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MG MGB GT V8 Factory Originals Technical - Bruised and battered by my V8

I spent a long evening working on my V8, and now I literally look like a torture victim! Gashes on legs and arms, skinned knuckles and knees, burn on forearm ... the works. Who said this wasn't a dangerous pastime? With no garage here, just a gravel drive, between the klieg lights ringing the car and the irregular grunting from under it, a passerby would be inclined to call Amnesty International. I have to attend a rather formal party tomorrow ... heck, might as well show in the MG, come to think of it ... and I am wondering how to regain a civilian appearance by then!
Harry

... and just my luck, one of the things I did was make and install what I thought was a nice cowl for the water pump fan, which covers the whole rear of the rad. You may have noticed I've been having devilish problems with heat this summer. Well, the &^$% car runs noticeably _hotter_ with the cowl and damn if I don't feel like I just threw away several hours of my life. Time to face the music: need a bigger radiator. I'd really rather not spend $1000 for an alu V8 radiator from the UK; surely there's a much cheaper solution?!?! I would far prefer not to modify the car, so if it fits in as a substitute for the factory V8 rad I'm all for it. Any suggestions as to crank-driven fans gratefully received, too; I think my little flex fan isn't doing squat.
Harry

Harry, I know how you feel. I spent 6 hours in the garage on Saturday pulling apart and cleaning the rover V8 going in my B and then had to turn around and serve drinks at a party at our place that night. I litterally had cuts all over my hands and various other places on me, not to mention grease.

An option for your radiator is to lengthen the original by four or so inches at the bottom. I haven't done this myself but I have an original radiator that I will be modifying as such.

Also, have a look at Summit Racing's website as they sell aluminium radiators in various dimensions.

Stainzy
Stainzy

At least you seem to have managed to detach yourself. I know of one gentleman who got his finger stuck on the gearbox dipstick and the dipstick stuck in the casing, and on another occasion got his arm stuck between anti-rollbar and rack ...
Paul Hunt

Harry, after continuous problems with cooling (or lack of) I've taken the plunge and invested in an ally rad that I'm installing at the moment. It's about 2 inches taller and the core is 65mm thick (think normal is 50 or 55mm). I've had the top and bottom tanks squared off and the capacity of the rad is now 4.5 litres vs 3 previous. Bought it from Pace Products in Suffolk. Took just over a week. Basically you can spec it how you want. Cost me £300 + vat. Found them to be very professional. Try their website:
www.paceproducts.co.uk

David.
David

David, John Norman at Pace products told me that he was measuring up another MGB for a slightly longer rad. That must have been you. I agree that they seem to be an excellent firm.
I'm sorry to say that they got the measurements wrong on my one and built it slightly to the wrong size. However, they apologised immediately, had it collected the same day and are delivering the new one in a couple of days all at their own expense without me even having to ask for it.
They made up an expansion tank for me within 24 hours. Very decent company.
Marc

Harry,
I can relate. I've been fiddling with siting the location of my engine, and have ended up with lotsa unexpected cuts and bruises on my arms. I also threw away about 5 hours on Saturday, and felt lousy about it, but at least made progress on Sunday.
As for custom aluminum radiators, Griffin makes them in the U.S. I think about 400 bucks. Also, check out www.hotrodafco.com., and www.afcoracing.com. They have an online order sheet that you may find helpful.

Regards, Joe


Joe Ullman

Harry
Go for the custom aluminum radiator.Have them make it as large as possible ( but not thicker you'll need the air flow) and install a good 16" puller fan if you have the room. Then say good-by to your cooling problems once and for all. It will be the best $400-$600 you spend on the car. Most custom radiator builders can make the mounting points to fit your car.I just drew up a blueprint and faxed it to them. They also have formulas to determind what core size is required based on engine horse power. HTH

Bill
bill jacobson

Bill, I wish I could get a 16" fan in there. Your red car, I think, has the motor quite a bit farther back than I do, which I think is just the standard (some would say "non-A/C") location. I have a factory V8-style water pump, but I think that even with the short nose Buick pump I'd never cram a goodly fan in there. I was thinking the best I could do is a pair of 8" pushers on the front and a pair of 8" pullers on the rear, below and to the sides of the water pump pulley.

