| 41-42fordadvisor | -- 01-01-2013 @ 12:58 PM |
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I had a member call me on the phone with a question I don't know the answer to. He has a 1941 Ford V-8 radiator in a box with the part number 11A-8005-B4 printed on the box. He would like to know what the 4 means. I'm thinking that it may be a replacement radiator manufactured for Ford for service. I do know that Ford used at least 2-3 different suppliers for radiators in 1941. Could the 4 have been used to identify which supplier manufactured that radiator? Could it be the month or year the radiator was manufactured? Could it be the 4th design change of the 11A-8005-B radiator? None of my parts books have a 11A-8005-B4 radiator listed. Just the 11A-8005-A and 11A-8005-B are listed. I do know that when Ford made changes to a part for a given year that they added a letter after the part number. First change was A and second change was B and so on. I told him I would call him back if I can find an answer to his question. If anyone could help me with the answer I would appreciate it. Thank you and Happy New Year. Fred Killian
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| trjford8 | -- 01-01-2013 @ 7:20 PM |
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Fred, I will take a guess on this, but could the 4 mean a 4 row core? Could be a heavy duty replacement radiator.
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| 41-42fordadvisor | -- 01-02-2013 @ 7:26 AM |
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triford8 you maybe right. I was thinking more along the idea that in 1944 Ford had manufactured a steel fin radiator for 1941 and 1942 Ford cars for service replaccement. Could the 4 have been added to the 1941 Ford radiator part number to help identify it from the early copper fin radiator? When I next talk to him I will ask him if it is a 4 row radiator that he has. Thank You Fred Killian
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| kubes40 | -- 01-02-2013 @ 1:14 PM |
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Design change is indicated by the "A" suffix (or "B") etc. The "4" has nothing to do with how many rows. Rather, it is indicative of who Ford was procuring these from. A number as high as "4" is most likely late, equating to a service replacement part. By the way, changing from steel to brass (for example) while not changing the design in a way to alter fit would not necessarily demand a different suffix letter. In fact, most likely in this case, it wouldn't have. Normally (rule of thumb) was to change the suffix letter only when the design was changed so much as to effect fit (application). This message was edited by kubes40 on 1-2-13 @ 1:19 PM
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| 41-42fordadvisor | -- 01-03-2013 @ 7:22 AM |
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Kube40 Thank You for your response. That is what the caller thought too. If it was a manufacture he wanted to know which one. But at this late date I don't think anyone would know now. Fred Killian
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| kubes40 | -- 01-03-2013 @ 7:32 AM |
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I am fairly certain the "4" is actually Ford (produced). The only way to be certain (100%) would be to view the engineering drawings.
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| ford38v8 | -- 01-03-2013 @ 12:05 PM |
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Fred, Gary Mallast checked the drawings for the '39 radiator and found that for that year, the Ford radiator was B1; Modine B2; and McCord B3. It makes sense that Ford would be #1, but who was the 4th supplier? Alan
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| kubes40 | -- 01-03-2013 @ 4:55 PM |
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Hey Alan, I'd say yes and no to your response. While one might think Ford was always the "1" (suffix) supplier, that was not the case. Many parts were made by outside suppliers from piece #1 for one, two, and more years before Ford started making them in house. In some cases Ford never produced certain parts. Ford was not always the "1" supplier. Who made the tanks? The cores? What design were the tanks? The cores? Who assembled them? I'd offer that the only way to tell for certain in this (radiator) case is to check the drawings. Simply too many variables on this one... This message was edited by kubes40 on 1-3-13 @ 4:56 PM
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| ford38v8 | -- 01-03-2013 @ 7:19 PM |
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OK, a little more from Mallast's research: Ford manufactured radiators at Dearborn (D), and also at Green Island G). They had three additional suppliers, Modine (MO), McCord (MC), and Long (L). Ford furnished those outside suppliers with top and bottom tanks (stamped with the appropriate code letter) to be fitted with cores. The suffix numbers did in fact differentiate between drawings, the actual manufacturer incidentally could coincide with those codes. The number of revisions determines the number of suffix numbers, which could also have been renumbered at a future date. This did happen in the case of the 81A radiator, which had gone to revision 9 for steel fin replacements, and subsequently reidentified with suffix C1 and up. Those steel fin WWII radiators began being released in April of '43, which continued the proliferation of revision numbers. So, Mike is correct in that the actual drawings must ultimately confirm which was which, and no amount of discussion here can hope to be the last word. Alan
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| 41-42fordadvisor | -- 01-04-2013 @ 8:22 AM |
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Thank you to everyone who responded to my question about why the 4 was at the end of the radiator part number for the 1941 Ford radiator. A little background. My dad worked for American Brass in Buffalo New York from 1941 to 1986 and they supplied copper fin stock to Green Island and the other Ford suppliers. One of the reasons he always bought Fords was because Ford used a better grade of copper than GM and Chrysler. As they also supplied copper fin stock to GM and Chrysler. The American Brass plant in Detroit Michigan supplied Ford with copper fin stock. My dad felt that if GM and Chrysler were going cheap on copper fin stock then what other parts were they going cheap on. Thank you again. Fred Killian
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