John Murdock who is from Florida and travelled Alaska with us twisted his
grille vents to allow more air in for his trip back to Florida from GT22.
The MGA was running just a tad warm for his tastes on the way into Grapevine.
Another point John made was a seal that fits between the top of the
radiator and the bonnet. The seal is glued to the bonnet, and it keeps the
air from washing over the radiator, forcing it through the fins instead.
John has this piece on his car, and at GT22 his was the only car that we
saw that had it. He has a shop in Florida and swears that this seal will
lower engine temps by 5-10 degrees.
I know what my 75 mph temps are -- about 223 degrees. So...I'm going to try
the seal and see if I can get the temps down. Then try the Water Wetter and
see if I can get another 5-7 degrees there.
BTW, this seal is pliable/compressable black "rubber-stuff" that is the
width of the bonnet and about 2" thick. I know Scarborogh Faire carries
them because they had them at GTWW and had sold out of them when I went to
purchase one. Other dealers can likely get them as well.
HTH
Carol
At 09:51 AM 7/29/97 -0500, dmeadow@juno.com wrote:
>MGA overheating is a subject that gets a lot of discussion, apparently
>there are a lot of cars out there that have a problem with this. On the
>way back from NAMGAR GT-22 in Dallas, where temperatures approached 100
>degrees, my MkII never got over 200 degrees and rarely went over 195,
>usually when I took the car over 70 mph. My secret:
>
>1) New radiator 10k miles ago,
>
>2) Rebuilt engine at same time, including a complete boil-out to clean
>all passages, a new thermostat and new water pump,
>
>3) Careful installation of fan (it is easy to get it backwards),
>
>4) Careful tuning to factory specs with rebuilt carbs and all new Bosch
>ignition components (Lucas is like the weather, everybody bitches about
>it but nobody _does_ anything about it!),
>
>5) Use of 50/50 antifreeze/water coolant with a bottle of Water Wetter
>thrown in.
>
>I also believe that the "stepped" MkII grill is much better at getting
>airflow into the engine compartment. The earlier grills seemed designed
>to purposely keep air out!
>
>I have seen some period racing MGA's with the snaggle-tooth look you
>describe, so it probably does help. Many 1500 and 1600 owners twist the
>slats a few degrees to increase airflow, which may be a less drastic
>alternative.
>
>David Littlefield
>Houston, TX
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