Radiator Baffle
- Thread starter Joe/Ct
- Start date
Steve Plucker
BANNED
Questions...Is the radiator a reproduction or an original 1928-29 radiator?
Do you have a good seal on the radiator cap itself?
May the reason why you are losing water is that it is overheating for some other reason (pluged cores, not timed right, ect) than just splashing out?
Are you filling the radiator completly up with water? If so try not adding as much water.
I also run about 25% water and 75% antifreeze in my car with no problems...not just stright water.
Just some questions to ponder.
As far as putting a splash plate within the top tank without removing the tanks themselves...I don't think so but you never know what someone else might come up with...will be interesting on that one.
Pluck
Ca. Kid
Member
I recently bought a Brass Works radiator for my 1930 sedan. It has the baffle but the overflow tube was angled towards the front of the radiator. The water coming into the radiator hit the front wall of the tank and went right down the tube. I bent the tube so it faced back and it stopped the problem. My neighbor had the same problem, he bent his tube straight up and slipped a piece of rubber about one inch square over it. Seemed to work for him.
H. L. Chauvin
Well-known member
Hi Joe,
Ford addressed this "water loss through overflow tube "issue in his April 1930 service bulletins, Bulletin page 450, (yellow book page 199).
He indicated a diagram of a new lightgage brass sheet metal baffle, (shaped similar to a rain gutter on the edge of a roof), to be inserted into the radiator filler opening without removing the radiator. A hole in the baffle was provided to fit around the overflow tube.
If your are a handyman, try first making a pattern with a manila folder.
After making 1 of several patterns that "fits", transfer this trial pattern no. 5 or 6 to sheet metal, cut it out, & fit it in.
Ford addressed this "water loss through overflow tube "issue in his April 1930 service bulletins, Bulletin page 450, (yellow book page 199).
He indicated a diagram of a new lightgage brass sheet metal baffle, (shaped similar to a rain gutter on the edge of a roof), to be inserted into the radiator filler opening without removing the radiator. A hole in the baffle was provided to fit around the overflow tube.
If your are a handyman, try first making a pattern with a manila folder.
After making 1 of several patterns that "fits", transfer this trial pattern no. 5 or 6 to sheet metal, cut it out, & fit it in.
Richard Wilson
Well-known member
I bought a Model A one time that was missing the baffle in the radiator. As long as I stayed under 45 mph it was fine but up around 50 mph it would start to pump water out the overflow. I took an aluminum coke can, cut top and bottom out, split the side and rolled it up to fit inside the radiator neck and around the overflow tube. No more problem. The can was still in the radiator five years and several thousand miles later. Redneck repair I know, but was meant to be temporary but it worked so well I never got around to fixing it right.
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BILL WILLIAMSON
Well-known member
Jist drop a large head nail in the top of overflow tube----problem solved! Bill W.
Dale Miller
Junior Member
I had the same problem with a radiator that I bought at a swap meet.
My fix was to use a brass kitchen sink down tube ( the type that has a flang on the top end ) and cut it short so that it was about 1 inch above the core when inserted into the rad. neck. Use a rad cap gasket under the flange and one in the cap. Also be sure the overflow tube is formed to the rear as far as possible. It has been installed for about 5 years now with no
leakage out the overflow, even at 55mph when on tours!
My fix was to use a brass kitchen sink down tube ( the type that has a flang on the top end ) and cut it short so that it was about 1 inch above the core when inserted into the rad. neck. Use a rad cap gasket under the flange and one in the cap. Also be sure the overflow tube is formed to the rear as far as possible. It has been installed for about 5 years now with no
leakage out the overflow, even at 55mph when on tours!