V8 radiator upgrade project

Gordon Hesketh-Jones uses his MGBGTV8 on a daily basis and for trips on Mainland Europe clocking up over 400,000 miles, so he has regular maintenance work - both mechanical and bodywork. He is now working on a radiator upgrade project for his MGBGTV8 and plans to test it during a forthcoming Iberian tour. As he says "the real test however will be how it copes with the traffic in Marbella, Gibraltar and Lisbon, so I will submit a V8NOTE when I have done some more relevant testing in January and February 2009". (19.10.08) What does the radiator upgrade involve? Having had long discussions with the man at Plymouth Radiator who in turn discussed the matter with the core manufacturer - G M Radiators near Glasgow - the plan is to make my radiator 4-core instead of three, with 11 rows of fins per inch instead of 7. Crucially, the tubes will be 13.5mm O/D (2.2mm wall thickness so 9.1mm I/D) compared to the standard tubes which are 9.3mm O/D (4.9mm I/D). On the information I have so far, the new tubes should have a cross-sectional area of 14.3 mm² compared to 7.69 mm² - virtually double the cross sectional area leading to faster water flow through the radiator. The tubes will be 355mm long – the same as at present - so no change to the height or depth of the header tank and the bottom of the tank - and, crucially, the bottom hose connection. Rather than the tubes being arranged one behind the other, they will be in a “Z” pattern to allow better air flow. This is a standard arrangement for high-efficiency radiators made for earth-movers, tractors, JCBs and similar slow moving equipment. Being 4-row, the radiator is thicker front to back and will project into the engine bay space by approximately 25mm. I measured the coolant capacity of the standard radiator at 3.1 litres but do not yet know how many tubes there will be in the new radiator so cannot Gordon Hesketh-Jones stopped off in Germany on his return from his Eastern European tour to meet up with Kai Knickmann and Allan Doyle. See the reports on the V8 goes East tour. More calculate its capacity. I will have to wait until it arrives then measure it. At £264.37 ( £225 plus VAT) the price is virtually three times to cost of the standard MGB Hive V8 version but only just similar to the Hi-Flow MOSS MGB versions. I will be collecting the unit from Plymouth Radiator next week but the back axle will not be back for 7 to 10 days. However the real question is whether the radiator will work and the theory is that with its design for applications in earth-movers, tractors and JCBs, it should be far better at low speeds and in traffic jams – which are the particular worries for our cars. If it does the job though I won’t complain! I will let you know in due time how this works out and it might be worth yet another V8 Workshop Note on Cooling in the New Year! V8 Register - MG Car Club - the leading group for MG V8 enthusiasts at www.v8register.net