My "new" radiator arrived today. After Bob Possel's experiences, and other pieces of information, I decided to do a core exchange with Gernold of SL-Tech. A slight premium over a regular recore, but no waiting. He had to inspect the core I sent him (the astute will remember that Bob Possel's old radiator, was deemed "junk") and thankfully mine was acceptable enough for recore. So, Gernold will re-core mine, clean it and paint it and it will await another exchange with someone else. It would be a lot easier around here to find someone with a lot of experience in re-coring or rebuilding or even re-creating a radiator for a 1937 Ford, or 1957 Chevy, or 1972 Plymouth than our W113. I didn't think it really would be an issue until someone screwed up Bob Possel's radiator...
I trust Gernold's assessment and experiences. He found a local radiator shop in Maine that worked with him to do it right; do it "Gernold's way". Apparently the shop invested in their own core-manufacturing equipment which is most definitely NOT the norm; most places just do the clean-up and soldering, "and use this weird paint that never dries" (Gernold) and measure up said core and buy it from one of the few core suppliers that fabricates it for them. If you are lucky, you'll get a custom one. If not, you'll get "the nearest size" which is something I did wish to avoid. Gernold, as most you you know, has been at this W113 game a bit too long to tolerate poor work.
The radiator looks nice, painted by Gernold to factory spects. Waiting on a few more parts from Dave Gallon, and then I can complete the chore of putting it all back together...
