Honeycomb radiator?

B

barron

Member
I bought a 1931 coupe for a friend overseas, i just did a doubletake on the radiator, its octogon honeycomb construction, i've never seen one, has all the proper ford stuff on it, wire tabs and all that, is this aftermarket?
 
They cool well until they get clogged, then they are difficult to clean. Keep the mice out at all cost, as a mouse nest will render the radiator mostly useless.
Ford did not use them but many radiator makers did. It may be a western auto, pep boys, monkey wards, or similar supplier.
 
2manycars said:
They cool well until they get clogged, then they are difficult to clean. Keep the mice out at all cost, as a mouse nest will render the radiator mostly useless.
Ford did not use them but many radiator makers did. It may be a western auto, pep boys, monkey wards, or similar supplier.
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In the unauthorized ford accessory book there is an ad for an honeycomb radiator.
 
Years ago, when Chief removed a honeycomb radiator, he would lay it face down & keep it full of water until it went back on the car. His explanation was, that if the coating inside dried up and flaked off, it might plug up the radiator. He said they were hard to clean, Not like a REAL radiator with straight tubes! Bill W.
 
I was in a junk yard many, many years ago looking for some Model A parts (they had a couple of parts cars) and saw one of the honey comb radiators inside on a shelf. I went back two or three years later and the junk yard was out of business and had been cleaned out. I would almost bet most everything got scraped.
 
We had a nice 29 honeycomb rad with a small pinhole leak in the dead center. Sent it to our local radiator "reapair" man and he said everything he tried just made it worse and scraped the rad.
 
I had one of these 4 years ago traded it at Chickasha for a decent left rear dender for my Deluxe Delivery. Rod
 

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My grandfather had a honeycomb radiator on his 1930 Plymouth. He said it was a great radiator until someone put his bumper through it. I'd have to study my thermodynamics but there may be a efficiency advantage to the honeycomb type. It probably wasn't a bad choice for a car that was designed to last 10 years, but of course a lot of Model A's lasted longer.
 
BrianBurkert said:
My grandfather had a honeycomb radiator on his 1930 Plymouth. He said it was a great radiator until someone put his bumper through it. I'd have to study my thermodynamics but there may be a efficiency advantage to the honeycomb type. It probably wasn't a bad choice for a car that was designed to last 10 years, but of course a lot of Model A's lasted longer.
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Knowing nothing about it I would have to look at what modern cars use. Modern cars produce a lot more power and therefore must dissipate a lot more heat being they follow the same rules of efficiency. This combined with the fact 99% of them all have air conditioning which places a condenser in front of the radiator dumping a ton of heat into it. I have never seen a modern honeycomb radiator and the ones new cars have seem to do a good job so I'm going to assume they don't work well or cost too much for no reason.
 
I have one for a 28/29

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Not tested it yet but looks in good fettle, and not too heavy

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This looks like a recorer tag rather than a manufacturer's, but willing to be put right on that

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Regards

Juggs
 
Chrysler Corp. used cellular ("honeycomb" is one pattern) radiators up to about 1950 or so.

I have one in my '41 De Soto, still doing fine 71 years / 104,000 miles down the road...

As Oliverguy pointed-out, cellular cores have more surface area for cooling compared to a fin & tube core of the same outside dimensions.

They are quite expensive to have repaired these days...
 
If you do end up having a few leaks, you do not have to remove the tanks to fix it. You just plug and solder the leaking hexagon on the front side and rear side of the radiator.
 
Had one on my '30 Buick, worked great, Thankfully I never had a leak in the 20 yrs. I drove car. Early aircraft used honeycomb oil coolers that stuck out a bit from under the cowling on those big 'ole radial engines.
 
I have one on my '31 Pick-Up, I won it at a Christmas party about 25 years ago, somebody at that time said it had come from Wards.
It has a plug about 2" in diameter, looks like bubble gum or putty or something. Cooled well and never leaked, for about 20 years, now the top tank is crumbling and needs to be replaced.
Of course my '26 Chevy Touring has a honeycomb radiator also.

Darryl in Fairbanks
 
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