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MG MGB GT V8 Factory Originals Technical - Mud shield

Did Original MGBGT V-8s have a mud shield?
George Champion

Where, George ?
David Smith

I'm talking about the panel between the radiator and the front suspension cross member. I don't remember seeing it in any pictures of V-8s. It's labeled as a mud shield in catalogs, yet I've wondered if its real purpose is to prevent hot air from cycling under the radiator at idle.
George Champion

There is a curved fibre-board strip that ducts air from the holes in the panel under the front bumper through to the bottom part of the radiator and the oil cooler (or it would do if it were shaped correctly, mine leaves gaps big enough for a cat to climb into) but there is nothing between the radiator and the cross-member which is *behind* the radiator.

PaulH.
Paul Hunt

Mine has an ST spoiler and a fibre-board oval shaped duct which fits the duct in the spoiler and directs all the cold air to the oil cooler and rad. Mine sagged too Paul, so I fitted a piece of steel strip about 1.5 inches wide from the centreline of the spoiler rearwards, and wrapped the other end around the antiroll bar.
David Smith

The mudshield George refers to is, I think, part # BHH2127 & was only fitted to 4 pot models. There was an airduct part # BHH1614 fitted to late model RB cars & all V8s according to the parts cat.
Barrie E
Barrie Egerton

Moss shows the air duct as fitted to all RB cars (4-cyl). The V8 manual shows a CB car with oil cooler *above* the apron, but that doesn't seem right because they all had twin electric fans which meant the cooler had to go *below* the apron, which would be why all V8s had the duct. Did RB 4-cyl cars have the radiator extending below the apron like the V8 and/or the cooler below the apron? Or was that only on cars with electric fans? If the latter then that would be why the duct was only on later 4-cyl RB cars, hence the Moss info is incorrect.

PaulH.
Paul Hunt

Paul H.,
I think I can clear this up - the CB V-8s had the oil cooler mounted above the apron, but it has been moved to the RH side and slightly forward of the original 4-cyl. mounting location to clear the electric fans. To give you a visual idea of where it is, the RH upper edge of the cooler is almost within interference distance of the RH horn. The cooler also is a 10-row rather than a 13-row to go into the slightly shallower space provided.

I do not believe that CB V-8s had the fibreboard duct. I bought one from Moss on the basis of the Factory parts book (which is a bit ambiguous), and with duct in hand I crawled under the front end and I couldn't find any evidence of mounting holes or captive nuts. Although the CB V-8s had the two rectangular holes in the front valence, the oil cooler is not behind them, hence there is no need for the duct. The duct may be of use to channel air to the lower portion of the radiator, but it does not appear that there is an effective place to mount it on CB cars.

Hope this helps,
Paul Kile
Paul Kile

Thanks everybody, this has been quite informative. I wonder why the didn’t use mud shields on V-8s.

The illustrations in catalogues make the lower air duct look like it is made of stamped metal, but finding out they are made of fiber board explains why I have never seen a real one. All of the mud shields I have seen were in very bad shape. My ’71 didn’t have the openings below the bumper so it never had a lower air duct. The long list of missing parts on my ’77 certainly included both fiber board units.

Paul H. – Starting in ’77 the four cylinder MGBs had electric fans pushing air back through the taller forward mounted radiators that extend below the frame rails same as the V-8s. A 10-row oil cooler mounted underneath was optional. Isn’t it strange that the last of the last of the modifications required for V-8s were not used on the four cylinder models until after the V-8 was discontinued?

The catalogs show ’72 through ’76 used a lower air duct with the rear edge curved up to reach the shorter radiator.

George

George Champion

George - highly likely the factory had a pile of V8 components to use up after V8 production ceased !
David Smith

PaulK - thanks for that info, looks like Manual and Moss are correct after all.

George - the RB V8s *did* have the mud shield/duct.

PaulH.
Paul Hunt

This thread was discussed between 04/06/2000 and 08/06/2000

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