Eventually got around to the rad.

[Gerry]

After putting it off I decided it was time to finish off the rad. I have had the basic form for ever, that is the core, header tank base plate etc. After a few phone calls found a Company that would have ago at it, which is good because my eyesight is not so good anymore and the skill of soldering lots of bits in close proximity left me several decades ago. I cant even find that big old copper iron with a wooden handle that we used a paraffin blow torch to heat up.

Got all the bits together and took them along one morning with a conversation of what I wanted, expected and a time scale of 3 months to give them some slack.

I have a core and the parts for the top tank but nothing is together or finalised.

OH by the way I like lots of pics...










The things I wanted were the top tank fixed to the core plate with rolled edges, the side plates lapped over to form a neat and hidden joints, some soldered fixings in the bottom plate to mount it all to the chassis and a few other things normal to a brass rad for a T.... the story unfolds

G

 

[Gerry]

Had a look around. Better I leave as its found
G

 

[choppedtop]

I can't imagine keeping that radiator polished. I am kinda lazy though. Bet it looks great on the T.

 

[2old2fast]

That's kinda cryptic....

Had a look around. Better I leave as its found
G

dave

 

[Gerry]

Bad day at the office, Dave.

One of the things I did before the rad went away was to 'index the wings to the modified neck so they could line up the whole assembly and make sure the wings were straight across the top tank. I juts drilled and tapped the neck through the motometer with a 6 BA thread and put a CS brass screw in (this also stops anyone from unscrewing it and walking away, at a show. It has happed before!!!). As can be seen from the pics I made a pressure cap to sit inside the neck, which had to be soldered before the neck was added.

The length of the neck was reduced as it looked wrong at the original height.

With all that done the rad was taken to be finally built and pressure tested.












G

 

[fletcherson]

Good idea on the stop screw. It's a sad day when you can't allow anyone to look at your car without the fear of theft, etc... I like the brass look. Brass lasts a long time. I remodeled a big old house once that had all cast brass drains and sewer lines, etc.... High dollar! I couldn't imagine what it would cost today.

 

[Gerry]

After about 3 months I got a call to come pick up the rad, it was finished. When I walked into the shop my first reaction was one of disappointment. The rad was in one piece but the rolled edges at the base of the tank top where not done... just a flanged joint with solder on view everywhere. Turning it up it became apparent that they had not put in the fixing on the bottom plate to mount it to the chassis and the topper, the wings were not straight across the top.

Only up side was that it had been pressure tested to 20 psi with no leaks and no distortion in the brass work. I was not a happy man. Upshot was that I left it there so the corrections could be made and agreed that a separate 'rolled edge' soldered to the top tank flange would probably be OK.



As you can see in this picture, taken before it went away, there was more than enough material to bend and roll over the joint to get the correct finish.



A few weeks later got another call and the results were still not good. I decided at this point to take the rad home and sort it out myself. After a quick coat of black it was time to set about tidying it up to a reasonable standard. You can see the new added rolled edge, but the side to top joints are horrible, and the wings were still not straight.









I needed to rethink things and make some new sides and figure out a way of sorting out the mounting points, which, again, had not been done.

Ah well.....

 

[Gerry]

Sitting back with a Merlot in my hand, I took quite a while to decided on how to fix the Rad to the chassis. The original idea was 2 large headed bolts (as used in GRP work) soldered inside the bottom plate. Thing was, that I did not want to chance a taking apart a tested rad and possibly getting leaks; plus I had no way of accessing the inside of the plate unless I desoldered it and took it off. I know that the bottom tank had angled ends so it gave me a small amount of space to work with.

Only option that I was happy with was one that fixed it in all 4 corners, but as mentioned, it was getting the fixing inside the bottom plate that was the key. My answer was 4 small alloy plates with a thread in them that the fixing bolts could be screwed into. This meant that I had to CAREFULLY cut 4 slots out of the side plates to get access for the plates to slide in. The clearance to the bottom tank being minimal I had to take it slow and gently. I used a small cutting disk in a flexible shaft and a file to smooth the rough edges. The position for the mounting holes were taken by putting the rad on the cross member and marking through the holes I had originally drilled for the mounts.

The plates were drilled with an 8mm and 2.5mm hole. The 2.5mm is to captivate the plate and stop it turning as I tighten up 8mm bolts. Initially I drilled both to 2.5mm (tapping size for the 3mm bolt). The plate was then held against the bottom plate, clamped and both holes run through. I was really worried that on breakthrough I would puncture the tank so I made a stop collar for the drill so it only just pierced the bottom plate.



On these holes were completed I tapped one of the holes to 3mm. Next I had to open up the inside hole to 8mm, well 8.2 for a little bit of wiggle room. I then placed the plate inside the rad, fixed it with a 3mm bolt and clamped it for good measure. With all 4 done and the 3mm hole countersunk its time to see if it all lines up.











