Putting a late flathead in an early car? This is the part that makes the radiator line up.
Dropping a 1937-48 flathead into a 1935 or 1936 Ford is a well-worn path, and the cooling connections are where it usually gets ugly — wrong angles, wrong diameters, and somebody ends up splicing generic hose and hoping. Bob Drake solved it properly with a molded kit that connects the late motor to your early stock radiator with no modifications.
This is that kit, complete and unused: 2 upper hoses, 2 lower hoses, and 8 stainless Ford-script hose clamps — the clamps still sealed in their inner bag. Bob Drake part number 48-8262-59A on the label, currently catalogued as HR-8262-CK. The hoses themselves are stamped HR-8262-C-1 and HR-8288-C-1. Drake holds a design patent on them, #D760877 — these are purpose-molded for this swap, not adapted from something else.
The clamps are worth a word too. Stainless with the Ford script on the band, so the finished job looks like it belongs under the hood of an early car instead of looking like a parts-store fix.
🔧 Features and Details
- 🎯 Bob Drake 48-8262-59A — current catalog number HR-8262-CK
- 📦 Complete kit: 2 upper hoses, 2 lower hoses, 8 stainless Ford-script clamps — clamps still in their sealed inner bag
- 🔨 Molded to shape — connects a late motor to the early stock radiator with no modifications
- 📐 Design patent #D760877
- ✅ Unused. Supplied in a bag, opened only to photograph the contents
- 🏁 Hoses stamped
HR-8262-C-1 (upper) and HR-8288-C-1 (lower)
🚗 Known Fitment and Applications
-
1935 and 1936 Ford cars running a 1937-1948 Ford flathead V8
- The standard solution for a late-flathead swap into an early car, using the stock early radiator
-
⚠️ Will NOT fit a 4-cylinder stock radiator — this is Bob Drake's own warning and it's worth repeating. If your car still has the four-banger radiator, this kit is not for you.
⚠️ Check the suffix, not just the number. Drake builds this kit for four different applications off the same base number, and one letter tells them apart: -AK and -AEK are 1932, -BK is 1933-34, and -CK — this one — is 1935-36. Listings that quote "HR-8262" without the suffix turn up regularly and it's a common way to end up with the wrong car's kit. This is the CK. The hoses themselves are stamped HR-8262-C-1, which confirms it independently of the label.
Additional applications beyond those listed may exist.
✅ Condition Summary
New and unused. The kit is complete — all four hoses present, and all eight clamps still sealed in their original inner bag — with nothing installed or trial-fitted. The rubber is soft, flexible and supple with no stiffening or cracking at the bends. This kit is supplied in a bag rather than a box, and the bag was opened only to photograph the contents. Please look through the photos.
📋 Buyer Notes
Check the photos before buying — the hoses, the stamped numbers and the clamps are all shown, and the photos are part of the description. Confirming this is the right kit for your combination is the buyer's responsibility, particularly the radiator question above, and other applications may exist beyond those listed. Questions are welcome before purchase. If you're putting a late motor in an early Ford, there's more in the store worth a look.