But I reckon you're right; I need a big old honkin' alu radiator. The car is running at 210-220 degrees F which is surely unsuitable. I've imposed almost impossible conditions I suppose; I hate air dams, I don't wanna cut thru-fender header holes; dislike oil coolers; am unwilling to vent the bonnet ... so my ideology is catching up with me and I suppose I'm getting my just desserts!!!

(Incidentally ... when you move the motor back as you have it, doesn't that entail moving the firewall back, and eating into the footwell space? Do you have to lose the heater? Other than that it sounds like a killer idea. And _don't_ get me wrong; I say I dislike air dams and such but when you pull together such a visual symphony as your red car, my aforesaid kvetches vanish into thin air.)
Harry

Harry
The heater and center of the firewall are in the stock locations. I did widen the firewall and tunnel for cylinder head clearance, this also increases the air gap between the engine/trans and body so heat can get out easier. Loss of foot well space is not really noticeable, although the drivers side requires carefull planing to maintain proper pedal clearances.
I believe the short nose pump is approx. 5/8" shorter. I have one on my car, I compared it to the old pump, but I don't remember the exact dementions. Some of the fans are fairly thin at the blades and where the motor is,it may center up under your water pump pulley. Just a thought.

Bill
bill jacobson

Marc, I went for the expansion tank as well. Yet more capacity to the cooling system! Hopefully it will lose some extra heat from there as well. Was it easy to mount it to the inner wing? About to attempt that bit as I'm nearly done fitting the rad.

David.
David

David,

The expansion tank was relatively easy to mount although I had to modify Pace's mounting bracket as I decided that it was too wide and threw the tank too far out into the engine bay. I also considered that the moments acting on the bracket once the tank was filled would eventually lead to failure of the bracket and maybe even some flexing of the wing lip. I narrowed the bracket so that the tank was mounted as close to the edge of the bay as possible. I also had to lengthen the bracket by bolting on a piece of aluminium on to the bracket so that I could use two existing wing bolt rather than having to drill a new hole in the lip of the engine bay. I also had to make two spacers about 1" thick so that the bottle could be mounted as close to the edge as possible but at the same time making sure that the pressure cap did not hit the bonnet when closed. I made these on a lathe and they had to have about .5" cut of the side to give a flat edge on one side allowing them to fit snugly against the inner wing under the lip.
I expect that there is about .5" clearance between the cap and the bonnet.
Come and have a look if you want although you'll have to forgive the general state of the car which is definitely work in progress. I'm in Kentish Town.
Marc

Hmm, thought it might not be too straightforward. In addition I've got a fuel regulator attached to the lip of the inner wing which will need resiting. Think I'll slim the bracket down to about 2 inches across, use 2 small bolts to attach to the lip then make a steadying bracket to hold the bottom of the pot steady and bolt that to the inner wing. Failing that, adapt the bracket for the existing expansion tank and use a belt strap to hold it in place.

David.
David

Harry, you mentioned a crank fan. That's a good option if you can fit it between the water pump and the radiator. Ditch the flex fan, they're useless. Find yourself a good stout multiblade fan as large as you can fit in there. There is simply no substitute for moving sheer air volume, which is why electric fans are not available for big block engines. If your radiator is extended (downwards) it should match up nicely. If it isn't, that should be at the top of your short list. Don't even consider a fan clutch.
I saw on here where a crank fan adapter was commercially available somewhere in UK but don't remember where. I paid $50 to have one made. I'll sell it to you if you want it. It's 6" long and could probably be shortened almost an inch. Make sure the fan is well shrouded so that air can draw freely through the entire core including the corners, but that the blade tips will not hit, and from there you should be fine, even without the hood vents.
Jim Blackwood

Harry,

My 4.6 is not quite ready to replace my aging 3.5 but will be within the next couple hundred cuts & scratches. I've been looking at radiator options too. Jeg's & Summit both sell a Griffin Dragster alum rad, 2 row, 17 x 18 1/2" crossflow, w/no filler neck for $220. Sure looks like it would fit. I may call Griffin to see if this could be used in a street application.

Joe
Joe Collins

This thread was discussed between 22/07/2001 and 25/07/2001

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