Radiators n' Stuff

I was actually amazed that the 77 year old radiator worked as well as it did with the later engine setup. Consider that the 235 has twice the power of the original 207 and then add the supercharger and operate it in the HOT dry desert climate with the water pump/fan slowed 30%...... impressive!

With the Harrison radiator warrantee expired 76 years ago, I guess the leaks that developed in the middle of the core are not an indication of poor quality.
It was time to renew the cooling system.

Reviewing all the options, copper tube/fin, aluminum tube/fin, vertical flow/cross flow, and original V core, I discussed this with a very experienced radiator guy. Hands down, he recommended recoring the original with the most efficient core available which is the V core original design. It worked perfect after 77 years, and it will do the job better than anything else now!

Just a hint, changing the radiator in a 34' is a project. The radiator sits in the shell and the shell is supported by the core support, ugh. Everything comes out at once. 

 
Since most of the bugs are worked out of this car now, it was time to install the grill that required so many hours.

My original grill was painted silver with alternating fins painted black. The grill surround was badly rusted chrome. The grill was uniformly lightly pitted and the chrome shop said it would not polish. The surround was trash.

The grill was media blasted and then powder coated chrome silver with two coats of clear on top. Nice!! I had the surround media blasted and then hand sanded it until all the chrome and copper and most of the pits were gone, then etching and building primer and hours and painted with the grill shell. It actually came out very nice.