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Just for fun I am having a DIY go at recoreing the radiator of my 1929 133 Club Brougham. I was having the frothing/ pumping out thru the overflow pipe, etc. Typical of not enough flow thru the radiator. I had over the years tried various snake oil cooling system cleaners on other cars. My experiences have given me a jaundiced view! There have been many threads on the PAS site over the years on the subject. The upshot of this is that I have now taken the top & bottom tanks off the core. The top of the core had rust flakes etc down to about 4 inches below the top. The bottom of the core was clogged with solid grease in the bottom corner above the outlet on a diagonal from one third up the core & more than half way across it. Someone over the years has been a bit too generous with the water pump greaser. Snake oil would NEVER gotten all this rubbish out of the core! Remember the original core is now 85 years old!! Older than most of we members!
The info is that the water pump pumps 45 GALLONS PER MINUTE!!!! My core would have been down to less than 20% efficiency!! Any sustained speed over 45mph was an overheating problem. I have found with radiators there is NO free lunch! I have ordered a new core from New Zealand. Price NZ$2895 + freight. Worth every penny to keep your Pierce-Arrow from getting hot under the collar!! Especially when the recent thread on chrome plating all the bits on a phaeton at $20-40 thousand!! Just to make them shiny!! Making it drivable is No 1 priority! As for DIY—-I have done a couple of vintage ones myself (Delage & Lancia) Not that hard really—Just time consuming & VERY satisfying.
Also I have made a special filter that I have fitted into the top hose. It incorporates one of those doughnut powerful magnets which picks up the iron rubbish BEFORE it blocks up my filter gauze. Jak.
Sounds like a great project.
Take some photos and post them so everyone can see your progress and your new filter.
The best use for a woman’s pantyhose or nylon stocking (other than encasing a shapely calf) is to put in the upper radiator hose connection to catch all the iron flakes and other crud that could clog the core.
Cheers,
Bob
I sure wish that starting in 1929 a silk stocking from a shapely HAD been used!! Think of the interesting comment that could be added to the car’s history
My wife and I, raised “a shapely calf” in the backyard, but
pantyhose was out of the question. What’s the commercially
available in hose strainer’s name?
I believe the name of the radiator hose filter that is available for earlier
cars is the Gano filter.
I have a Gano filter and it does a good job, but I hate to monkey with the hose every time I want to clean the filter out (once a season for me). I have seen the Tefba filter advertised (see attached link), but have not spoken to anybody that owns one. Does any PAS member have experience with it? It sounds nice to just unscrew the cap and remove the mesh for cleaning. The available hose sizes are listed on the website.
I had a Tefba on my car for a while. For those not familiar or have not seen one, it is a black plastic housing that mounts in the upper radiator hose. The difference is that it has a cap on the side of the filter. The cap can be unscrewed and the filter cleaned out without disturbing the hose connections that John talked about. They work fine, are well made, and are convenient for touring. However, they are an obvious modern device under the hood….so in a concours event, they look a little out of place.
Irv Blonder told me about the panty hose trick making an excellent upper radiator hose filter. That’s what I use during show season.
Happy Motoring,
Chris
I will do a photo of my setup shortly. It is based on the Tefba design but the cylinder sits vertically when in the top hose. The Tefba sits parellel & hence the crud tends to fall back down the hose. I sure hope I do not get sued for breaching copyright!! As for show class—-Here in The Land of OZ virtually nobody would know it was not a standard Pierce option!! We are generally not very serious about show judging Pierce-Arrows. Besides there are ONLY half a dozen 1929-31 cars in the whole country (which is the size of the continental USA) & only 3 of those on the road as far as I know. So who is the Aussie expert? By the way the Tefba filter is a product of Aussie inventiveness! Originally out of Sydney.
Happy Cooling to you all—-jak.
Hi Here is a photo#1 of the radiator filter I cobbled up. Would fail the Judges eye BUT will keep the crud out of the new core. You can see the iron oxide on the doughnut magnet that sits in the bottom. This was after a 300 mile run. I have had all the covers off the block And did as best a clean out As I could about 2000 miles ago, but of course there is still crud that is impossible to remove without removing & dismantling the engine & having the block properly done. Hence the filter. Two more photos to post. Jak
Filter photo#2
Filter Photo#3
Jak……neat filter setup. It’s almost impossible to get all the cruf out unless you pull the motor. How about photos of the entire car? Ed.
Jak,
You are a HOOT!
That is one heck of an Aussie contraption.
Peter
Jak,
For your benefit a Hoot is “Someone that does something funny, or does something out of the ordinary, and then is commented to or about with the entry. The results may be viewed as being anything from wierd to hilarious.”
At least that is what they are here.
From the urban dictionary
I am quite sure that the folks down in OZ get the meaning eh Jak?
The term fits quite nicely considering Jak’s prior hilarious postings and antics.
Best regards,
Peter
That magnet sure collected a lot of crud.
Jak,
Thanks for posting the photos of your assembly. It amazes me how strong a Pierce-Arrow 8 water pump is when it can push through chunks of rust as big as shown on your magnet.
I too cleaned out my system approximately 2000 miles ago. I drive my car only about 400 to 500 miles a year. With cleaning my gano filter once a season, I get about 1/4 of the volume of crud that I see on your magnet.
Let me tell you why I like your design, A gano filter has two copper mesh cones, the one closest to the block has a half inch hole in the center and the one closest to the radiator is a solid piece of mesh. The gano does not let much if any crud flow back down the upper hose with the two cone approach, but it would totally plug with half the crud on your magnet. With your magnet in the bottom of the assembly, it effectively pulls the rust from the copper screen while keeping an adequate flow through the assembly.
Jak, you can send me the second (spare) one you made anytime!
Thank you all for your praise!!! We in OZ are virtually the 51 state of the Union!! So our humour is the same! When we come back home from USA sometimes it is hard to tell the difference anymore! EXCEPT for the accent. And for me I do not notice as I am married to a Grand Rapids, Michigan girl!!!!!
The filter is out of a piece of 2″ brass tube. I will do a drawing of it & post it due course. The 1 1/2″” magnet I purchased on eBay from china. 2 for $15. Cheers
Hi Ed, a photo of the dreaded 1929 Club Brougham as requested.
A strange coincidence—This car was owner by an Architect (retired) named Jack from New Jersey. I am an architect (retired)named Jak except I am as you all know from The Land of OZ!!
