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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - (possibly) extra cooling at no cost?

Perhaps it was just on my car

Perhaps I'm fooling myself

I'd never noticed or thought about it before

When I changed my horns and realised they were handed I then realised that the old ones had been fixed so they sat on their support brackets in the direct airflow path to the radiator

I fitted the new horns so they hung below their support brackets instead thus placing them out of the direct airflow to the radiator

The thermostat controled electric radiator cooling fan then seemed to need to work slightly less during the hot weather than before the new horns were fitted

I might be wrong
Nigel Atkins

I doubt you are, I moved My duel horns out of the air flow also some time back, when you look at how big the hornsare and look at how small the rad is Im sure its got to be a fairly good percentage of blockage.

Prop
Prop

Incremental can be substantial (there's your oxymoron for the day).

On the same premise I removed the central pillar between the 2 holes in the bodywork below the grill and front rubber bumper on my 1500 to improve airflow to the oil cooler installed on that lovely little shelf in front of and below the radiator (which seems so perfectly set up for an oil cooler that it's hard to understand why it wasn't offered as an option on these cars).

It gets very hot (100 to 110 routinely) where I live in the summer (without the humidity you USA east-coasters have to endure) but my 1500 (sans catalytic converter) never, ever overheats, even in traffic.

I'm so confidant in it's resistance to overheating that I have installed an aluminium bubble wrap product under the bonnet to reduce noise in the cockpit.

Which may have something to do with why I can no longer hear the oil-dry rocker assembly rattling about upon startup after taking Deborah Evans advice to sh*tcan the oil rocker feed : )
Richard Reeves

My reason for a slight doubt is that even in the new position the horns are still between the air intake of the rad cowl and the rad

And someone might know better

But in this new position they may be in an area of less airflow so resticting less and out of a direct airflow area so overall increasing the airflow

I can definately see how Richard's mod would help especialy with an oil cooler rad partially resticting water rad and if I'm right more cooling air goes lower and under the car

Anyway it costs nothing to move the horns (unless you break something and just for once I didn't) so is worth doing if they sit in the high position
Nigel Atkins

Another "free" cooling effect - if you're stuck in traffic on a hot day and you've already switched the heater on but you're still overheating - just pop the bonnet onto the safety catch, which allows hot air to escape from the top of the engine bay and more ambient air in when you move.
M J Chapman

Yeap I've had to do that with fibreglass cars, good tip but if you need to do that with a midget then something needs looking at

Even having to put the heater on would worry me especially as my heater burns your legs
Nigel Atkins

This thread was discussed between 12/07/2010 and 13/07/2010

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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