Honeycomb radiator recore?

[Duncan Grimmond]

The Wire Mesh Company in Warrington & eBay do a very nice punched hexagonal mesh which I think looks good...

[Dave Wortley]

I saw a water cooled Scott motorbike at a rally years ago. The owner had made his own rad core using round copper tube. A hexagonal punch was used at either end of the tube to form the end shape and the whole assembly soldered together. Don’t think I’ll bother. Life is too short!
Dave.

[Chris KC]

Duncan, I have used painted hex steel mesh on my Ulster rep to mask a modern core - it does lend a vague accent of authenticity but in all honesty it's too thin to stand up to even cursory inspection. It does offer very modest protection as a stone guard though.

---

Dave, the amount of brass or copper tube & strip required for an A7 rad is surprising & quite an investment in itself (especially for a project with a high chance of failure).
There are those among us who enjoy a challenge, for the rest it's cheque-book time I'm afraid.

[Hedd_Jones]

my hex mesh is 1/4 to 3/8 deep. And you have to look pretty hard to notice the modern core behind it.

[Chris KC]

Yup, mine's only 1mm

[Stuart Giles]

Thanks to all for the replies, there's some more companies to speak to now.

Actually, the honeycomb core in my rad looks good, and seems to have reasonable flow through it from my basic testing. The rad core/header tank setup has a kind of soldered on steel subframe all the way around it and as a result, a leak from the bottom tank looks to be inaccessible without removing the steelwork. As no professional I've come across as yet wants to have a go at mending it I'm probably going to have get it rebuilt/recored anyway.

[mk1-mark]

I am staggered how much Hex core rads have gone up over the last few years.  I had an MG J2 one done about 7 years ago & it cost just a whisker over £350.  When I got a quote for a A7 Hex rad recently from the same firm as I have always used it was over £800.

I was told that the place he used to get his Hex cores closed down & he was left with 1 very expensive supplier.  The cost of the core to him was nearly £600.

In the end I opted for a modern high efficiency core & now it's in I really don't regret it.  It may not be 100% correct, but it looks fine, doesn't leak & works really well.

I did think about one of the hex meshes to go over the front, but decided that it looked a bit "fake" if it's "wrong, it's wrong".  In my opinion, best to be honest than trying to fake something up that "looks" more correct.

[jboy964]

P&M Radiators at Marsham, in deepest Norfolk made a fantastic job of repairing the rad on my Chummy. Tested, new top tank constructed, retested and sympathetically painted all for £120, which I thought reasonable. PM me if you would like their contact details.

John

[mk1-mark]

Excellent value!

Unfortunately, the real expense seems to be in a new Hexagonal core.

[Stuart Giles]

P&M Radiators at Marsham, in deepest Norfolk made a fantastic job of repairing the rad on my Chummy. Tested, new top tank constructed, retested and sympathetically painted all for £120, which I thought reasonable. PM me if you would like their contact details.

John

Is that these people?

https://www.pandmradiators.co.uk/

Looks very encouraging from their website, I'll definitely give them a call; thanks very much.