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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - 1076 1500 cooling questions

Again, restoring the 1500 next door, I replaced the water pump and had difficulty removing the fan clutch. It came off in pieces and when I removed the radiator, I found that it was leaking at all necks.

Ordered a replacement from MOSS and is about 4" narrower and lacking a upper hose connection to the thermostat housing. Installed it anyway and the car runs hotter (duh!). Seems that this radiator was used in 1975 only and that the later, wider version is not available from MOSS.

Installed an electric fan instead of replacing the fan clutch. the thing seems to run most of the time even though it is set to start around 190°. Temperatures are fairly steady slightly above the "N" but were right at 160° mark with the previous larger radiator and fan clutch set up no matter how hot the ambient temperature or hard the running conditions were.

Under the new regime, water burps from the metal overflow tank (15 LB cap) and this car has no plastic catch tank installed. Seems there is one in a box of loose parts but have no idea where or how it was installed. There is no inlet nipple so the pipe must have fed through the cap. Getting this into place might recover enough coolant to keep the system stable. Right now, it appears that it is time to throw out the new 1975 radiator, have the wider one repaired and buy a proper fan clutch.

Any comments regarding the 1975 cooling upgrades for 1976- would be appreciated.
Glenn Mallory

You are correct that Moss shows the 1976-on rad as N/A. Victoria British does list the wider, 1976-on radiator as Cat # 12-003. But it may well be worth it to have the original radiator repaired at a competent radiator shop. The overflow tank is a plastic tank with a v-shaped bottom that sits on the back edge of the inner fender. It's held down with a rubber strap with hooks on each end that fit into welded on brackets that should be present. You are correct that the overflow tube from the neck of the expansion tank goes into the center of the cap on the overflow tank. I don't see anyone currently selling the overflow tank or the cap.
Kim Tonry

The Vic-Brit rad Kim mentions fits correctly (larger) and works well enough.

IMO the fan clutch is preferable to the electric fan (less noise).

My 1979 is set up with an air intake that is external to the overheated area under the hood, probably no help but it can't hurt either.

The leaner the mix the less heat the catalytic converter will put out.

In my experience, the single best fix to stabilize temp extremes (beyond repairing faulty equipment) was to fit an oil cooler.
Richard Reeves

I can also vouch for the Victoria British radiator, having installed on on my '78 a couple of weeks ago. It was a direct replacement, and a perfect fit.

The later radiator is indeed wider, providing about 4" additional cooling capacity on the "cool" end of the rad.

Echoing Kim above, the catch tank sits in the valley where the inner fender meets the footwell on the RH side of the engine bay. There should be a fitting just under the cap of the expansion tank for the catch tank hose.

Cheers,

-:G:-
Gryf Ketcherside

The larger the radiator, the more cooling you have. My car came from a previous owner with a water pump/fan assembly from a Spitfire in place of the pump with the later fan clutch type. I don't notice any loss of power, not that the 1500 is a power horse to begin with, but I've not had any cooling problems with that setup. Just make sure the fan is rotating the correct way.

The usual sources stock these parts of course.
Clive Reddin

This thread was discussed between 25/09/2011 and 27/09/2011

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