A Chinese radiator in a Model A?!!!

[wensum]

I bought an aluminium radiator from an American manufacturer supposedly designed to fit the Model A, but the bottom mounts and the side mounts all required modification (Luckily I have a friend who is very handy with welding aluminium) and the filler neck was completely wrong, too large diameter and wrong thread. I was able to remove the neck with some cautious grinding, and then removed a neck from a derelict original radiator and bond it in with a special glue/compound. I wanted a lighter weight radiator for my speedster, but the moral is that even a radiator made in the States may be no better than a Chinese one and as we are in New Zealand, it's financially unviable to send it back under warranty. The fins are very thin and easily damaged, so we have a stone guard which I would prefer not to have as it obscures the shape of the radiator shell. It certainly copes with the temperature, almost too well and I have a restriction in the top radiator hose and in winter it requires a half muff.

 

[maako]

it was the first time I ever had to fit a radiator, a little learned curve but I got mine to fit. It is far from perfect but I am building a driver and a lot of stop and go traffic we’re I live so cooling is a priority over originality. I painted mine black to slow down the corrosion.