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MG MGA - To Bead or not to bead

I am fitting a fibreglass 'Sebring' style front valance and wanted comments on whether it is preferrential or not to install wing beading along the interface between the valance and the body / wings.
Many thanks

Mark
M Dollimore

I think the Sebring valence looks much better with some wing piping fitted in the seam between it and the bodywork.
I decided to fit the piping because I think otherwise, the Sebring valence makes the front of the car looks a little unfinished.
I cut an air vent in my valence to allow air to flow through to my oil cooler which I have installed beneath the radiator duct panel.

IMHO, this also helps improve the look of the valence but before I cut the vent I also considered fitting some brake cooling ducts into it or maybe some driving/ fog lights.

I have attached a picture of my valence.
Cheers
Colyn


Colyn Firth

Colyn, I'm looking at putting a Sebring valance on my next car, and agree with the beading addition. One question though, do the two front extension bolts get in the way of the valance?
Gary Lock

Colyn
Do you park your car in the front room, or have you carpeted the garage?
Graham V

Colin thanks, I am convinced this is the correcty way to go. It appears you like me re-use you old carpets in the garage.

M
M Dollimore

Many apologies Colyn for mispelling your name.

M
M Dollimore

I fitted mine with piping - a more 'finished' look.
The holes, and the narrow scoop below, are to get air over the oil cooler.
Gary I just cut the extension bolts short!
My new garage has carpet, of course!
Barry.

Barry Gannon

Guys
I can confirm that there was piping between the Valance and Shroud / Front Guards on the Sebring cars as per attached photo from the race in 1961.
You can see the piping hanging in mid air above the damaged section of the valance on the LHS of #44.

Note the Fibreglass replica Sebring Valances are incorrect as the original Aluminium Valances fitted in 1961 to #43 and #44 do not follow the line of the shroud but cut across to the guard with a small horizontal ledge.

The 1962 Valances were much shallower to allow a visual of the quick lift jack mounting points.
In 1961 the holes in the Valances were added after practice to ( we believe) to assist the mechanics line the jacks up on #43 and #44.

#44 is off to Rob Roy Hillclimb this weekend for a squirt up the hill and blow the cobwebs out !

cheers
Ian


Ian Prior

Ian has #44 still got the valence?

I will be there on Sunday to check it out. Wonderful to see it in operation again. I will have the camera!

Barry.
Barry Gannon

Looks like it will be the “Battle of the Valances” at Rob Roy this Sunday (sorry no beading and a little battle scarred but has a few features, held in place with Oddie 1/4 turn fastners - some missing!)
Mike

Mike Ellsmore

Graham,
not my front room but like Mark says, an unwanted living room carpet (my next door neighbours in this case, it did us both a favour.
It saved him from disposing of it and it saved me from buying some sort of floor covering. The downside is that I have had to get a Hoover to clean it and I cant keep my neighbour away because it feels like "home" to him! :^)

(No problem with how you spelled my name because, if you noticed, I did spell valance wrong in my first post.)

Originally, the valence was fixed to the body with about 8 or 9 vertical setscrews and nuts which clamped the flanges on the shroud and valance. They were a nightmare to fit and it normally took me around 20 minutes to fit or remove each one, so up to a 3 hour job!
Last year I had James Horner fit me some Wurth revit-nuts (a sort of pop-revit/captive nut) into the flange on the shroud and bottom edge of the wings and now I can fit or remove the whole lot in 20 minutes total!
This is the link to their website-

https://eshop.wurth.co.uk/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/3108-B1-Site/en_GB/-/GBP/ViewModelDetail-ShowRecommendedModel?CatalogCategoryID=b7sKD92elAcAAAFRS8AHbzVF&CampaignName=CS016&RecoId=search%40searchA


Gary, the front chassis extensions are cut off short on my car, I sometimes wish they still protruded through the valance so that I could fit some sort of rubber bump stop onto them or maybe a towing like I have on the back of the car. (Yes, I have bumped the valance a couple of times when parking the car! :-)

Mike, I really like how your valance looks with the oil cooler vent being the same width as the grille, the really cool looking lights and the brake cooling vents.
Also, does the mini "air dam" that you have on the lower edge help? My MGA begins to feel a little "light" at the front at very high speeds (when the speed gets up into the 3 digits area) and I have often wondered if a bit more front down-force would help.

Cheers
Colyn




Colyn Firth

This thread was discussed between 14/11/2018 and 15/11/2018

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