Heater core suggestions...

[Grady Cain]

Anyone out there have experience with aftermarket heater cores? Need to replace the one in my A12 - wondering about good or bad experiences with one particular brand/vendor or another. Thank you...

 

[Beekeeper]

Do your self a huge favor and send your original core to glen ray radiator you won't regret it.
The cost is about the same as the Chinese pieces of crap you can buy.

 

[Grady Cain]

Do your self a huge favor and send your original core to glen ray radiator you won't regret it.
The cost is about the same as the Chinese pieces of crap you can buy.

I'm working with Bob at Glen Ray Radiator right now to get my original A12 radiator restored. Makes sense to have them do the heater core as well. I'm not a fan of aftermarket parts but sometimes it is a necessary evil. Thanks for the advise...

 

[Beekeeper]

He did my core and it was a work of art. Cost was like 150 or so

 

[65-440]

I bought mine for $30 a few years ago from a local parts store, no trouble at all ....

 

[Dibbons]

Wanted the local radiator shop to restore my core but they would not touch it, must be tricky work, had to resort to Autozone for now. Just finished and the fit was fine for my non A/C '72 Bbody, only time will prove expected longevity.

 

[wannadrag]

I bought mine for $30 a few years ago from a local parts store, no trouble at all ....

Same here

 

[mmissile]

Bought a copper/brass one off ebay. Looks fine, and installed it today. No leaks as of yet....

 

[PurpleBeeper]

The el cheepo ones work/fit just fine.....but you've got an A12 and if it's anywhere near stock, go Glen Ray. Street racer, go parts store.

 

[65-440]

not to start an argument, but why go through all that just for a heater core ? It sits in a box underneath the dash, is it really that important to be the original core ? It will NEVER be seen, unless it starts leaking........ radiators I can understand, but heater core restoration seems silly to me.

 

[Dibbons]

Heater cores are a pain in the butt to change out (I would have more fun pulling an engine) and a leaky one can ruin carpet and rust floors. I might be willing to pay a little more (a lot more?) to have it made right.

 

[5wndwcpe]

not to start an argument, but why go through all that just for a heater core ? It sits in a box underneath the dash, is it really that important to be the original core ? It will NEVER be seen, unless it starts leaking........ radiators I can understand, but heater core restoration seems silly to me.

For me it's not the originality of the core but fitment and quality. Bob will return a piece that will fit and function for the long haul. The aftermarket ones are a crap shoot. yes, some will do just fine - and some won't.

But like Dibbons said, changing out the core may not be rocket science, but I still don't want to do it twice.

 

[Fran Blacker]

Bought one from a local supplier for my 66 Satellite who sold me one 30 years earlier. This one the tubes were to short where they come through the firewall. He remove the tank and pipes from old core and put on new core.

 

[Beekeeper]

Bought one from a local supplier for my 66 Satellite who sold me one 30 years earlier. This one the tubes were to short where they come through the firewall. He remove the tank and pipes from old core and put on new core.

Yep this is what you normally run into on the repop cores and the reason I suggest having the original re cored.

 

[mac]

use after market cores when refurbishing heater boxes. always check fitment and always pressure test before installing. have had only 1 so far that needed some attention before installing. also getting harder to find ones that are not aluminum.

 

[PurpleBeeper]

not to start an argument, but why go through all that just for a heater core ? It sits in a box underneath the dash, is it really that important to be the original core ? It will NEVER be seen, unless it starts leaking........ radiators I can understand, but heater core restoration seems silly to me.

Yeah, silly to me too, but some of the "numbers matching" people would freak out with even an aftermarket nut/bolt on an A-12 or Hemi car, you know? It's like, "do you really need date codes on your spark plug wires?" I'm not worried about that either, but some people are.

 

[BeeKool]

Is it just me, or have radiator shops gone the way of the buffalo. I had to take my heater core 50 miles to find a radiator repair shop to tank it and pressure test it.
Well worth it though, ain't no skool like old skool.

 

[PurpleBeeper]

Is it just me, or have radiator shops gone the way of the buffalo. I had to take my heater core 50 miles to find a radiator repair shop to tank it and pressure test it.
Well worth it though, ain't no skool like old skool.

Yep, like the buffalo. 90%+ of all radiators are Chinese imports & cheap, so not much need to braze in new brass tubes. A lot of the heavy equipment/semi-truck guys still run copper/brass radiators, so if you need some work done maybe ask who your local Freightliner/Mac/Peterbilt dealer uses?