Fury 440
Well-Known Member
My latest car/project is a 64' dodge 440. ( recent photos posted at 62'-65' ) I feel really lucky to have found this car. Great body, paint, bright work, interior, engine and a fantastic price. The underside looks almost as good as the top. The one issue for me was the engine compartment. While the engine had been rebuilt and painted a couple of thousand miles before my purchase, the engine compartment paint was original. Also, some of the usual items had been replaced over the years, including the rad. The replacement was aluminum and ugly. I wanted original or close. I tried the usual places. Went for an original, but Glen-ray didn't have any cores. Repos- Year One nothing, Mancini nothing, Summit... well you get the idea. Finally both Cool Craft and Classic Ind. had just what I needed. Made in the USA. It was even a 4 core. Now living in Canada can be a real challenge for us in the auto hobby. Shipping, taxes, duty and so on is just killer. So I went with Classic, simply because I could buy other stuff and save on the shipping etc. From the photos, their OER brand and Cool Craft seem to be one in the same anyway. When the man in the brown truck arrived, I opened the top of the sturdy box. The rad looked great, very well packed. No rad cap, but no problem. When the time came, I did the job I wanted to do with the engine compartment, new paint, parts clean up or replacement. I left the rad for the very last. When I pulled it out of the box, I was still happy. No lettering on the top, but it did look the part. The first problem was the mounting. Top holes fine, bottom mounting off. It was close but needed some relief work. An air tool with a sanding drum cleaned things up ok. Next was the paint. Too flat. Some prep, out came the paint, looks great. Time to do the final install. Everything fits, hoses connected, fill with coolant. Time to fire up! Re check the oil level, just to be safe, hit the key and VROOM!!!! Fantastic. Engines running great. After a little run time and carb adjustments, time for rad top up. All is well. The very LAST thing to do- install the rad cap and it's test drive time! New Mopar cap, just a twist and WHAT THE @#$%&!! If you check the photo you'll see what's wrong. Not only does the cap sit crooked, it's about 90 degrees out of place. The rad spout looks like someone hit it with a hammer. @#$%&!!!
Now in a way, I have to take some of the blame on this one. With no rad cap included, the top of the rad and tank still looked fine in the box. Even while doing the prep for the paint, I didn't see anything wrong. You only see the problem when the cap is on. As for sending it back, first I made the purchase about 6 weeks before I started the work, as Classic had a sale on at the time. In fact, the price on the rad has jumped over $250. USD (!!!) since I bought it last year. But as they state on the invoice "All returns must be made 30 days after the invoice, with a 25% restocking fee". Also, "No part can be modified, altered, painted or installed in any way". Crap. Second, even if I could of sent it back, it would have cost me about $200. to have it shipped back from Canada anyway, and the work involved in trying to get the taxes etc. back from the government is a nightmare - "sorry, we can't find your paperwork". Third, and this still makes my wife laugh, I cut up the @#$%&!! box and used it to keep the paint off the shop floor when I painted the rad!
You know, I have to laugh at it all now. When I went to shows and cruises this year, I only had to cringe about a dozen or so times when various jerks came to me and said "what the hell is wrong with your rad cap?!!". When it comes to cars I've always thought I was a builder, not an assembler. I can fix it. It's really not a big job. I have a few old mope rads sitting around, and in the spring I'll sweat the spout off one and swap it over. So I guess all I can say is if you buy one of these rads, open the @#$%&!! box and put a cap on it first!!
Now in a way, I have to take some of the blame on this one. With no rad cap included, the top of the rad and tank still looked fine in the box. Even while doing the prep for the paint, I didn't see anything wrong. You only see the problem when the cap is on. As for sending it back, first I made the purchase about 6 weeks before I started the work, as Classic had a sale on at the time. In fact, the price on the rad has jumped over $250. USD (!!!) since I bought it last year. But as they state on the invoice "All returns must be made 30 days after the invoice, with a 25% restocking fee". Also, "No part can be modified, altered, painted or installed in any way". Crap. Second, even if I could of sent it back, it would have cost me about $200. to have it shipped back from Canada anyway, and the work involved in trying to get the taxes etc. back from the government is a nightmare - "sorry, we can't find your paperwork". Third, and this still makes my wife laugh, I cut up the @#$%&!! box and used it to keep the paint off the shop floor when I painted the rad!
You know, I have to laugh at it all now. When I went to shows and cruises this year, I only had to cringe about a dozen or so times when various jerks came to me and said "what the hell is wrong with your rad cap?!!". When it comes to cars I've always thought I was a builder, not an assembler. I can fix it. It's really not a big job. I have a few old mope rads sitting around, and in the spring I'll sweat the spout off one and swap it over. So I guess all I can say is if you buy one of these rads, open the @#$%&!! box and put a cap on it first!!
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( sorry about the quality )
BTW, do you have a factory rad in your 440?
