Ordered a Walker Radiator today...

alchevy · March 24, 2005, 10:53:50 PM

I ordered a Walker Radiator today. Got tired of fighting the leaks in my Afco aluminum one. Needed a radiator with a good track record and a good warranty and the Walker fits both of those with folks I have talked to and the 5 year warranty will be great to have. The Afco came with a one year warranty and it was already about over that when I put it in the car and cranked it. The look of the aluminum radiator looks nicer that a standard one, but I need performance. My '40 Chevy has 12,000 miles on it and that is since July of 2003. If I had gone with the Walker back then, it would still be under warranty! Lesson learned. Oh the Afco performed great when it wasn't leaking.
AL

alchevy · March 29, 2005, 11:25:57 PM

The radiator came in today. I took the existing one out tonight and put the new one in place to see how it fits. Going to have to work out a few details on how the upper radiator hose goes. The alternator and future a/c compressor use Bill's Hot Rod brackets so they are mounted up high...almost in the way of the upper hose.

The current upper radiator hose is a Dayco 70557.

The motor is a Chevy 350 V8.

I still have to mount the Spal electric fan and I have a Stewart high flow water pump to go in place of the stock water pump.
AL

purplepickup · March 30, 2005, 12:19:07 AM

Al you can probably use a thermostat housing with the hose fitting straight up then use either a flexible hose
like I did or find one with the right bend in it. It isn't real easy to see in this pic but you get the idea.

reborn55 · March 30, 2005, 10:54:17 AM

I have a Walker Cobra radiator in my 48 Dodge and it developed a small leak. Been in the car about 2 1/2 years--6000 miles. Had a hairline crack around the pitcock. It was in the car when I bought it. Called Walker and said they would send UPS pickup tag and repair it and pay for all shipping free of charge.

alchevy · April 02, 2005, 10:07:35 PM

Well, after buying a couple of hoses that didn't work right, I went ahead and bought a kit that's chrome/stainless flexible one with a warranty. Have not put it on yet. I took the new radiator back out and swapped out the stock water pump for the Stewart Stage 1 High Flow one that I bought back in August while at the Nats in Louisville. I had bought a fan switch for my electric fan a while back while at Cruisin' the Coast in 2003. It was made by Vintage Air. I needed a place to put the probe in so a friend of mine had bought a thermostat housing at the swap meet at Louisville one year. It had been modified to take a fitting that's just the right size for the bushing on the probe. So I changed out the thermostat housing also. Then I put the pulley & belts back on and tightened the alternator back up. Now I am mounting the electric fan onto the new radiator.
This morning I met a group of people from my car club and gave them the info on where they needed to go. There was a town festival and car show in a town about 30 minutes South of where I live today. I handed off the info to them and said that I was going back home to work on my car. Missed another car show! There were only 7 cars there. It was a very short notice that they gave us about it. In April in the state of Mississippi and surrounding states, there's about 5 car shows each weekend that we can get to in about 3 hours or less from where I live. Got to get my '40 back on the road, it's no fun missing out on car shows with a car torn down at home after you have been able to drive it to them in the past.
Going to Jackson, TN next weekend to the Bunny Run. Supposed to have about 400 cars at it. After that, going to Shreveport / Bossier City, LA to the Red River Street Rods car show. After that, to Monroe, LA. After that, Tupelo, MS to the Blue Suede Cruise (another big show that attracts about 400 or more cars). See the schedule on my club's site at www.vicksburgcruisers.com
Got to get back out side and finish this project!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AL

reborn55 · April 02, 2005, 10:32:15 PM

we are headed to the Bunny Run with a group from So. Illinois. maybe we can meet for awhile. What motel are you staying at.

alchevy · April 03, 2005, 10:06:05 PM

Quote from: "reborn55"we are headed to the Bunny Run with a group from So. Illinois. maybe we can meet for awhile. What motel are you staying at.

