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MG MGA - Radiator filler neck

Earlier this year I had my radiator re-cored, and although they made a lovely job of the re-core and straightened out all the dents in the lower tank, they didn't replace the badly worn filler neck! I didn't want the bother of sending it back, and I was rather loathed to take the rad to a local repairer and incurring more expense, so I decided to do it myself. I thought it would be a good opportunity to kill two birds with one stone and fit a 'standard-reach' filler neck in place of the MGA long-reach one, as Barney recommends on his site. The problem was, finding a replacement brass radiator filler neck! I spent hours trawling the internet and found plenty of aluminium ones, but the only brass filler necks I could find were in India, and they wanted to sell me thousands of them! The only thing I could think of was to find a donor radiator, remove the neck and fit it on mine. Eventually a Midget expansion tank in brass turned up on eBay. It was a bit dented, but that was good because I only wanted the filler neck, I didn't want to canibalise a good expansion tank and I wanted it cheap! So I managed to get it for £6.30, which is probably cheaper than a new brass filler neck would have been had I managed to find one. I thought I might have to adapt the 'new' filler neck to get it to fit my radiator, but I was very pleased to find that the base fitting was identical to the old one. I did the job with the radiator in-situ by draining it down and then laying wet cloths on the surrounding areas of the rad top and the front of the engine to protect them from the gas flame. A wet cloth over the front carb would probably have been a good idea, but the flame wasn't getting anywhere near there and the car hadn't run for weeks, so there was no trace of petrol.
The job was relatively easy, so I thought I would record it here in case anyone else is contemplating the same thing. The picture shows the 'new' filler neck fitted. Paint will be applied when I am certain I have no leaks, but that's just me being pessimistic!

Lindsay Sampford

Brilliant idea Lindsay - and no more searching for the elusive long reach cap.
Cam Cunningham

The long reach caps are readily available and with the twin seals for an overflow tank. These are polished stainless steel so they should last quite a while:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Polished-Stainless-Steel-Rad-Cap-7psi-Mga-/330617039705?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item4cfa4fab59#ht_500wt_969
N McGurk

He probably used my famed BlancoPolish on that cap! I must try it on mine.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Neil, I've got one of those unused going spare now! They are a nice bit of kit, but the stainless steel isn't going to stop the seals from wearing out. I've just ordered a 'short reach' one to fit my new filler neck.
Lindsay Sampford

Or from NAPA for under $6-USD.
http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?R=BK_7031411_0328580175
Barney Gaylord

I found an old cap in my spares bin and gave one half exactly 5 minutes polish with BlancoPolish using a rag and finger (no buffing machine). Wonderful stuff. It's what brought up the shine on my stub stacks. Wish I owned the company. The cap looks like it is dull zinc coated, not exactly the kitchen sink stainless steel, but after the 5 minutes it certainly started to take on the appearance.

Steve

Steve Gyles

Lindsay

I see you are using an overflow/expansion tank. Just checking that you have it set up as an overflow tank, since you are using the pressure cap on your radiator.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Just to clarify what I have said in the above post, with the pressure cap on the radiator, the other cap shown by the firewall your opening photo should be just a blanking cap.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Sreve, yes, the cap on the overflow is a blanking cap. The beauty of using the MGB/Midget expansion tank is that you can choose whether you want an expansion tank or an overflow/recovery tank by simply changing the tank and rad caps. In my case, now that I have a short-reach radiator neck, I could swap the rad cap with the overflow tank cap and I would have a pressurised expansion tank configuration. I have, however, chosen to go with the un-pressurised overflow set-up as I feel safer not having to rely on the rad-top seal, the overflow pipe connections and the overflow/expansion tank having to withstand 7PSI. It's just that little bit more for the MGA gremlins to fiddle with, so I choose to rob them of that bit of sport!
Lindsay Sampford

By the way Steve - where do you buy your Blanco polish from? Can't seem to find it anywhere!
Cam Cunningham

Cam

It came with the stainless steel sink we bought a few years back. However, it is available on Ebay at £11.18 for a 150ml tube: http://tinyurl.com/64aylne


Also here and cheaper: http://www.tapsaver.co.uk/tap_1934.asp

Steve
Steve Gyles

Thanks for the link Steve - might be useful for cleaning up the carbs before our next club pride of ownership -cheers Cam
Cam Cunningham

This thread was discussed between 18/10/2011 and 21/10/2011

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