Recoring Radiatiors

[bunnspecial]

Through an unfortunate series of events, I ended up with a bent fan blade that sawed a hole in the radiator in my MG last night(first time in nearly 4 years I've had it towed home).

I priced out a new "Made in England" original-type construction radiator for $190, which I thought sounded reasonable.

With that said, I've heard that the originals are often worth salvaging vs. new production, so decided to call around and see about having my old one recored. Holy cow is all I can say-the low price was just short of $400, and the high price was $600. Looking around a bit, it seems as though regulations on shops doing this type of work have really driven up the price.

Even though it's going to take probably ~3 weeks to get here all said and done, I'm going with the new one, especially since it's always possible that even after opening it up, they'll find damage(or possible imminent failure) on the tank. It's a shame, as I would LIKE to go the route of having the old one repaired-I just cant financially justify it.

The good news is that the replacement fan available is nylon, so hopefully this won't happen again(and it's also supposed to move air more efficiently than my old 6 blade metal one).

 

[Pelican]

It will be made in China. There is no way it would be made in the EU/GB for that price.

 

[Eddie]

The POST said MADE IN ENGLAND.

 

[nascarnation]

For better or worse it's become a throw-away society.
The skill set and facilities to do things like a radiator rebuild become increasingly rare.

I could have bought new Chinese bumpers for my 67 Camaro for about half the price it cost to re-chrome the originals.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted by Pelican
It will be made in China. There is no way it would be made in the EU/GB for that price.


For something that's selling for fewer than 1000 unit a year, you won't find it made in China. It is likely some old inventory in England or one guy making 30 of each model at a time when the inventory is below 3.

 

[Kestas]

Is this a copper/brass radiator? $190 is a good price.

 

[Chris142]

We recore many radiators. My cost on a core is astronomical. A typical GM 34" crossflow with good tube and fin count will cost me about $600. Throw in Labor,solder,time and profit and you have a $1000 radiator.

 

[atikovi]

$237 at Moss Motors. https://mossmotors.com/mgb/cooling/radiator-and-fittings-1962-76

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted by atikovi
$237 at Moss Motors. https://mossmotors.com/mgb/cooling/radiator-and-fittings-1962-76


Heh, they are local to me. At one point I sold them something like $10-15K in Mazda parts a month, sometimes a lot more. Good people there.

 

[bunnspecial]

Originally Posted by atikovi
$237 at Moss Motors. https://mossmotors.com/mgb/cooling/radiator-and-fittings-1962-76


I use a 3rd party reseller out of California for most of my parts.

He can and does sell me Moss stuff at a discount(he gets a discount by being a volume/corporate buyer, then marks it up to lower than Moss list-a fairly common practice), but also uses alternate suppliers-particularly when the quality is better than the Moss.

This is the same radiator that Moss sells as "Classic Gold"-it is a copper/brass radiator and the vendor I use assures me that it is in fact made in England(I think the weak dollar/pound conversion works in our favor now) and is about $50 less expensive than buying direct from Moss.

I buy from Moss fairly often, especially on small stuff and when I need it in a hurry(the reseller keeps a lot of common stuff in inventory for immediate shipment-I called him once at 11pm eastern on a Sunday saying I need a head gasket "in a hurry" and had it the following Wednesday-faster than even a local parts house could have gotten it in stock) but for less common stuff it's usually a ~1 week additional leave time since I have to wait for him to place his weekly Moss order.

 

[Donald]

The places with the big tubs to soak and clean the old (non aluminum & plastic) radiators have mostly disappeared. So have the carb rebuild shops. They are there but very sparse compared to 10 or 20 years ago.

 

[Kruse]

My last radiator that I had recored was on a '71 Chevy C90 truck with a Detroit 6-71 diesel. It was done by a real radiator shop (yes, he's still open) and cost me almost $1,100.
When it comes to radiators, this guy is an artist and has done museum pieces from scratch. Still, he's over an hour away from me because all the other shops have closed.

 

[FCD]

I had the radiator on my Ford Capri re-cored.

Cost was around 200-300€ iirc??

The copper core was replaced with a 3-row aluminium core.

After 4 years i have no complaints.