Hudson 112 Radiator

Gary

Hi,
Would anyone know if a radiator from a 1936 Hudson/Terraplane would bolt into a 1939 Hudson 112? I don't have the parts book that could cross reference a match.
Gary

Jon B

Possibly someone has attempted that, but my gut feeling would be "no", since the radiator is usually sized to fit the sheet metal -- and '36 and '39 grilles are not interchangeable.

If you could get hold of an interchange manual you could determine if the radiators are the same, but that wouldn't really "nail it" because the part numbers would be different even if only minor things are different. (Bolt holes might be in different places, for example, but the radiators themselves might be the same size.)

But as I say, maybe someone will jump in here with some practical experience in the matter.

Browniepetersen

I am one to tell you that with "cut, pound and a small amount of weld and you can get any front grill to fit any car. But why? There are parts available if you look, advertise and beat the bushes. With that said, good luck/......

Jon B

Another consideration: if you are going to replace the radiator in your 112 with a 70+ year old radiator from a 1936, you might be better off simply having the 112 radiator re-cored, and starting out fresh! (Of course, if you don't have a 112 radiator to salvage the tanks and other paraphernalia from, that's not an option!)

Another consideration #2: You might join the H.A.M.B. and post a message there telling what you're looking for. When guys hot-rod 112's, my guess is that they replace the existing radiator with something that's better able to cool the modern, high-horsepower engine they're dropping into the car!

Gary

Jon,
You guessed right. I don't have the radiator or drivetrain for my '39 112. I was hoping to find one for a template for a local rad shop that builds them to work with modern V8's which bolt right into the original car using the same mounting points. Probably expensive, but I wanted all options covered, and an old core hopefully won't set me back too far. This brings me to how I managed to aquire a '36 Hudson 8 rad, and hopefully everyone can see how easy it is to mistakenly win on eBay. I was looking at the auction on the family IPad, which happens to be listed by a forum member, when I left the table to do something else. My 3yr old daughter got ahold of the IPad, and because it was a buy it now auction, she just hit the touch screen like she has to do with some of her games, and 2 clicks later, she won the auction for me! He has since contacted me and is willing to cancel the auction if it will not fit. What a awesome community we belong to!
Gary

Jon B

Sorry about your mishap (with the IPad!). Nice to know the guy's willing to cancel. On the other hand, if you ever buy any parts for your car mistakenly, in the future, there is always a market for this stuff amongst Hudson fanciers. I'd think that the '36 radiator has potentially even greater value than the '39 (assuming of course that it's in good shape!).

essexcoupe3131

Hi Gary, you can definitely use the old tanks and have it modern high flow core put in it as I have done with my 31 (honey comb)

The trick is to put baffling in the original top and bottom tanks to stop the tanks from pressurizing under poundage and splitting the solder joints,
mine had very large cores put in and ran into a issue of bringing up the engine to the 180* plus and have got over this issue after playing around with the thermostat that controls the electric fan
As I don't run any actual fan because it was too tight in the engine bay and didn't want to chop up the fire wall, also what caused part of my issue was that it had a Ali Victor Junior high volume water pump on the engine as well
A good radiator guy can work out all you need, if you give him all the specs on your application
as I found with the second guy i used when I sent it in to have the bottom hose connection welded in to suit my application
it was a cheap and easy fix doing the baffles and bottom hose, If I remember excluding the existing core I got charged 120NZ$ or about 90US$

Good luck with you quest

Mike