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EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / radiator fin restoration

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Posted By Discussion Topic: radiator fin restoration -- page: 1 2     1937sedandelivery 08-28-2017 @ 2:14 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 501 Joined: Jul 2014 Hi All, Time to clean up my 37 radiator. It holds water and seems to be in decent shape. There is a fair amount of "fin damage". This is where something has brushed up against the fins, mostly on the engine side, and folded the fins over, reducing cooling capability. I am setting out to individually straighten each fin and as you can imagine, it is extremely monotonous, difficult and time consuming. Does anyone know where I can get a "fin straightening" tool. Right now I am improvising with a small flat blade screw driver, to be followed with some thin needle nose pliers. Certainly there is something more effective? even if home made? Would appreciate folk's experience doing this, do's and do-not's, tools, etc. Thanks, gregg 40 Coupe 08-28-2017 @ 2:29 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1675 Joined: Oct 2009 Most of the air conditioning stores sell fin combs. Get your number of fins per inch since there are several different. 1940 Tom 08-28-2017 @ 2:33 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 240 Joined: Oct 2009 Good Afternoon, Gregg--- Do an internet search - "radiator fin comb". Looks like there is a ton of various types, styles and sizes out there and available. I think you can find one that will work for you. It's possible some other Club members have some other suggestions for the fin straightening work, but they will advise. Good luck on your radiator project. Tom kubes40 08-28-2017 @ 2:34 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 3396 Joined: Oct 2009 I had silver soldered a pair of very thin pieces of steel to the end of a needle nose pliers. Time consuming task to straighten an entire core but the results are wonderful. If you're not seeking perfection, attempt to locate a comb. Mike "Kube" Kubarth This message was edited by kubes40 on 8-28-17 @ 2:36 PM MG 08-28-2017 @ 2:50 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1254 Joined: Nov 2009 eBay has a variety of fin combs here > https://www.ebay.com/sch/items/?_nkw=radiator+fin+tool&_sacat=&_ex_kw=&_mPrRngCbx=1&_udlo=&_udhi=&_sop=12&_fpos=&_fspt=1&_sadis=&LH_CAds=&rmvSB=true 1937sedandelivery 08-28-2017 @ 3:19 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 501 Joined: Jul 2014 Wow, lots of choices. Looks like Autozone and O'Reilly's carries them. Good excuse to go for a spin. Radiator fin spacing is: 11 fins/inch, 10 fin spacing/inch. Thanks to all for the quick responses. I wanna get this thing done and on the road. gregg len47merc 08-28-2017 @ 4:13 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1165 Joined: Oct 2013 I use one like this and it works very well: https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/robinair-4797/tools---equipment-16488/tools-17919/mechanics-tools-16816/air-conditioning-tools-16499/gauges---specialty-tools-17979/radiator-condenser-fin-comb/18403/4703645 Believe I purchased it from NAPA originally. Steve sarahcecelia 08-28-2017 @ 4:20 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1186 Joined: Mar 2013 I have a little kit that I bought years ago to straighten radiator fins. It has little plastic combs in it for different fin spacings. I think you should ask someone in the AC business. or google "Cooling fin tool," or if that doesn't work, use your imagination to try different variations of that on Google. Regards, Steve Lee ford38v8 08-28-2017 @ 7:09 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 2758 Joined: Oct 2009 Gregg, There isn't a slick labor saving way to do a good job on the fins. A comb can give you a quickie, but is sloppy and can damage some fins while straightening others. If a job is worth doing, it's worth doing right. Alan len47merc 08-29-2017 @ 6:13 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1165 Joined: Oct 2013 To Alan's very good point, the 'comb' I referenced earlier was only effective in repairing/straightening about 50% of the bent fins on my '47 (rear/fan side). Other areas were too damaged for the comb to be effective without tearing/damaging the thin fins. These areas were carefully straightened with a lot of focus, patience and time using small thin nylon implements, etc., one fin/one point of damage at a time. The comb works great in 'repairing' mildly bent fins only. To do it 'right' as Alan states you'll need to simply bite the bullet and invest the time. Much of what I used the comb for was simply to fine-tune those areas I had necessarily repaired one fin at a time. Steve

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