next on my 41 fix=up

[RC Drown]

Roger,

Any updates on the new radiator?

[rreid740]

Good point, Bob (41) - back on the road beats the old car that sits in the garage any day.

The radiator is near shiny as a mirror - but some flat puke-green followed with some flat black and then some judicious scuff-thorugh ought to help that.

And using the correct style of hose clamp ought to set the feel to "about right".   

[41PlySD]

I see nothing wrong with that...It'll get you back on the road right?... :) Just so you know...I'm not a diehard purist but certainly appreciate a car done up to original specs. when I see it....but one has to have very deep pockets to go that route. You'll be fine with that radiator and if you keep the original one with the car what's the harm?

Best wishes to you...

Bob

[RC Drown]

Go for it, sounds like a good plan

[rreid740]

(Our story to date: I got my P12 in 2000.  "A nice used car": much is original, replacement parts have been "appropriate" - they'd lose points in judging, but it still looks and feels like a used 1941.  My approach is conservation, rather than restoration.   I got it running pretty well myself.  Then repaired the homemade uphostery; sanded off the rattle-can blue, sprayed rattle-can primer, and let Maaco put it back to black (which now has started to get a nice patina again - the shine is off it thankfully).  Drove it a lot - up to 300 miles from home.   About 2007 I had a fuel pump problem and circumstances kept me from fixing it.   I finally decided it was really OK to let someone else work on it, and my brother's neighbor (another 400 miles up the coast from me) has been going through it.  Ended up having to replace the gas tank, but it doesn't look too non-stock.   It "purrs like a kitten", and apparently all the old car guys are dropping around to admire it because it's so "authentic".)

Well, they sent the radiator (PN 897449) to be boiled out and it came out too holey to use.   Valley Vintage does list a used 897449 and a 897450 (recore).

However for about the same price, the guys say they could fit a Griffen Universal Rod radiator.  My first reaction was pure horror - what's next, a small block Cheby engine?

But once I looked at it, I see it doesn't look totally wrong - assuming you don't know what the original looks like, and that you kill that aluminum finish with some flat black.

I'm just about convinced it's the way to go.   Any thoughts?  Anyone tried this in a non-rod   It doesn't meet the POC objectives exactly, but I'm not going to be the one to restore this car to judging standards: I'm happy to sit next to other beautifully restored '41s at meets.   And I've done no permanant harm; it's a temporary workaround.   

It certainly is less of a pig in a poke than any used, NOS, or recore.   The price is good - about $250.   It'll probably last another 70 years.  And I can keep my 897449 to have it recored at some future point (by me or anyone who takes the car in the future.