I just got back from a long weekend at the Watkins Glen Fall Vintage Races (great time by the way) and I went out to the rig and found a small puddle of antifreeze. Looks like it is time to pull the radator and (most likely) get it recored.


Before I bougth the Barth it sat around for quite a while and it looks like there is a little radiator rot in there....I have a feeling this ain't going to be cheap!

Anybody else pull out there 80's Regency radiator?

Hi chrisW,

Before you consider getting it re-cored check with the chassis manufacturer. We did'nt before we had ours re-cored and found that we could have purchased a new radiatior and transmission cooler combo from Spartan for less than we paid for just the core ... way less!

We have a 30' Breakaway and the chassis manufacturer may be different but I think that if you can get one from your chassis manufacturer it will be cheaper than recoring.

Carl

The chassis manufacture for the mid 80's Regencys does not exist anymore...

... bummer!

So the first shop (a real pain in the butt) makes me bring the radiator in (2 hr round trip) - they would not give a 'ballpark' quote based on the core size - and calls me back the next day with a quote to recore the radiator - $3500.

I picked it up today and took it to a second shop that does odd ball stuff - $1350.

My wife laughed when a grumbled about Barth always using the most expensive parts...

I am always amazed at the varying quotes I get for the same job or product.

A recent experience with some tempered glass gave some prices 4 times higher than the lowest. The heck of it is, all the glass shops are middlemen where tempered glass is concerned. There are only two places in El Lay that temper glass. The shops just order it and tack on their profit for making the phone call.

My Kohler genset has a relay that costs a few dollars all the way up to over $50, depending on where you shop.

Kohler parts are a pain.

The ‘new’ radiator has been reinstalled and test run to Watkins Glen completed – noticeable difference in cooling! I also replaced the crank seal (good thing I have that 1200 ft lb impact gun!) – no more oil leaks anywhere (I redid the pan seals last year)!!

I do have a nice chunk of fairly useless skin on my left hand…note to self – when you brain says “this doesn’t look like a good idea” - pay attention!! A 5 lb sledge hammer will do some damage if you get a wedge of you palm between it and the object you are striking!

While we are on the ‘lessons learned’ subject – I got the radiator back at 5pm on Friday and I was supposed to be at the track that day. I reassembled the engine and radiator, reconnected the coolant lines and transmission cooler, reattached the rear grill and headed out at about 10pm with my brother in law, his daughter and my son.

For the first 15 miles it ran just fine, then I noticed a very slight vibration and a little loss of power. Then the power slowly dropped off (didn’t notice it at cruising speed – only for the occasional accelerations after a speed zone). When I noticed the cruising speed dropping off I got concerned and found a rest area to park. I quick review found nothing so I became rather depressed and gave up for the night.

Morning came and the rig did not fix itself during the night. I was rather despondent about the whole thing lots of other ‘not so good’ crap happening to me lately so I was looking forward to a weekend away at the track. The only thing I could find that was not perfect was the trans fluid was low ( I couldn't see a connection to the problem but it was all I could find). I grabbed the iPhone and searched out the only thing nearby – a gas station about 5 miles away. I called them to see if somebody could run out some trans fluid….nope, nobody to spare. They referred me to the NAPA store…called them…only one guy on shift today. I was starting to feel like there was a conspiracy against my general happiness…I asked the NAPA guy “don’t you know anybody that would drive 5 miles for $20?...” He said “Bob” would do anything for a buck….I said Bob was my kind of guy and got his number!

Bob showed up 15 minutes later – turns out Bob has his own repair shop and was quite a nice guy. Came with supplies and funnels. He liked the Barth and was taking a look at it as I was filling the transmission. He looked over my shoulder and commented “you know you fuel valve is closed..”…um…no, I didn’t notice that bright yellow handle…I couldn’t figure out if I felt more stupid or relived. I had shut all the valves a couple of weeks earlier when I pulled the radiator out. I guess I missed that one….opened it up and the rig returned to life.

I now know exactly how far you can drive with the fuel shut off lever in the off position – about 40 miles. I think that if the rig had run out of fuel right away I would have figured it out…but my brain was pretty tired running out of fuel did not add up after 40 miles….

quote:

Originally posted by chrisW:
I just got back from a long weekend at the Watkins Glen Fall Vintage Races (great time by the way)

Did you make it out there this weekend Chris... I had a report of a Barth lurking around the Glen - got pictures too - will post when they're sent to me.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill N.Y.:

quote:

Originally posted by chrisW:
I just got back from a long weekend at the Watkins Glen Fall Vintage Races (great time by the way)

Did you make it out there this weekend Chris... I had a report of a Barth lurking around the Glen - got pictures too - will post when they're sent to me.

Yes, I was there. I never miss the vintage race weekend at Watkins Glen, the cars are great and the Barth fits in. There were two Barths there, mine and Brumi’s “shorty”.

It turns out that I know ‘Brumi” and he toured my Barth a couple of years ago before deciding to buy his. In his post - http://barthmobile.com/eve/for...=199109502#199109502
- he was goofing on me because I did not know his screen name on the Barth forum!

I got even last weekend by showing his wife how to get the front seats to swivel and I told her to keep it a secret…..

His rig is in very nice shape, makes me want to repaint mine!