I'm staying with some friends that live in Jackson, TN. It will be my first trip to this car show, so I don't know where we can meet at. Have you been to it before?
AL

reborn55 · April 04, 2005, 11:19:43 PM

This will be my 3rd year in a row. great show--lots of nice people and good food. Will try to think of a meet up place. later

alchevy · April 05, 2005, 05:50:58 PM

Reborn55>Interesting...since you are from IL. My '40 Chevy came from Chicago. Have you checked out my website? www.astreetrodder.com, I have pictures of the build-up on there.
AL

alchevy · April 05, 2005, 11:54:36 PM

Well, the radiator and everything else is back in the car. I put the new upper hose on tonight and I think it's going to work...have to see when I put some antifreeze in it on Wednesday night. Then check for leaks.
A trick a friend of mine told me about is to leave the radiator cap off when first cranking the motor and let it run for a little bit to get the air bubbles out. Makes the temp gauge act right instead of giving strange readings.

reborn55 · April 06, 2005, 10:30:21 AM

Glad to hear everyhing is going well. I am originally from Chicago but moved to Southern Illinois(carbondale area) for college and never left. Great looking website and great job on the car. I will look for it in TN. I will be in a maroon 48 Dodge coupe with For Sale sign in the windows. Il plate ROLE48. Our we could have a RRT-HAMB meeting by the big Bunny around 1:00pm. Hope the car comes out OK.

alchevy · April 07, 2005, 01:23:55 AM

Quote from: "reborn55"Glad to hear everyhing is going well. I am originally from Chicago but moved to Southern Illinois(carbondale area) for college and never left. Great looking website and great job on the car. I will look for it in TN. I will be in a maroon 48 Dodge coupe with For Sale sign in the windows. Il plate ROLE48. Our we could have a RRT-HAMB meeting by the big Bunny around 1:00pm. Hope the car comes out OK.

I got the rest of the car together and antifreeze added. Swapped the two wires I had backwards on the electric fan and it comes on. Then I cranked the car and checked for leaks. Upper radiator hose is doing fine. I let the motor warm up to the common operating temp (around 150 degrees) with the cap off to purge the air bubbles out. Then shut the motor down and let it cool down some and put the cap back on. Cranked it again and surprise, when the temp reached about 170 degrees, the fan turned on by itself! Cooled the motor down and went back off, then repeated the cycle when it reached that temp again. This is working great! I had needed to check the level of the transmission fluid and it was low, so I added some. Checked it again and thought it was good. Then took it out for a test drive and it is taking a while to change gears. (it's a turbo 350) Brought it back home and checked the level again and added some more. You see I swapped out the modulator valve because it was letting transmission fluid into the vacuum line into the motor. The car still has white smoke because it needs to burn off the rest of the fluid that got to the motor. But I'm confused about the transmission, so I don't know if the car will make it to Jackson, TN this weekend or not.
AL

reborn55 · April 07, 2005, 09:07:21 AM

Glad your cooling system is OK. Did you replace the hose to the modulator. Tranny fluid will eat the heck out of some hoses. the hose may have inner collapsed or have a small hole in it. you may have an adjustable modulator where you can do some tweaking. I also think there is a little rod in the valve body where the modualtor was. It didn't fall out did it. Good luck.

alchevy · April 07, 2005, 11:07:22 PM

Quote from: "reborn55"Glad your cooling system is OK. Did you replace the hose to the modulator. Tranny fluid will eat the heck out of some hoses. the hose may have inner collapsed or have a small hole in it. you may have an adjustable modulator where you can do some tweaking. I also think there is a little rod in the valve body where the modualtor was. It didn't fall out did it. Good luck.

Yes, I did replace the rubber hose to the modulator. It came in the box. The vacuum line from that short hose to the intake is metal. The motor was running rough tonight, so I did a check to see if there was a problem with one of the spark plugs not firing. While the motor was running, I put my hand close to where the header tubes come out from the motor and some of them were not as warm as the others. So I will replace the spark plugs and see if that helps. That's what happened to a friend of mine. Looks like I will be in a civilian car at the Bunny Run this time. I want to go even if I can't take the '40. I will look for your '48 at the car show.