It did, so I moved to mounting it on the chassis.
G

 

[choppedtop]

Looks well thought out, and nice work done. Keep showing progress please.
Lee

 

[Gerry]

With the mounting point all done I turned to the chassis and bolting it on for a trial fit. The bottom hose was always going to be a bit of a struggle and I had thoughts of making a metal bend that reduced from the pump to the rad. After a little though I decided to go for some silicon hoses as it was available in bends with a reduction built in.

To give it some insulation from vibration I used some 3mm thick rubber sheet.














On to the hose. As the pics show its a bit of a reverse bend to connect and reduce at the same time but a couple of silicon bends and a short piece of SS tube between the tow, worked out fine.








G

 

[old round fart]

Will you have anything to restrict fore and aft movement of the top or will the top hoses do the job?

 

[Gerry]

Top hoses will do the job; I hope. They are very stiff and are a type which does not stretch.

 

[Gerry]

The wings; oh the wings are not straight. The amount I needed to get them straight was really very little. I could have slotted the cap but decided to plug the original hole. Screwed a 6BA in and silver soldered it, then trimmed it flat; lined up the wings and re-drilled and tapped the new hole. It was about 1/2 hole off.

I had 2 sides that I took down to the shop but they never bothered with them These had rolled edges at each side and were over length. First thing was to slide them on the rad, which was in the car and mark a line for a bend at the top after which I cut back the rolled edges to allow for the bend at the mark.





Then turned them over and to give them a rough dressing with 320, 480 grit DA followed by a polish.



I have to admit that I folded one of these the wrong side of the line which as you may know presents a problem if you have to try and straighten it!!! As I had no spares I did just that and "de bent" it, followed by some dressing with a body hammer and then a heavy sanding. Amazingly it turned out fine and got re-bent in the correct place.





Now I have two sides that are a snug fit on the rad with a top tab in just the right position. The rad is a tight fit to the chassis rails so these 'extra' sides stopped at the top of the chassis rails fitting neatly into the curve of the box section, but what to do at the top.

If I just trimmed them and left a straight section across the top tank I suppose it would look OK but that did nothing for me. Resorting to a glass of the obligatory Merlot and some thinking time I came up with this. Starting big and gently reducing the size of the overlap until I finally got to a shape that seemed to work.








Over to the polisher for a bit of preliminary bling.






Next the return over the core....

 

[Screaming Metal]

Ahhhhh, its great to see all these craftsmen working and doing quality stuff on these hotrods....that radiator is a thing of beauty....

 

[Gerry]

How the devil are you??

Crafstman???? more of a practised amateur even if I did do a 4 year apprenticeship some 40 years ago.

 

[Gerry]

A few pics of the side plate soft fitted.







With the side plate sorted out it was time to look at the front. Just having the side plates on the rad did nothing for the front of the rad as all you could see is the core. I had a couple of bits of plate with one rolled edge and decided to use them on the front.

After holding them up to the rad and seeing how wide they should be I trimmed them to width. Now the side plated were a push fit on the rad and had no clearance for the front ones, hence the arduous task of reducing the rolled edge on the side plates to allow the front ones to fit under and provide a neat and unobtrusive joint.

With that all sorted out, time to solder them together. I used a block of alloy to give me a 90* angle and just ran some solder down the joint. Less is more. Just a clean up and polish and I was happy with the result and even better the rad looked OK with the new additions.









G

 

[T-Test]

All that fine work--- and it's just the radiator!! Hurry up and finish the thing so we can all see your great work/artistry. Hope it runs as good as it looks!!.

 

[Gerry]

Thanks.

With the side plates done and cleaned up I now looked at how to fix them to the rad. I kept all the fitting really tight so when they were slotted into place they were sort of captivated by the small front panel and the rolled edge on the rear. I did contemplate soldering but with the joint at the top and bottom not overlapped it did seem a little risky. After considering a few options I finally decided to go with Gorilla glue. It has a great reputation and should handle the heat.

I hated doing this but a good hard rub with 80 grit on the sides of the rad and the insides of the side plates, followed by a rub with a damp cloth followed by a generous squirt of glue the side plates were slotted into place and clamped using various bits of wood and some ratchet strap, then left overnight to cure. I did have to do a little persuading with a block of wood and a hammer to 'seat' the top lip overs down on the tank.







Straps and wood off, a quick polish and I had the look I wanted from the start; just need to do the finishing strip to hide the bottom of the core.










That's it folks, thanks for looking.
G

 

[choppedtop]

Looks great Gerry. Sometimes ya just gotta do it yourself to get it right.