Soldering advice

The radiator on my SC is in remarkable shape - EXCEPT: one side bracket came loose at the top, and the overflow tube rusted off about 1" from the filler neck.

I'm not an experienced solderer, but want to try to fix this myself (besides, there aren't any rad shops around anymore). Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Get the parts good and CLEAN.

Use a good "tinning flux" and acid-core solder.

"Tin" the joint area on the tank and bracket ahead of time,

Easiest is to use a honk'in BIG old-fashioned "soldering copper", as there would be less chance of overheating the tank and causing a seam to leak.

When done, THOROUGHLY clean off the flux/acid reside with hot soapy water.

GOOD LUCK!

clean the area to be soldered well with a wire brush / emery cloth till shiny before pasting and soldering.

As stated, clean well. I have repaired several radiators by cleaning with "bowl cleaner". After it is neutralized with "baking soda", area should be heated and sanded to look like new. Then solder.

I suggest that when you try it, you have the radiator filled with coolant up to the point where the core is completely filled and the liquid is just into the bottom of the upper tank. Do not have it high enough to cover the back side of where you need to solder the bracket to the tank.

The coolant will keep the areas that don't need repair from coming unsoldered. If the coolant is too high in the tank, you will not be able to get enough heat into the areas that you are repairing.

You can add more coolant before working on the overflow tube.

The guys already hit the nail on the head..must be absolutely clean and shining, then use "cut acid" and it will solder.

I'm in 100% agreement with everybody: The metal must be absolutely CLEAN before you try anything else.

I'm an old retired 'shop' teacher, and I've taught many folks how to solder. Here is my advice for you on this one. Since you haven't soldered much before, practice on some scrap first! There is a 'trick' to soldering. You have to learn to get the metal hot enough, but not too hot. The old timers say you have to learn to see the solder 'sweat'. I agree. You can only learn to see this by practicing. If the metal is too cold, the solder will just ball up and laugh at you. If you try being a heat bully, the solder will ball up and laugh at you. When it is just the right heat, the solder will 'sweat' or get shinny, and flow out on your nice CLEAN fluxed surface and 'tin' it with a nice thin layer of solder. A little brass brush can be a real help to get the tinning solder to go where you want it and to get stubborn spots to 'take.' Once the two metal surfaces are 'tinned' they can be joined together much easier than if you try to tin and join all at once. Any experienced solderer can do this, but it is just so much easier to tin and join in two steps.

Whatever you do, try it! The guys are right - keep the rest of the core cool so you don't melt away anything good. But go for it. Once you learn how, you'll be rewarded with lots of opportunities to use the skill. And, it is fun to do.

Good luck,

I use only Kester acid core solder. Have tried other brands, & they all come up short. The other guys are right about cleaning the pieces thoroughly---they should be clean enough to eat off of.

Nash's Repair in Dowagiac Michigan.
269-782-2016

People from all over the country send him a box of rubble and he turns it into a radiator.
Watching him work his magic with his dunk tank and solder is amazing.
I watched him do an old Packard LaSalle and he's done several for me.

Dell

I had a guy that used to have a rad shop repair the top neck on my BN.....only charged me $15 ...I inquired on purchasing the solder and tinning compound and after he told me what he pays for it...i figured for the occasional fix, ill go have it done....

Like said in prior post; GET IT CLEAN AND SHINY. That is the first step on any solderable metals. Kester is by far my favorite and it MUST be acid core, at least for a newbie. Experienced solderers can use acid flux and solid core. Filling the tank within inches of your joint is advisable as metals like brass, copper, alumnium, ect are EXCELLENT heat conductors and will get hot quick.

I mostly solder copper wire (Industrial Electrician), but have "sweated" A LOT of copper pipe too! It the over flow tube is too hard to sweat all the way around without leaking use a copper coupling. A HVAC or hardware store should have the size you need. Just bring in the broken piece to size. The larger pieces can be soldered slowly, short areas at a time.

Charles