I decided to just go ahead and replace my radiator as it would be a waste of time to check with local shops to find one that would recore it and remove the large dent out of the top of the tank.


This question how ever is being posted as I was talking to Tee-Bird Inc. and they told me the original radiator had a tag or the engineering number stamped into the radiator.  That the new radiator wouldn't have this so it wouldn't be concours quality.

I wanted to ask if anyone has any pictures of the tag or engineering numbers as I recall seeing no tag or engineering number on my radiator.  I know I was told some used tags and some had it stamped into the top tank depending on the manufacturer, if need be I could always locate a tag on ebay if I am lucky and have a local radiator shop attach it in the proper location if need be.

I just want to try and see if anyone has photos or information on this.  I have to say the radiator has been replaced once but I can not be for sure and I have no definite answer on if there was ever any factory radiators without the tag or the engineering number stamp.  I highly doubt it as everything was marked in some way.

1956 Ford Fairlane Town Sedan - 292 Y8 - Ford-O-Matic - 155,000 mi

I have what appears to be the original radiator in my 56 Bird.  it has numbers on the top.  Some of the  numbers are for the manufacturing date.  All Tbirds came this way so I am told, so I image the sedan were the same.  They are on top of the top tank

If you have no numbers, it is probably a replacement radiator.


54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

I wouldn't doubt it considering how old the car is.  Thing is though the guy I talked with at Tee-Bird Inc said that there are two ways these radiators were marked according to the factory that built them one was a tag attached to the radiator and the other is being physically stamped.  If the tag part is correct I could just find a tag and clean the paint off the radiator and have the local radiator shop attach a used correct tag to the radiator and repaint it.

I honestly don't know how much it would hurt this car as once I am finished with it I want to win atleast one or two tropies with it but I do want to put the car back like it was when it was picked up from the dealership.  Aside from minor changes such as white wall tires vs the standard black walls.


1956 Ford Fairlane Town Sedan - 292 Y8 - Ford-O-Matic - 155,000 mi

Rusty - The bird radiators were made by Modine, the only supplier.  I would imagine they were the supplier for the sedans.

Tags were put on for the 1955 run.  In late 55 and for 56 and 57 the dates were stamped in at the top.  Now this was for TBirds.  Whether the sedans had the same deal I don't really know. 


54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

I went and looked at my radiator last night and there is a tag on it.  Its hard to read with the paint wrinkled up on it so I will use a brass wire brush to clean it off and read it.

Now I am in a situation where I have to decide what is more cost effective.  Seeing if I can find a local shop that can recore the old radiator as well as remove the dent out of the top of the tank.  Or allow my back ordered radiator that wont be available till early June to come in and have a local shop detach the tag and attach it on my new radiator.

The dent is not that bad in the top of the tank, but the guy I talked with at Tee-Bird told me that they are very hard to remove dents out of due to their shape and make them look "new".  I guess I will have to call up some local shops now as I didn't pay attention to the fact if there was original markings or tags and I just went and placed an order for a new radiator and now I am second guessing myself since my goal is put the car back to the condition it was in just like it was drove off the car lot seconds earlier.

1956 Ford Fairlane Town Sedan - 292 Y8 - Ford-O-Matic - 155,000 mi

If you want it to be just as it was driven off the lot, then there are only two ways to do it.  Fix your old one or find a  good used one.  Reproduction won't fly, not by my definition, anyway.



Lawrenceville, GA

My problem is the only radiator shop that I have used in the past that I know personally is decent, they have so far turned one radiator away due to its age and the fact it was leaking at the tank just like this one.  Difference is this one will need to be recored as a few of the cores are detached by like 1/8 to 1/4 inch from the tank itself.

Only thing I can do is give them a call and see how much they would charge to recore the radiator and reshape the top tank.  I just know they will try to talk themselves out of doing it like they did my '78 radiator I wanted fixed.

1956 Ford Fairlane Town Sedan - 292 Y8 - Ford-O-Matic - 155,000 mi

Well I called the shop I used in the past up they said it was no problem to recore it so I will try to take off early from work tomorrow night and remove the radiator and take it in during lunch on Wed. for a price quote.  I will probably go this route and have Macs cancle my order.  Im sure it will be way cheaper than the $540 that Macs is charging me.

1956 Ford Fairlane Town Sedan - 292 Y8 - Ford-O-Matic - 155,000 mi

Howdy,

I re-cored mine.    I wanted an original,  brass radiator and a 4-row.    no one had a replacement 4-core radiator for my 55 F-600.


Wasn't cheap, but it fits and it's guaranteed by a local shop.




Cheers,


Rick



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1955 F-600/272/E4OD// Disclaimer: No animals were injured while test driving my F-600 except the ones I ran over intentionally!

---------------------
This post was created using OpenSuSE Linux x64 and Firefox

I will be finding out how much they will charge to recore mine.  If they say $500 or more I will just get the one I have on back order and just detach and reattach the original tag to the new radiator.  But I don't think they would charge more than $300 to recore mine, plus mine is just a plain old 3 core copper passenger car radiator.

1956 Ford Fairlane Town Sedan - 292 Y8 - Ford-O-Matic - 155,000 mi