Hello, Everyone!
Once again the MGA is back on the road. It took two weeks but it now has a
radiator in front of the engine again instead of a big hole to match the
one in her driver's head.
It all started when I found antifreeze under the car after a short drive.
The left side of the core was wet top to bottom so I figured that the core
to top tank seam had given up the ghost. I had just put on a new modern 7
psi cap with a rubber spacer graciously provided by Barney Gaylord and had
fit a fluid revovery system. I figured that the extra pressure from the
new cap had done her in.
I agonized for a few days over whether to buy a new Moss radiator or have
this one repaired or even upgraded to a better core. I have heard that the
MGA core is unique and that straight replacement is not possible for most
radiator shops. I had also read about cooling problems from other A
owners. Combine that with some of my latest experiences with getting less
than first quality components on mail order and I decided to have the
radiator rebuilt. MGA's don't have a huge abundance of cooling capacity in
reserve and I was worried that a less efficient radiator could severely
crimp my MGA driving. Hot cars suck.
After calling around, I chose a radiator shop where the guy doing the work
had been working on radiators for 40 years. I figured after that amount of
time he was either pretty good or knew every shortcut in the book. He had
worked at the same place for 20 years so I figured he must know what he was
doing.
He checked over the radiator and decided that it needed a new core. After
some discussion we agreed that a modern 4 row core would be fitted. This
would require that he expand the bottom tank to fit the wider core. It
would also be close as far as fitting without messaging the sheet metal
apron in front of the radiator. The quote was for USD 252.97 which was
more than a Moss replacement but I figured that the extra cooling capacity
would be worth it. He also put a moder 3/4 inch deep neck and overflow
nipple on so that I could fit an overflow system without and buggering.
Two days later I try to fit my new radiator to the A. Unfortunately, the
mounting flanges position the radiator 1/2 inch farther away from the fan.
Possibly even worse than this is the height of the rebuilt unit. It is 3/4
inch taller. Careful measurements showed that this added height could foul
the bonnet or the steering gear depending on how the radiator was fitted.
I called the next morning and Chuck agreed to rework the radiator. He said
that one rework was real common when building custom stuff like this. He
moved the mounting flanges back- too far back in fact but at least I could
work with them where they were now. He also shortened the top tank enough
to make it fit under the bonnet.
On the next attempt at fitment, I found that, although the core itself
would have cleared the apron in front of the radiator and the fan behind,
the new core also converted from but joints to the preferred lap joints for
connecting the tanks. This added width meant that I would have to message
the apron. With help from neighbor Mike H, we made some supports for the
apron from angle iron and carefully cut a slit in each end 1/2 inch back
the tried to bend down the apron lip. With the tools we had and the space
available we were unsuccesful in this attempt. MGA sheet metal is tough!
It was getting late and the Wheels and Wings show was the next day so I
decided that where finesse fails, brute force often triumphs. I grabbed
the angle grinder and, using a thin wheel, sliced about 1/2 inch of the
apron. We then split a piece of fuel line to cover the edge. It looked
pretty good actually. We had to space the radiator away from the fan but
it went in. I quick run around the neighborhood confirmed that antifreezed
stayed inside and call it a night at 11:15 pm. Last time we were in this
predicament we were at it until 2:00 am so we must be getting better!
The next day was a perfect test for the new system. On the way home I was
late and it was 90 F outside. I was running for over half an hour at 70
mph plus and the highest the coolant temp got was about 195 F up a long,
gentle hill. This was about 10 F below what I would have expected from the
old radiator under the same circumstances so I am pretty happy. The
radiator is not real pretty- Chuck seems more concerned with function than
form- but I don't think that I will ever have to worry about running out of
radiator now. Plus I can just look at the overflow tank to figure out my
coolant level. Life is good!
Regards,
Bill Eastman
61 MGA keeping a cooler head now days.
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