MGB To th' tune of Sade's "Smooth Operator"

"I got a new radiator..."

Finally decided it was time to cool the MGB with a proper system. Have had an electric fan on her for too long, June/July in Florida it would climb too high in traffic.

Bit th' bullet and went for an aluminum unit from Moss. Can't rave over the welding work but I'm sure it will exchange with no issue.

Cool

I certainly hope so, Elliot!

I am surprised you had a problem. My B runs cool in all temps. Have made many runs to AZ during the summer to both desert and mountains with out issue. Where you using the later plastic fan?
best,
d.

Four blade metal fan. Had it recored over a decade ago by a shop that was going out of business ( i didn't know that when I took it to them) and they did a half-baked job. I put an electric fan on it and drove on. For most of the intervening time we've driven it little, just short trips and errand runs. I'm tired of driving the Benz and decided it's time to deal with the MG's various issues so it becomes a reliable driver again.

Great. I know what you mean...it is sometimes nice to drive something different from time to time.
glad it is working for you!!
best,
d.

Cool. When I got my first catalog a few months ago, I was excited to see the new aluminum radiator available... until I realized it's not made for the 77-80. That thing should keep its cool through all kinds of Florida summer.

Complication to the install: At some point in this MG's life it appears it had another engine put in. I suspect it was a V-8 small-block of some sort. The trans tunnel at the driver's side had been HAMMERED to make it wider and there are holes drilled through the chassis rails to accommodate some other power plant motor mounts. The issue with installing the aluminum rad was that a piece of angle iron had been welded onto the frame rails just under the radiator. When the car was made back into an MGB (proper engine/gearbox) the shop doing it just made a relief cut in the added "crossmember" for the drain petcock. The aluminum version is slightly deeper than the stock unit and wouldn't mate up easily. First attempted to cut out an area to allow the new rig's drain valve and found it was hitting on the lower part of the rad itself. Final solution was to take my trusty SawzAll to that angle iron and remove it completely. After that it went smoothly.

That same piece of angle iron had given me grief earlier when I was rebuilding the car, it was welded too closely to the swaybar anchor points. The car had no front swaybar when we got it (1988) and for the rebuild I got a steering rack and bar from a B-GT, from TonyB, for it. Had to grind down some parts of the welds to attach the bar. Now that problem is no more. :smirk:

Further frustration: Test runs around th' 'hood in ever-expanding radius, as the car sat static for over a year. Figger I'll replace whatever falls off and press on. Well, went about five miles when the left front brake seemed to be dragging a bit. Not far from the hovel, yards away in fact, started smelling brake material. After pulling into the driveway and going around the car, the left front was smoking a bit! New hoses, caliper kits and shoes/pads coming from Moss. I'll keep doing this shake-down stuff until it's squared away.

Are we havin' fun yet? naaah.

Kenny said:

That thing should keep its cool through all kinds of Florida summer.

Click to expand...

Up side is; seems to be FINE temp-wise.

Fun? Well at least it's progress. That's always a good thing. :grin:

I chuckle because once I've got the engine in my B rebuilt I'm going to have to to the same general thing -- and I'll be looking at work I did myself back in 2011 when I bought the car the first time.

Onward through the fog... Could NOT get the pistons out of the calipers. Things were too rusted, I've no blast cabinet. So, new calipers. Did all today, the Eeze-Bleed got a workout. Now more shakedown runs!