1943 Ford CMP truck- radiator tubes

F

fordblitz

Member
Hi,

I am trying to sort out the radiator tubes that connect the heads of a C69A V8 to the radiator in my Ford CMP army truck.

The part is No. 91C 8290 and does not seem to be available even as a repro.

Years ago, I had some 1-3/4" exhaust pipe bent to do the job at the local exhaust shop. Unfortunately, the bend radius was too large and the cross section at the heads was not round so they didn't line up with the radiator inlets or seal too well.

I recently found that mandrel bent tubes would keep the round cross section and can be bent to a tight 2-1/2" CLR (Center Line Radius). Exactly what I need. Only thing is they would cost over $100 each!

I would like to keep it original, but I may have to go a different path.

Looking online, a 1942-1948 inlet hose 21A 8260 might do the job if the long leg is 15" on the straight section. It looks like it has a 60-degree bend at the heads which is the same as the tubes. The steel support would do the job too.

Does anyone have that hose handy and can take the measurements from the center of the bend at the heads to where it does a slight bend at the radiator inlet. Hopefully that is 15"

Show is an original wasted away-top, the exhaust shop bent one with the thinning at the bend- middle, and a good original that someone cut a bit off- bottom.

Any help greatly appreciated.
 

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Can you have someone weld a replacement for the bit that was cut off the bottom of the otherwise good original? Maybe that would only yield one good example and you need two?
I wanted a muffler exhaust system for my 157" wheelbase truck in the original Ford format and could not find anyone to bend the tubing without the result looking like your middle pipe example which was unacceptable to me. I had to resort to splicing some similar NOS exhaust parts together by cutting and welding to create an original-looking exhaust "Y" pipe with muffler and tail pipe. The end result is great, but it was a fair amount of work and some expense to get there. Hopefully you can find a good NOS part or two.
 
CMP stuff at Mapleleafup.com. Mine has an 8ba replacement eng. DUPLICATE oops Newc
 
Hi Newc and Model 51,

Yes, I am a member and regular contributor to MLU. I could not find anything there on these pipes.

Splicing in the missing 1-1/2" on the good pipe is a good idea. Thanks model 51. In fact, I believe the weld would be at the end of the short joiner hose at the radiator inlet, or discreetly covered in any event with a slightly longer piece of hose. Down to just one pipe to be bent.

I think I might just wear the expense of a mandrel bent tube. With sourcing parts from the USA, I must remember the rate of exchange. The Aussie dollar is only worth about 65 cents after fees and there are the huge postage costs to Aus.

I have a son who is a pilot and flies regularly to LA and lays over in Pasadena for 3 days. I could not find any early Ford Flathead parts suppliers there. That would at least solve the huge postage costs. Anyone know of any there?
 
The Early Ford V8 store near Pasadena is like parts museum for EFV8 fans. There's stuff hanging from the rafters, parts neatly piled up or organized by part number in boxes. My son lives in Pasadena and I've visited the store (20 minutes away) several times. While they didn't have anything I needed, it was still an amazing experience to visit.
Try sending them an email for the parts you are looking for and maybe they will have it, if not, your son should have fun looking around anyway.
 
I found a good compromise to expensive mandrel bent custom radiator pipes. I used off-the-shelf mandrel bent 60-degree elbows and spliced them to a straight section of 1-3/4" exhaust pipe with a 1-5/8" dia short length of exhaust pipe for a joiner then migged together.

Taking measurement, it looks like the original bend had a CLR of 2-5/8" (1.5 x 1.75"). Luckily the mandrel bent elbows had the same CLR and bend angle which ensures correct alignment between the engine outlets and the radiator inlets.

Thanks for all the suggestions. It made me think of alternatives.

Shown:
Top- Crush bent pipe copied from original but shortened pipe
Original but shortened pipe
Original length, but rotted pipe
Fabricated pipe using standard mandrel bent elbows and "salvaged" crush bent pipes
 

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Thinking of some 'extra' sets? I always make 5 of any special part- always sell later. Some day I will install the correct eng in my CMP- I hope. Newc
 
Hi Newc,

No, I didn't make any extras. But they are easy to fabricate if you can get the same CLR mandrel bent 60-degree exhaust pipe elbows in your area.

Cheers,
 
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