Time to buy a radiator....suggestions?

[southpaw52]

Hi to all.  I am approaching the point of ordering my high efficiency, original appearance radiator for Rosie (56 Special 46R).  I've seen ads for a few different places that either stock them or make them to order.  Has anyone had experience buying one and could recommend one shop over another?  If you have , please reply with shop name and what was good or not so good in your experience, 
Thanks in advance.
Anne (and Rosie)

[60FlatTop]

Ten or twelve years ago I had a small seam leak on the radiator seam of my '60. I dropped it off at a reliable shop with approval to do whatever it took. I expected a new core. He removed the tanks, checked everything over, found no issues, cleaned it, and sealed it up.

Just because I'm fussy he had to clean and paint the brackets separately with ValSpar satin black polyurethane because I didn't want standard radiator paint on them.

 

It don't puke out water when I stop or have a add-on overflow tank. I don't suffer from the, apparently common and dreaded, vapor lock I read about on the Forum. So what is the gain from one of those home made looking high efficiency ones? . Getting 60 years out of the first one seems like reasonable performance.

 

Bernie

[SpecialEducation]

I guess the question is, why?  We had significant overheating problems with our '56 46R.  We took the radiator out and had it rodded at a local shop, and that helped a bunch.  We also fixed the rear transmission leak, which helped because the fluid holds more heat when there is less of it to dissipate.  Low fluid = hotter fluid going into the radiator and transferring heat to the engine coolant.

 

Like Bernie, I'm more inclined to stick with the original if it can be repaired.  I understand the difficulty in that though, as we had 2 shops in the area that could do the work, and less than six months after having ours rodded, the shop that did the work closed.

 

What part of the country are you in?  Maybe someone on here can refer you to a good, local shop?

 

Here's a post from my dad that covers some other points:

https://www.facebook.com/1956Buick/posts/800791659996374 

[southpaw52]

Gentlemen,

First let me thank you both for the rapid response.  Then I'll add what should have been in my original post had I been thinking more clearly.  (asthma can be a real pain sometimes!)  My Rosie came to me in pretty good shape having been re-worked by someone for the previous owner.  She looked pretty, but my goal is to return her to a more original appearance.  She had the wrong size wheel, tires and hubcaps - fixed.  She's painted a 1956 Buick blue but the wrong blue -pending.  She was re-upholstered with inappropriate vinyl, and the package tray was also covered.  And...they put in a cobbled together radiator which may or may not have original "guts" but definitely has an incorrect top.  I also want to be able to pull a small teardrop camper behind it, less than 1000#.  I live outside of Portland Oregon and so face hills / mountains to climb no matter the direction I go.  Thus the need / want of higher efficiency.  So, thank you again and given the "rest of the story", I'm still very open to suggestions.

Anne

[MrEarl]

I applaud your efforts thus far for returning Rosie to "more original appearance". If i needed a radiator in one of my original condition fitty fo's right now I'd go here. I know of a couple of VERY satisfied mid fifty Buick owners who have purchased one.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

http://classicfordradiator.com/1954-56-NEW-Buick-3-row-radiator-regular-core-design-3131176.aspx

[Airy Cat]

I have replaced the factory 4 blade fan with a 6 blade flex fan on my Buicks and have had a cooler running engine.

[buick5563]

I applaud your efforts thus far for returning Rosie to "more original appearance". If i needed a radiator in one of my original condition fitty fo's right now I'd go here. I know of a couple of VERY satisfied mid fifty Buick owners who have purchased one.

Keep up the good work.

http://classicfordradiator.com/1954-56-NEW-Buick-3-row-radiator-regular-core-design-3131176.aspx

Wow, that is cheaper than the last two I had recored. I'm gonna write this down!

[Paul Falabella]

Cap-a-radiator is a 20 min. drive from me. I went there to see if they could help with the A/C in my 55 Roadmaster afew years back. They could not, were very honest about it, charged a small fee for their time. The owner is a nice guy. I would deal with them. At the time he was restoring a 55 Roadmaster coupe.

[SpecialEducation]

I might add that if you plan on pulling a camper in the hills, you might also consider adding standalone transmission cooler.  It may not retain the original appearance (although there's lots of room down there to hide things), but it's likely to keep that Dynaflow happier... 

[60FlatTop]

"The high efficiency will cool about 18% to 20% better than the regular core because of the denser design and more surface area."

 

It has a core like my '60. It should be fine. If I took things a little more literally I would almost call the high efficiency claim to be a bit ambiguous. That's the kind of statement where you can teach the difference between objective and subjective as well as anecdotal observations.

 

If the denser design and more surface area was increased by 20% there must be some corresponding increase in restriction of air flow or water flow. That could easily reduce the actual capacity to the same as the original. I wouldn't believe efficiency or capacity would be significantly better than a clean serviceable original on the quoted assumption. But the price is good.

Bernie