Clarification, please: I've read a lot of good reports and glowing customer comments on Brass Works new radiators lately on the Barn. Now, on this thread, I'm hearing about staying away from new reproduction radiators - materials and construction are inferior to originals, etc.
If you have read the posts you will aso see that there have been complaints about Brassworks as well. So much so that they were compelled to post here as well to quiet the complaints.
Isn't the Brass works radiator a "new repro?" And isn't it supposed to be made of the best materials, to the original thicknesses, specs and construction methods, etc.?
Yes it's a new repro and yes it's SUPPOSED to be made of the best..... But is it? if made to original specs the original cap would fit. What else is not correct, we don't know.
I'm not clear, then, on why someone would pass up the Brass Works unit and all of its fresh, new materials and great construction for a re-cored original where you'd still have the old worn, corroded, dinged, residue-coated tube walls - and loose fin-to-tube connections(?), etc.
As mentioned above some have questions about the "great construction" and fit of original parts onto the radiator. As for "worn, corroded, dinged ....", a recore replaces the entire core, all the fins, and uses the top and bottom tanks of the original, for hundreds less.
"Straighten me out on something: Doesn't the "rodding" process involve pushing metal rods, of the largest possible diameter, through each tube to "clean out" the tube..."
That, along with a chemical bath should get you back to clean metal and you will still have your show radiator intact.
