I’m very happy with the restoration done by Viking Radiators on my tatty old 120 rad. The transformation is astounding! I asked him to take special care to get the header tank as perfect as possible - I think he more than met the brief… He soldered in stainless bolts for attaching the thermostat housing, too.
3 Likes
looks very nice. flush out fully before install…(just to be sure), check that you have the correct radiator cap, 4 lb max and that the depth of the spring is correct…some need a rubber washer, and that you install the proper sleeve-bellows thermostat. Have fun with the bottom hose install.
Hope it is all as good as it looks…curious…while it was out…did you do the water pump…if so…what? Nick
Chris,
Do you still have the “Marston Plate” soldered at the front of the radiator? I keep track of these numbers.
For the XK 120:
Order number P102 followed by a figure (2 to 21)
Serial number (from 1 to 12000)
There were some exceptions for the first 200 built cars.
Bob K.
Bob,
No, it’s never had one and I’m not going to bother putting one on and making up a serial number which wouldn’t have been correct for the car anyway. It had a (very good) alloy rad fitted when I got the car a few years ago, which will be surplus to requirements, and this original 120 one I purchased off Ebay last year. I think it’s from a later 120 because it has the original train tap similar to the block drain tap, but with a different thread. Earlier 120s, like mine, tended to have the straight out brass type, I believe.
Chris
Nick,
I will flush it out before I put it in. I do have the correct radiator cap with the sealing ring that fits on the ledge inside the filler neck, and I also have a correct bellows-type thermostat. Not looking forward to installing the bottom hose… I’m thinking a silicone one may be easier as it is much more flexible.
Chris
warming the bottom hose up helps.
I made a special fork shaped tool for getting my hose on or off.
Or you can remove the tire and lower valence, then you have lots of room.
I’m convinced the factory did the hoses before the valences.
Great looking Rad Chris . My Rad has a tag not brass and looking a lot different from others I have seen .
Kevin
Your lucky to have a tag, Kevin!
Chris
Kevin,
I’ve seen a lot of Marston Plates but this one is really “unique”.
The XK 120 had 2 different plates but both always have the text Marston Excelsior Ltd . See photo.
Yours looks more like the one used on the first XK 140 production but these had the MEL logo including the text Marston Excelsior Ltd. See photo.
The “problem” is that yours only reads Marston which would go back to the 1930s or the first WW2 years. Also the (9 figure?) ordernummer is totally different and clearly stamped by hand at a later stage. Best I can come up with is that this possibly is some kind of repair label.
The serial number runs more or less in line with the XK 120 chassis numbers. It’s difficult to read but is that 3466? If that’s the number indeed than has your XK 120 been built late 1951 or early 1952?
Bob K.
Very interesting feed back Bob thank you, the number on the tag is 3466, my cars date of manufacture was May 11 1951 date of dispatch May 30 1951.
Kevin
Kevin,
So your Marston plate will remain a secret (for ever?). The serial number on the original Marston Excelsior plate on your May 1951 radiator would have been below 1000.
Bob K.
My radiator (just rebuilt) features a brass spacer of approx 5mm thickness between the thermostat housing and the flange on the rad itself. Has anyone else come across something like this? It’s beautifully and precisely made which makes me wonder if it is “factory”? Comparing it to the alloy rad on the car at the moment, which has a much thicker welded-on flange, it looks like it would place the thermostat housing in approximately the same position. I see no mention of it in the spare parts book, and of course it would require two gaskets. Thoughts?
Chris
Bob, My plate is missing. I’ll get a plate soon. Can you give me a range for the numbers for March, '53? I’ll have to pick a number at random, but I’d like to be close.
Mitchell,
See the applicable 1953 section of my tabel. The tabel shows the chassis numbers I have for that period. Maybe the best thing to do is to “interpolate” between the chassis numbers on basis of your own. There was no “First in, First out” system for radiators delivered by Marston on the production line meaning there is no strict logic in the serial numbering,
So most likely seems Order Number P102 9 and for the serial number you pick one somewhere between 6824 (#763342 of Dec 1952) and 7602 (#674112 of July 1953) depending of your own chassis number. .
Bob K.
Bob,
that could mean that in years to come, someone will look at that number and say "this radiator tag number - - - - is correct for chassis number - - - - - - " and it will become fact, by which others are judged… Personally, I’d rather do without the tag rather than confuse authenticity historians in the future. Maybe I’m being a bit too idealistic…! 
Bob:
If you are maintaining a table of Marston numbers my July 1st build, 1953 DHC (#677577), carries order # P102 and Serial # 7165.
Chris.
Thanks Bob. March fits about in the middle, that’s close enough.
Here is mine off of 670236 ('50 '120 OTS). It just came back from the radiator shop with a new core as the old one had the tell-tale white-ish leakage spots in a few places. Too bad as the old core had more of a honey comb sort of look than this replacement. Also, the top and bottom are made of brass. This contrasts with my other car in storage (670898) which I’d previously noticed has an outlet elbow on the bottom made of steel. Maybe more of the latter is made of steel – I don’t know. I’d have to scrape away the paint or take a magnet to it to find out. Anyway, I’d always assumed all of these radiators were exactly the same in terms of materials used. Apparently not.
Chris,
This is almost an “ethical” question, but I understand your concern. But on the other hand, I already encountered a lot of “illogical” number combinations that could not be matched with other (proven) combinations of chassis number and radiator number. So if anyone in the future will study the matter once more, he/she (or anything else I should add nowadays) will arrive at the same conclusion: “here was something wrong”.
Personally I think that changing a chassis or body number is more “unethical”.
Bob K.