Guest buckfarmer Posted April 26, 2013 Share Posted April 26, 2013 Wondering if I should paint my rad? Or will that reduce its cooling ability? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Shaw Posted April 26, 2013 Share Posted April 26, 2013 Paint will slightly reduce the heat exchange, but shoe dye can do the same job with less effect. I know many radiator shops just use flat black aerosol paint; but they typically do radiators for modern cars with more cooling capacity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickelroadster Posted April 27, 2013 Share Posted April 27, 2013 Or you could use radiator paint which conducts heat well. Available from Eastwoods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest born2lose Posted April 27, 2013 Share Posted April 27, 2013 or polish the tanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted April 29, 2013 Share Posted April 29, 2013 My radiator shop uses a special paint that is supposed to have enhanced heat transfer properties. It is quite glossy. When I had the '60 Electra radiator redone he glass beaded the mounting flanges and painted them with satin black, then used the radiator paint on the tanks and core.Bernie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vertical8walter Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 never polish!!!it will reduce surface and on this way heat transver.excuse my bad english. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubert_25-25 Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 (edited) The radiator in my 1925 Buick was never black (I don't think). A 1925 &1926 are shown. I told the radiator shop "no paint", because I don't know how much they would load in, and they would paint it black. I also have some repairs to the upper tank that I may need to do something about. It would have originally had some paint to protect the carbon steel metal inlet and outlet connections. I think it does need a silver paint, maybe a light misting of high heat silver? Any thoughts on this? I want to be correct with the color and make the radiator look consistent. What is the expected color of the radiator on the judging field? Thank you, Hugh Edited January 19, 2017 by Hubert_25-25 added 2 photos (see edit history) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian_Heil Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Actually did tests on this as part of my job. If you minimize the paint applied you will be fine. Apply the paint from an angle like 45 degrees to the face of the radiator and only as little as possible. Never straight on. The depth / side of the fin is what does the cooling. Keep the paint to the leading/face edge and off the sides and to a minimum. Don't waist your money on 'heat transfer paint'. Just be very sparing with what gloss level you like, the apply as little as possible. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
27donb Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 (edited) 16 hours ago, Hubert_25-25 said: Those pictures, makes me sad, my original 24-25 honeycomb radiator is gone forever.... Repairs or not, you are lucky to have that! I'm not a fan of silver, I would leave natural or black. My radiator cores are painted black. Edited January 19, 2017 by 27donb add more info (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_B Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 In the 20s I think they were unpainted, at least the core. Cheers, Dave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Schramm Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 (edited) On 1/19/2017 at 9:44 AM, Brian_Heil said: Actually did tests on this as part of my job. If you minimize the paint applied you will be fine. Apply the paint from an angle like 45 degrees to the face of the radiator and only as little as possible. Never straight on. The depth / side of the fin is what does the cooling. Keep the paint to the leading/face edge and off the sides and to a minimum. Don't waist your money on 'heat transfer paint'. Just be very sparing with what gloss level you like, the apply as little as possible. This is the recommendation that I would use. Brian is extremely knowledgeable. (he be da man) I just had my radiator recored for my '15 truck and I let the radiator shop paint it. They have the right paint and a good shop knows how much to apply. It WAS NOT a couple of hundred dollar date! Edited January 22, 2017 by Larry Schramm (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubert_25-25 Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 I have been getting help from several sources. First is a period photo of a 1925 Buick Master. I believe the radiators were just exposed solder, which would make repairs easier too. Attached are also 2 videos worth watching, the 2nd one in particular because the Mel Gibson look alike dips the face of the honeycomb core first in flux, then a 1/4" pool of hot solder. He flips it over and does the other side of the core. He solders the end caps on later. So I think I will just try to clean the solder faces of the honeycomb gently (maybe a soft bristle brush and simple green to start), and avoid any paint for now unless I have to. The car has not been run since the 60's, so it will make repairs easier later if I have to do any. I do plan to paint the end caps silver, as that looks like the color of paint that was on them. Making the honeycomb parts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsrvQqwZJPs Face Dipping the honeycomb https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUhZClSWHu8 Regarding having the shop do the painting. I have been burned too many times with minor tasks given to the helper. I had an early Jaguar heater core that was checked out as "good" and the owner handed it to the helper to blow the water off it. The helper put the air hose in one nozzle and blew the side out of the heater core. It went in the trash. Unfortunately I have several of these kind of stories. Hugh 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibarlaw Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Hugh: Don't forget that if you are having the radiator redone the filler neck is to be nickel plated. I should have had mine redone on the Standard before I had the re-core done. There is still a little plating left and it does not look too bad. The Master radiator on the other hand, was re-cored many years ago with a modern(at the time)core. When I tried to clean up the filler neck there was no plating left and it is scarred as if they used a pipe wrench on it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradsan Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 Arrggghhhh. Why did I read this!!!! Any suggestions on how I nickel plate the radiator neck now that I have painted the radiator and am finally, repeat finally, within an hours work of getting the @@#$% (possibly incorrect ) radiator back in the shell after 10 years of parts sitting on the shelf. Anyone? Larry? You started this BTW, I epoxy primed and gloss black top coated everything but the core faces . The core I hit with some light coats of Rustoleum flat black BBQ paint. Just enough to even out the appearance. Looks good on the shelf and I'm a long ways form worrying about whether it will hold up on the car! Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLYER15015 Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 I think that red car in post 7 is an MG-TD. Having owned one several years ago, I can tell you that your big Buick radiator is not going to fit in an MG shell............... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Rawling Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 The 1924 to 1928 radiator cores were not painted. The cores were assembled and vat soldered. Buick put them on the cars with the lead color as it came out of the solder tank. If you take it to a radiator shop, tell them not to leave it in the cleaning solution tank too long. The chemicals can eat through some weak points and cause leaks. The tanks can be removed and the core rodded out to clean it. Also, a leaking tube can be pinched off with no loss of cooling. If you do not want to get it back from the radiator shop with black paint on it, tell them up front not to paint it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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