorb the stresses of the flex transfer to aluminum mounting.., a soft porous foam like a kneeling pad goes on the bottom of the radiator mounts and a softer spring on the top mount. This in turn allows for a magic term "full contact vibration absorption support" at the base which prevents fatigue. These radiators are using a full side shield support tank to tank so that should be our friend. With the radiator to firewall support rod, soft mounts and radiator hoses, should in theory work as a low cost alternative. It is an experimental project so let the experiment begin!

Hank

[Craig Leach]

Hi Hank,
Good idea I was going with leather & slotted holes. As I said I tried to use the Speedway T bucket radiator, Is this one
the chopped 32 radiator ( that was my second choice ) I intended to weld a pipe bung where the fill was & bore out a compression fitting so a tube could be passed through it, bent to go up into the neck & down to the bottom of the
radiator, screwed in & tighten the feral to secure the tube. Muggy Weld makes a brazing rod & flux to braze brass,
copper & other metals to aluminum for the neck. Keep us in the loop I would like to know how it turns out.
Craig.

[Dave Sullivan]

A few years back, I bougtht an aluminum radiaror from Speedway think it cost $130 at that time, had to move everything around to make it fit, I thouht I was about done at that time, then I checked the rear axle... Still haven't tried it. Dave In Bellinham, WA

[Ed Fuller]

Thanks for taking us along on this project Hank. I’ve always heard they could be modified to work and I’ve always been curious about the modifications needed.

[Henry K. Lee]

Ed and the rest of you folks.., you are welcome!

I have been doing some fitting and to say the least this is becoming more and more involved so bare with me. Trying to make it as simple as possible but so far..., ?

New findings

..., this being a 3 row (2 row are available) the core thickness is 3"thick vs 2 3/4" Fan may be close?

..., With the radiator shell installed it shows a bad fit at the top, meaning the radius on the radiator does not match well with the semi-flat/peak radius on the factory shell. Not a big deal but this pushes the radiator down causing interference with the front crossmember on the frame. Soooo approximately 1" will need to be removed from the lower tank to compensate. OK, this is doable.

Just doing preliminary adjustments in the fit before going stupid. Will keep track of time and materials to give a real cost for you all. These were made for street rods so the mounting ears that rest on top of the frame were up high for a double down horn frame like what is normally used on a 32 Ford High Boy. So the bottom tank was larger.

Hank

[Henry K. Lee]

New Findings....,


Not really impressed, the core is attached to the tank support by means of aluminum solder. This I have to be very care when using the TIG and use a shunt to control over heating. The core tubes are of a softer aluminum which with an internal magneto might cause an un-Godly amount of electrologist. The core tubes too were made for a modern engine and metallurgy, thus said it appears unless you are willing to coat the whole inside of the cooling system like a salt water outboard engine, those tubes are going to get obstructed pretty quick. Using an anode will more than likely only cause more issues as it will cause a gel to form when mixed with modern coolants.

So in my honest opinion...., not really worth all of this trouble thinking you are saving money. Long term, problems that could have been avoided.

Hank