11/16/09
Pressure Testing my Radiator

I took my radiator to Portchester Radiator to see what can be done to fix my leak. The first step was to pressure test the radiator so all the openings needed to be plugged up.

After the radiator was sealed, several pounds of air pressure was applied. You can see the bubbling of the leak on the left side of the picture, but another smaller leak was spotted on the right side as well.

Looking closer at the leak, Rick, the owner of Portchester Radiator, felt the best thing was to look for a new core. The solder joint at the top of the tank was cracking, and after fixing one leak another one would probably spring up in the future. My radiator looks like it still has the original core which is pushing 50 years old, and the core may have reached its full service life.

Rick has a supplier that sells cores that are identical to the horizontal fins of the original Ferrari unit, but my radiator has a small cut out at the top of the core to clear the belt driven radiator fan. Rick is going to try and save this piece, and attach it to the new core. When the new parts come in, I’m going to try my best to head down to watch how it’s done!

Radiator shops like Portchester Radiator are disappearing, and I’m not sure what we’re going to do when they’re all gone! It’s true a lot of vintage cars have cheap foreign manufactured radiators, but there is still a need for custom radiators built the same way they did many years ago. If you need a radiator done in the NYC area, here’s Portchester Radiator’s contact information:

Portchester Radiator
308 Willett Ave.
Port Chester NY
914-939-3881
Tell Rick I sent you.

Just a reminder, I’m looking for a new Vintage Ferrari Project. If you have, or know of a restoration project, please let me know. It would be great to restore another car on this website! My E-mail.

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