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MG MGB GT V8 Factory Originals Technical - Hood Louvres

Hello all,

I'm looking into getting my hood louvred, and cannot for the life of me find a place to get it done. I live in southwestern Ontario, and am willing to go to any place in the areas around Kitchener/Waterloo, London, Toronto and Hamilton. Does anyone know of a place in one of these areas and/or had any experience with them?

Thanks,

Alan.
Alan Raddatz

I know that Ted Lathrop of FastCars, Inc in Michigan (just south of Grand Rapids) has a contact....they did Bruce Wyckoff's louvres on his B/GT V8. You can contact Ted at fastcars@accn.org for more info.

rick

rick ingram

Greetings Alan,

Mr. Martyn Harvey, from your 'neck of the woods', has a louvered bonnet, I believe. Maybe he can help you. I think you can contact him at the site below, but if that doesn't work, let me know.


http://www.mgbexperience.com/ca-mgbv8/


Regards,

Steve


Steve

Depending on the year of your car, you may find plastic louvers let into the bonnet -- rather than punching them into the bonnet itself -- are more period-correct. Punched-in louvers are more of a 50s and 60s thing; in a 70s car I'd try to find some louver assemblies and use those (even if they aren't from a 70s car). A really good type for MGs is to get a set of bonnet louvers from a Ford Fiesta Turbo. If I ever have to go with louvers I'd be inclined to use those -- they just look right.
Ted

OK...since you mentioned the plastic louvers...that is exactly what I used for my MGB/GT V8 ...I visited a local salvage yard and decided which I likked the best..ended up uing louvres off of a mid to late '80s Chrysler New Yorker. By body man cut the section from the American hood (bonnet) and used one of the new hi-tech epoxies to glue it into the MGB bonnet. These louvres are functional and are about 8"x12" each. Post me separately should you want a photo.

rick
rick ingram

Certain years (70-80ish) Volvo station wagons had cabin vents with rain excluders and tubing that fit just below the rear side windows. They measure about 2"x8" are all black plastic and mount with 4- phillips head screws.
I got them for front wing side vents for my Midget, but used wedge-shaped cabin air vents from a Spitfire hard-top instead. Volvo's were $1.00 at the local U-pick-parts yard. Spitbits sold me a pair of NOS Triumph vents for $20. Very hot 1500 runs cool with these and a few other cooling tricks.
Marc Judson

Maybe this will help. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2410395117&category=33646
Dana Wilson

Alan,

I put louvres in an RV8 bonnet (hood).

I tried fibreglass but it was not very sucessful... I had some aluminium ones made....they were not expensive....and used a special epoxy to fix them on the inside of the bonnet, you couldn't see the join when it was resprayed.

The only problem is, ally and steel don't go too well together, and there's a shrink mark between them now.

It's certainly improved cooling when stationary.

Mike
Michael barnfather

Guys,

thanks for all of the responses thus far. The ebay hood looks good, although mine has already been modified with a scoop so i think that one is out of the question, especially since the guys wants 250 for it.

As for plastic louvers being inserted, im not to keen on that idea, and am pretty set on getting them punched.

Steve, i remember seeing that purple mgb at a car show in london a few years back, and sent of an email to martyn. Hopefully he will get back to me soon with where he got his done.

Thanks,

Alan.
Alan Raddatz

Not a bad price on that e-bay hood. The shop that did my hood scoop (Joe Soulpy sp?) Hackettstown NJ quotes $1.75 per louver, 160 X $1.75 = $280.00, that’s just for the louvers. That means the hood itself is essentially free!
Michael S. Domanowski

Find a Street Rod shop.

We have a local shop that builds high end custom street rods. A few years ago our british car club toured their impressive facitily. At the time, they charged $1.50 per standard size louver.
Carl

Alan,

I thought Martyn's car was a black LE, but I could be mistaken, or he may have more than 1 car.

In any case, he impressed me as a very nice gentleman, even after I expressed my desire to buy his car, and then realized (or rather was made to realize by my better half), that I had no money!

With my car, I have a C hood, minus the carb bulge, and am working on an intake scoop in front, and possibly 'Cobra' style vents on the outer fenders, with louvers on the inner fenders to exhaust hot air.

Mind you, I don't even have the V8 yet, but will eventually, and I think it's going to come together nicely.

Regards,

Steve

Steve

This thread was discussed between 10/04/2003 and 11/04/2003

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