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I just got a crack in my radiator, in front of the return pipe. It really close to where it's crimped so will probably need a whole new part.
Is there anywhere you can buy the return(left) side for a 305 auto radiator?
Like this:
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/393992451769
Otherwise will be looking at a whole new rad
interesting, didn't know they were put together that way. always assumed it was one piece, not repairable. good luck with your search, looks like you are on the right trail.
Bit of context, I am on the other side of the Atlantic 😅 would like to keep shipping costs down.
Wow that ebay listing seems impossibly cheap, thanks I will look into it.
Even if I replace the rad I would still like to try fix the old one, all part of the learning process.
The tanks are out there, but I gave up on that idea because it was for a resto and the manual trans. tank wasn't available.
No one bothers because aluminum will stress crack from rebending. And the other tank will follow the first. By the time you find the gasket and tank and do the work, you still have a used radiator. Flow is worse at the bottom, and you don't get the life a new one will give.
The life of the radiator core, and the performance/flow thereof, should be virtually infinite....if the car has had decent cooling system maintenance. For evidence, let me share with you a photo of the radiator core out of a Chev truck I used to have. This was a radiator pulled from my '96 Silverado after I hit a cow, at 243,000 miles/17 years. That core is pretty mint.....
I'm all for saving money. ALL for it. A $39 side tank repair is better than a $150 radiator, any day of the week, if the repair is good, and works. If the repair is good, and works.
As a cheap fk, when we had our CTS-V, it started leaking coolant out of a side tank o-ring. Between the core and the tank. NBD, I took it to a rad shop, they popped the tank off, put in a new o-ring, and crimped the side tank back on. 60 bux. No, the aluminum did not "stress crack". The repair was good, and everything worked out great, but a couple months later, the other side tank...cracked. I replaced the radiator.
So? I'm all for repairing things and maximizing the life/value out of that thing. In the case of repairing radiators that were originally built as cheaply as humanly possible -and still work, it might not be worth it.
