Quote:
Originally Posted by woofa.express
As far as I am aware, nobody makes the funnel type radiator. 4psi should'nt make much difference.
I don't know what a funnel type radiator is, could you please inform me. a reputable radiator shop has made the repair now. thanks, gary
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So called "funnel tops" are the earliest design of Model A Ford radiators. They are characterized by a top connection which starts at the hose as "round" but then goes oval and widens to perhaps half the width of the top radiator tank. Think a funnel which has been "mashed" to an oval shape at the widest part.
The funnel top radiators (Ford - Highland Park) continued until about mid-1929 when Ford, in an effort to sweeten the deal with radiator producers for the 30-31 model year, allowed a more conventional 1929 design (Flintlock, McCord) for production, this utilizing a "straight" hose connection to the top tank.
Most of the difficulties people have with the "overflow" spitting come from the unintended consequence of the straight connection design change. Ford engineers themselves in the Service Bulletins advised bending the overflow pipe in the upper tank to the rear of the car to "get it out of the flow coming up from the water pump."
Most radiators found in 1928-29 Model As today are the later type design either as original equipment, or as replacements, period or otherwise.
Ford knew of the challenge of a possibly too small radiator in the 1929 model. A challenge which he met initially by use of the thermally advanced "funnel tops" but later backed down somewhat on the challenge for the remainder of the 1929 model year with big contracts with Flintlock and McCord pending. For 1930 and beyond car production Ford Green Island produced radiators which afforded a larger radiator surface being taller as they are as well as flattened inclined tubes. For 1930-31 Service Replacement Flintlock and McCord produced radiators in the round tube design and their earlier tube stagger. These are generally inferior to the original Ford Green Island 1930-31 flattened tube design. (See "The Ford Model A as Henry Built It" by DeAngelis, Francis, Henry for details on radiator changes.)
The thermal advancement of the funnel tops was primarily in the use of "round" tubes but with an unusual stagger. Non-Ford produced radiators used a conventional tube layout. The numbers of tubes and placement/frequency of radiator fins varied depending on the radiator sub-contractor.
Today one can buy seemingly "close copy" radiators in both funnel top and more conventional design. One can also incorporate in either funnel tops or not the flattened "race-track" type tubes which is the most modern and advanced thermal design.
Today original funnel tops are few and far between having mostly had their useful life and been replaced with more conventional radiators. Only in recent years have a reproduction even been available.
Joe K