[OneMoreTime]

How hard woudl this be..I have on hand some good radiators that are too big for my app..My question is has anyone ever cut one down..?? Can it be done or is it just too hard..

Guess I can just get out the tools and take one apart to see but it is nice to ask first..

Sam

[poncho62]

More trouble than its worth...................start cutting down the rad core and you will be patching leaks everywhere. ...............Go to a rad shop and tell them what size you need,, they will get the right sized core and build it to your specs......ie: hose locations etc.

[302 Z28]

Yes, go to a radiator shop and have it built. That way you can have one with as many rows in the core as possible.

Vince

[GuyW]

Not exactly an on-topic response, but....

I have bought some radiator books - 1. Antique Auto Radiator Repair, a reprint of a trade book from 192_ IIRC, 2. A US Army Repair Manual, 3. I have 2 (I think) street rod magazine articles on building a radiator.

Yes, radiator work requires developing new skills, and obtaining some simple but (otherwise) seldom used tools, but...

It is possible to modify radiators or create brand new radiators (especially brass era T type). Is it cost and time effective? Depends on one's skills and personal interests I suppose...

I think I'm going to attempt a brass radiator from scratch sometime....

[Youngster]

I've tried adapting all sorts of radiators for use on T buckets. Everything from stock T's to Dodge dart to cutting down a McCormick tractor radiator. Some of them looked real good 'til they where put under pressure. Then it looked like a fountain up there. The Dodge actually lasted long enough for a 20 mile shake down cruise. In the end I found it much more cost effective to step up and buy an after market cooler.

[OneMoreTime]

I will probably step up and get the radiator done at a shop..Just have to try everything myself before spending my hard won cash..

Thanks
Sam

[oldred]

This depends on what you mean by modification. If you just need to narrow the core then it is fairly easy to cut out a section of the tanks and tubes then using the end pieces cap the open ends, If you are talking about making the core shorter then that is a different story. I have done a lot of radiator work so I may be suggesting something that sounds fairly easy to me but might not be so easy if you have never done much of this type of work but it certainly is do-able if you don't mind taking the effort.

[Youngster]

I do agree with oldred, norrowing isn't to bad. Where I ran into trouble was trying to shorten the thing. All in all, it was an education.

Youngster

[OneMoreTime]

I am fairly adept with tools and have sweated copper before and the ones I have are on the way to the scrap anyway so if I tinker a bit I may be able to do this..

I think the major deal is gong to be finding a way to get a clean cut on the core and geting the copper clean in order to sweat the connections..

Just have to put some sweat into this to see if I can do it..

Sam

[Youngster]

Best of luck! keep us informed on your progress.

Youngster

[Mustangsaly]

my buddie owns a radiator shop. we lived by each other & been close friends since 7th grade. I've never seen him narrow a core. maybe you could take your tanks and put on a smaller core. he started in the radiator business in jr, high school it was his 1st job, and opened his shop in 85. a radiator shop is more reasonable than you think, he laughs cause he does a lot of radiators for a salvage yard. a good friend of ours works in the office of the salvage yard. they the salvage yard sells the reconditioned radiators and used take out radiators for more money than my buddie sells new radiators in the box for. krazy but the salvage yard sells a lot of radiators. a radiator shop pressure tests there work in water/solvent tanks with air, and they can flow test them. hes only charged me for one radiator and it's cause it was a new one. so when it comes to a radiator or a heater core I know what I'm doing. a radiator shop sells heater cores for a 1/3 of what a parts house does. but people buy used heater cores from a salvage yard to, as cheap as they are new & as hard as they are to change, why buy a used one ? heck your replacing a used heater core. radiators & heater cores bring fair money from a recyclers. my buddie sells all his junk cores at xmas time, it pays for xmas bonuses and a xmas party. were talking a p/u and a car trailer full.

[OneMoreTime]

I used a propane torch and heated the solder at the tank until I could get the tank of...then I heated the plate that connects the core to the tank and tapped on it a bit until it came off..took some patience to do this..

Now that I discovered how it was made in the first place I can carry on..shortening the core can be done by removing the fins down to the place one wants to cut the core..then using some snips cut the cores..this will flatten the core tubes but use a fine screwdriver open them back up..then place the connection plate back on the tube ends and solder away..

The thing a radiator shop has is the hot tank to get the metal absolutely clean so it will take solder..doing this at home means having the patience to get every thing clean and being careful when removing the tank and plat to not bend them..

Can be done just is not one of the easy tasks to do..

Sam