1964 Wildcat radiator R & R difficulty...

[Guest Madeleine]

We put a pressure tester on the radiator & found two pin size leaks on the front of the radiator just below & to the left of the cap. So, the radiator is in the process of coming out, fluids drained... bolts removed from front stabilizer bar (or whatever it's called) all hoses removed & still it only rocks in the tray it rests in. I cannot seem to remove it, nor can I find anything in the manuals that tells how to remove or replace a radiator. I want to do as much labor as I can myself. Any assistance would be appreciated. :confused: :confused: :confused:

[Guest kaycee]

Hi,

Remember to unbolt the transmission oil cooler lines ( probably on the right side of the radiator). There should be a couple of rubber pads on the bottom of the radiator that it just rests on, but it should just come straight up and out. I do'nt remember these radiators having any mounting bolts on the sides (only a retainer plate on the top). If you have air conditioning, you may have to remove the condenser in front of the radiator. You should'nt have had to remove any steering parts to remove the radiator or remove the lower hose? I expected a call from you on your choke problem yesterday.How's that been working?

kaycee

e-mail littleeight@att.net ph. 815 223 3919

[keiser31]

Sometimes those pads at the bottom stick from the heat.

[JohnD1956]

I thought 64's had the radiator with a tank on the top, and a tank on the bottom ( top flow) . I know the 65 had a with tanks on the left and right side ( Crossflow) . Not sure which you have.

If its the top flow, the transmission cooler is in the bottom tank and you have to remove those lines from the bottom of the car. Note, these can be stubborn. You generally need to use a line wrench to avoid rounding the nuts. It will help if you spray the connections every day for one week with some PB Blaster rust penetrant. Then you have to finesse the line.

Can you take a picture of the area and post it here?

[Guest kaycee]

John's right . This radiator should have the trans. oil cooler lines on the bottom tank. I was thinking of a later car with the tanks on the side. As John also mentioned, if you do'nt have these lines off yet, soak the ftttings and the lines at the fittings with a good penatrating oil like PB Blaster (make sure you clean the lines back about an inch or so from the fittings), and use what I call tubing wrenches (which slide over the tubing) to loosen the fittings and slide the fittings back a bit.

kaycee

[bhclark]

How are you coming with this Patrick? Did you get it out?

Have your radiator guy inspect everything closely and pressure test it. If he recommends recoring.....go ahead and do it. Prices are reasonable right now and that way you won't have to go through all this again.

Also, pulling everything apart allows him to solder the pin holes from the front and the back making for a stronger repair.

Unfortunately, the oldes "new" radiators I have seen are for '66 and up.

What # cap are you using? My '59 states a 14# cap, but my radiator shop said to use a 7# to reduce the stress on the old metal.

As far as a radiator shop.....look for the smallest shop with a little sign and no computer. Avoid those big fancy places.....they just want to toss new radiators in newer cars and don't typically have the expertise and experience to do a repair properly.