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MG MGB GT V8 Factory Originals Technical - Conversion finally underway

After what seems like forever I finally started my 215/T-5 swap..Dropped the motor/trans in last weekend. Using mounts from D&D everything bolted up quite easily. Cut holes for RV8 headers yesterday. Now my search for a Radiator begins. Thanks to Jim Stuart and Jim Miller for all the phone advice this week. Hope you guys arn't sick of me yet. Thanks also Carl,Bill,Rick, ect..
Morgan Sellgren

Can I offer a suggestion on the cooling? I had a miserable problem with cooling in mine till I switched to the radiator from a 65 ford falcon with 289 v8. I went with the heavy duty 3 row design, and had the upper inlet moved to the drivers side. I cut out a little bit of the ledge where the oil cooler sat, and moved the radiator WAY far forward and installed a 2700 cfm electric puller fan from walker radiator on the back. In front of the radiator between the front valance and the bottom front of the radiator, I bent a piece of aluminum sheet metal into a U shape and secured it to the back of the valence, and the front of the radiator. This forces all air entering the valence to go through the radiator.

Now, sitting in traffic, on 90+ degree days the temp sits nicely at 200ºF all the time.(Which is good for a fuel injected car) On cooler days I can actually see the temp gauge go up to about 210, hear the fan click on, and watch the gauge drop back to 190 within about 3 minutes. It's the coolest thing! (Wow that was a bad pun).

FWIW,
Justin
Justin

Congrats, Morgan!

Hope the templates worked. You'll probably have yours on the road before I do!!!!! Be prepared to drive it to Terre Haute, IN for British V8 2005!!!!!

rick
Rick ingram

Morgan: I agree with Justin comments and have also recently added a piece of aluminum air duct between the lower radiator and the front valence. The aluminum air duct mainly prevents hot air from from recirculating back into the front of the radiator when the car isn’t moving. In general I am happy with my D&D radiator. Engine runs very cool when the car is moving. Just need to increase my airflow through the radiator when the car is not moving. The engine driven fan is close but not up for the task on a 90°+ day. 16” pusher fan soon to be installed, which I am sure, will resolve the issue. I can send you a picture of the air duct.

I travel with several 4 cyl MG friends to St. Louis and their cooling problems are worse. I consider my cooling issue minor.
Jim Miller

Justin: Don't you find the Mustang/Falcon Rad a couple inches too long to be mounted at the slam panel? I also wish to use a 16" puller fan.. Mabe a Mustang Rad with 2 inches off would be perfect. Found a couple custom shops in CA and Arizona that build beautiful Rads $375-500.. I'd love to use stock supports 79B to make install simple. Anyone hear of Ron Davis Racing in AZ?

Jim: I'll bet a pusher will solve your problem, I remember when one of my stock pushers on 4 banger went out, it made a huge difference, and they don't push very hard.
Morgan Sellgren

Morgan, I thought you were going to install your motor a few weeks after I took you for a ride :-) February was it? Anyway, good luck and if you need to look at my rig for any measurements or whatever, let me know. I haven't had any cooling issues yet.
Edd Weninger

Meanwhile, there is a reasonable picture of the radiator arrangement at;

members.aol.com:/eddwen/MGB_EFI_V8

Edd Weninger

Glad to hear you are making progress, Morgan.

Now bolt on those headers and fire it up!
Carl

Edd's picture:

http://www.members.aol.com/eddwen/MGB_EFI_V8/MGB3.jpg
Carl

When pushed all the way forward, no the rad is not sitting too far down. There doesn't seem to be issues at all. Honestly, you're not going to get a good size rad and a 16" puller fan in place using the stock radiator mounts. Unless your engine is sitting WAY WAY far back. My engine is super far back, and it was still too tight to do a 16" and falcon rad using stock mounting locations. The main problem for me was the sway bar. My pulles are VERY tight up against the engine. In fact I shaved 1/4" off my alternator mounting to move the pulleys closer to the engine. I'll take a picture or two on my digital camera tonight and post them up for people to see. I know cutting metal sucks, but sometimes the benefits outweigh the costs in the end. For me it was worth it.

I'll have more pics for you tonight, to help make an educated decision,

Justin
Justin

Congrats Morgan. Sorry I missed your call the other day. If I can be of help, please call again.

Martyn
Martyn Harvey

I know you guys in the US favour other types of rads but you can buy off the shelf in the UK a standard/stock BV8 rad For £110.00 about $170.00
which will bolt straight in to a late rubber bumper car or using the later rad mounts for a chrome bumper.
Have just finished the mechanical part of my conversion and using the twin pusher fans the car runs at the correct temp. I think the ally duct is a good idea and have sketched one up for my own car.
Thanks for all the good tips.
Kevin Jackson

Morgan-

Greg Fast here- Are you the guy that I talked too (after you spoke to Maul) about 18 months ago?

Am I correct in assuming you went rubber bumper? Ig so, how you you intend to beat the smog police?
Greg Fast

Greg...We did talk a couple times. You told me about your race car project..Yes I did go RB, I found one of those rare 71 rubber bumper cars. :)~

Morgan
Morgan

This thread was discussed between 22/07/2003 and 28/07/2003

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