Astrodokk

I was told that this type of braising repair is typical and holds up well. I'm installing a 383 soon, and had no leaks or cooling problems with the old 350. Consensus?

midyearvette

although it may not leak, what they have done is "pinched " off 2 or 3 of the cooling tubes. this reduces the cooling capacity of the rad.....since you are installing a bigger mill, i would replace the rad.....jmho

midyear1

Yeah, that's the typical kind of work that will return this nation back to our former glory as the world's industrial powerhouse.

MikeM

I can't see well enough on my monitor to see how they repaired it. Is it brazed or just pinched off? That is an aluminum radiator isn't it?

If it's been brazed and it looks like the metal flowed and stuck and they pressure checked it, I wouldn't be afraid to use it.

Astrodokk

It's brazed, the metal looks like it flowed well, and it's been pressure checked. It was not only pinched off.

MikeM

I'd use it. If you don't give it a chance you'll be out of pocket $8-900.

midyearvette

so what if it has been brazed...big deal.....it still is handicapped by approx. 10% by being pinched off....hey here is a novel idea......why not call a supplier of new ones and see how much the new one weighs?? then drain completely the old one and weigh it...the difference will be how much crud is left in the core......judging by the crud in the upper neck from the pic, i bet it is significant......i know were talking some bucks here but the new mill will require a bit more cooling capacity....jmho

Kensmith

Carlos,

While you have it out, why not take it to your local radiator shop and have them check it out for you. Maybe they can clean and pressure check it and if it's good, you will feel comfortable putting it back in

jdk971

i am with kensmith. have a radiator shop clean and test it. i know new ones are not cheap, but why install that one and get things running great and find out after 100 miles it does not cool. then you have to tear it out and get a new one. how much did you save then. jim

CWerner

It's a crap shoot with old equipment. I just went through this, well almost the same.

Mine was fine until one day my engine overheated because my electric fan lost power. That created a series of issues. Old hoses now started failing....FIXED.

Then the car started running hotter than normal (+ 10 - 20 degrees). My new ZZ4 had been running a constant 160 - 175.

Then I found a small leak in the radiator. Put in some stop leak and fixed it. Based upon feedback here, I decided to take it out and have it tested and possibly fixed. What I found was a radiator on it's last leg.

The overheating caused all weak links to fail...hoses, then radiator. The radiator had issues inside which was now restricting proper flow. That's what caused my temp increase.

Today I installed my new Be Cool radiator ($500 @ Summit). I'm back down to 160- 175, and I am not worried any more.

MikeM

The main reason I said I would use that radiator is that if it was rotten from corrosion, it wouldn't have taken the heat to braze it. It would have just crumbled.

It also looks like it was a solid core as the damage looked like it was hit on something and caused the leak rather than corroded metal.

When those radiator get that white corrosion on the OUTSIDE is when they are getting very short on their useful life. But, there are exceptions.

Vipermike

From what I can see it looks like only 1 out of 29 total tubes is damaged/repaired. If the repair completely blocked off water flow through one tube that would equate to a 3.5% reduction in cooling capacity. Therefore, presuming the rest of the radiator and cooling system are in good condition, you should still have plenty of excess cooling capacity.

jim lockwood

What is it worth to you to NOT have to wonder about the condition of the radiator each time you take out your car with that brand new 383 in it?

That's the way I'd approach the question of whether to trust the repaired radiator or not.

Me, I'd replace it in a heartbeat.

Jim

Astrodokk

As Ken suggested, I'm taking it to the radiator shop to get it checked out. If they say to replace, then I will. I'd hate to get rid of this radiator if it is still serviceable. I don't go far in the car anyway to where I'll get stranded. Thanks everyone for your opinions, suggestions, and concern.

Vipermike

But just maybe if more people had used perfectly functioning repaired radiators over the last 20 years instead buying brand new ones on credit then this nation would still be in its former glory instead of trying to dig out of the huge debt driven recession we currently find ourselves in.

KC John

There are a few people on this forum that don't have the money to replace everything in their car because it might fail. There are others that will tell them in a not so nice way they are being foolish to do anything else.

Maybe those folks should tread a little more gently when they give an opinion if they want to be viewed as helpful, rather than arrogant.

OldKarz

with Ken. I would not be afraid to try it as is, but if you get it checked out then you will know for sure. Good luck.

Tempus_Fugit

Thanks KC, I thought I was the only one. Of course I'd run the darn thing. It's not like it is going to explode, it will just develop a slow leak. I've run many a car with a pinched tube.

$800 does not come easy to this household.

0Willcox Corvette

Here is an observation that no one noticed.

This has to be an aluminum radiator! The brass replacement radiators have side tanks. This is a stacked plate radiator which is only available in aluminum.

If this is an aluminum radiator it can’t be brazed! In conjunction with this thought, it may be pinched and soldered and I’ve seen this done on old cores.

One other thought on this is if the car had a 350 in it I doubt highly a brass replacement would have cooled it.

The OP said the car had no leaks or cooling problems with this radiator, but if it is an aluminum radiator pressure testing it may cause a leak! There has been many a good radiator shop blow up good aluminum radiators from putting too much pressure on them.

If not in the market for a new radiator, I would clean this one and run it until it leaked without any testing. (assuming it is a no leaker).

IMHO,

Willcox Inc.

KC John

A good radiator shop would know how much pressure to test the tank with. If a shop blows up your radiator, they are not that good.

Tanks build pressure in order to work, somewhere between 7-16 pounds in my experience. There might be others that create more or less than that, but I'm not familiar with them.