Survey of spridget radiators

[jcatnite]

I'm in a delima here. My 76 Midget has the crossflow radiator as it should but the frame is busted on it and it is pretty much unusable right now. I did buy one from one of the guys parting a 78 Midget out and it seemed to be in pretty good shape. When I went to put it on the inlet tube on the driver's side is at the bottom of the right tank instead of the top where mine is. Which is right? Victoria British lists the 1500 radiators as changing around 160000ish but I'm well above that in the 180000range. I guess what I am asking is where is the inlet connection supposed to be? How bout a round of what year midget everyone has and where their radiator connection on the driver's side is? I don't know any other way to get to the bottom of it...lol
Thanks,
JC

 

[sparkydave]

Hi JC, the inlet on mine is at the bottom, and a fellow owner of a '76 has his on the bottom. It seems to me it was the '75 that had a different radiator, and it was improved in the '76 and later ones. Do you have a shorter hose on yours then? The replacement hoses from Moss reach from the thermostat housing down to the bottom of the radiator.

 

[jcatnite]

On the original one that is really trashed the inlet is at the top. I have a short hose that runs across the alternator and does a 180 turn back into it. So I guess it is the shorter hose. The newer radiator that I got (from a 79 I think) has the inlet at the bottom. I ordered a 15" hose from Advance Auto yesterday. I am hoping it is the one that I will need to try the newer radiator. I'm hoping this helps the car a bit as I can't go more than a few miles over 50 miles per hour without it getting above 200 degrees. I plan to flush the engine and new radiator as well once I get it all back together.
Thanks for the help Dave,
I looked at probably 30 different Midget 1500 underhood shots on the internet this weekend and everyone of them had the inlet connection down at the bottom. I wonder if at some point my radiator had been apart and they turned the inlet head around???
Anyway, hopefully I'm on the right track now.
Thanks again,
JC

 

[1977MGMidget]

I was having the same problem with my 77. I had the rad recored and now it runs about 170 with a 160 thermostat. If you run 60mph it will go up but very little. Both hoses for mine are at the bottom.
Ron Garant

 

[jcatnite]

Thanks Ron. Now I have a radiator with both connections at the bottom. Once I get the system flushed, if it doesn't run a little cooler then I am going to pull the rad and have it recored with a high efficiency core here at a local radiator shop. Right now I'm in wait and see mode as there are other things keeping it off the road...lol...isn't there always...
JC