This story starts with a Midnight madness sale at Performance Improvements. I ordered a cross flow aluminum rad and a few extra parts. When I took it to my mechanic they took it out of the box and imediately called me. The rad to be installed would have to be considerably modified for mounting brackets etc...
Not really what I wanted to do.. Eventually took the whole package back and was fortunate enough to get a full credit.
But I still had the overheating problem.
Many thanks to Mark for the donation of the rad shroud. I picked it up a couple of weeks ago.
I then looked in Old Autos and saw an ad for EDJ Radiator Inc. It listed an address of Frankford Ontario. Well, my parents were from a large family and we would always find the door open, so I took the opportunity to take a run down to Frankford from Oshawa, just on spec that someone might be there.
Well, the address is a residential location and as I pulled into the circular driveway Don Graham came out to greet me. Don explained that he started in the cooling business with his father at the age of 16 and never left the business, although he did operate his own shop later.
After some preliminary discussion Don started measuring things up and explained that he was able to fix my problem.
With that reasurrance I arranged to bring the car back and leave it with him to do his magic.
The next week I dropped the car off and left it to him to massage. Well Don had a core shell from a 69 Chev that had a larger transmission cooler and some other shells that he could modify. He added a small section on the lower tank to accept a new 3 core rad and fitted the top tank as well. One modification from the stock was the location of the transmission cooler lines. The original were spaced out across the bottom and on the 69 they were stacked on top of each other. New lines were created.
With the removal of the original rad cowl it was necessary to fabricate new mounts for the rad so that it would be properly positioned inside the new shrould. Measurements were taken, brackets made up, sand blasted, primered and then finished off with a top coat of black paint. A very professional job, representative of the pride Don takes in his work.
Think back a couple of weeks ago...... it was HOT HOT HOT HOT.... Don got up early each moring before the sun got too hot to be able to get some work done in the cool. Rad Hoses had to be ordered and that took a little digging as the first set ordered did not fit.
I was quite prepared to leave the car as long as it took as I was confident in Don and the work that he does. His shop is a history lesson in itself.
Im going to try and post some photos to compliment my story....
If you have any cooling questions I can heartly recommend Don.
Cliff
-- Edited by oshawacliff on Tuesday 24th of July 2012 06:08:28 PM
-- Edited by oshawacliff on Tuesday 24th of July 2012 06:11:41 PM
-- Edited by oshawacliff on Tuesday 24th of July 2012 06:12:47 PM
That's great that you could still get that level of service! It's VERY rare these days. I like the old fashioned way of getting some things done.
There is a rad service here in Charlottetown (Mallet's) that has been in business, and in the family since the 1920s, and I've had a rad re-cored there and a heater core done. Excellent work! I would not hesitate dealing with them again.
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Prince Edward Island
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
