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MG MGA - Cockpit Cooling
| As I start preparing for my drive to Tennessee, (MG2006), my thoughts have turned to keeping cool. I was looking at my car, and I wondered why I never hear of anyone running a fresh air vent pipe from the front air grill to the interior of the car? Would this work? Has anyone ever done it? If so, where and how did you duct the fresh air into the cockpit? DT |
| Danny T |
| Danny Do you have a heater in your car? This takes cold (ambient) air from the front grill and delivers it via 4" black trunking to the heater box and then to the cockpit. When the temperature selector is set to hot the air is heated; when set to cold the air remains at its ambient temperature. Steve |
| Steve Gyles |
| Steve, Even though in theory what you say is correct, rarely does cool air reach the cockpit in summer via this path. Especially on long drives, even with the heater valve closed, conduction and convection causes the water in the heater core to get quite warm. The same for the air ducting. You can somewhat help this by disconnecting the heater water hose from the core and looping it back to the valve, then insulate the ducting. Of course, if you need de-misters you're probably SOL. Cheers, GTF |
| G T Foster |
| A few years back, at a club get together, I met a fellow from the Mobile, Alabama club who had installed a bilge ventilator pump into the heater intake duct. When he turns it on, it draws air from the heater and vents it out into the engine compartment...thus drawing cooler air into the interior of the car. A side benefit is the added cooling capactiy from the heater core. In cooler weather, he leaves the pump off, and the heater draws air normally into the car. |
| R. L Carleen |
| I like the idea R.L. anybody have more details? Danny, many years ago there was an article in the defunct So. Calif. MGA Club on how to replace the rubber blanking plate over the unused pedal-hole (what ever its called) on the heater shelf and mount a 4" tin duct elbow over the hole then just move the heater hose over to it. It had a built-in butter fly valve, like in the heater, so it could be turned off. I could see this working along side the aforementioned bildge pump. Steve |
| Steve Meline |
| One thing I do, although minor, is to close the heater vent and allow residual heater heat to flow from the demisters. I also ducked taped every bulkhead hole that was unused. I'm quite certain the heat on my legs and feet have been reduced at least 1 degree! |
| Paul Hanley |
| I think I remember seeing an MGA for sale on either Ebay or some other listing service where I saw the type contraption you are thinking of. They had the 4" heater hose split into a 4" Y connection and then immediately turned down into the blank pedal box. The other half of the Y went directly to the heater. I would think that a butterfly valve, as mentioned above, would have been installed. It looked interesting but I must admit the extra plastic plumbing did not do wonders for the engine bay appearance but then again on 90 degree days, who's looking?! Let us know if you have any luck with the concept. |
| Ken |
| The eBay MGA was owned by a guy up the road from me. Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of it. It was pretty much as described, but I think I remember it having some metal removed to fit the ducting. It looked a little to much like a furnace for my taste. Was there originally insulation on the cockpit side of the bulkhead? |
| Kemper |
| I've been thinking that it might help lower the temp of the air entering the heater box to add insulation to the 4" flex pipe in the engine compartment. I've got a thin closed cell foam pad (supposed to be a pad for a sleeping bag). My thought is to cut a peice 4' long and roll it up in the flex pipe... |
| Steven Loe |
| Oh then all we need is an uprated fan in the heater box that will actually move some air. Does anyone know where these can be had? |
| Steven Loe |
| Fit an MGB motor and fan - the motor (like the B wipers) has two speeds, slow being the same as a standard MGA motor. I like the idea of the sleeping mat inside the flex pipe. |
| dominic clancy |
| Danny As well as closing the heater valve you should close the air intake control as well. This stops air from the front coming through the heater and past the engine. I have found this to work quite well in the past to keep things cooler in the cockpit. Neil |
| Neil Purves |
| Can I apply a heat shield / insullation to the UNDER SIDE of the car, between the engine, transmission, exhaust and the floor boards? DT |
| Danny T |
| And now for something completely different: Why not just install auto AC? Yes it can. I have a friend in Jacksonville with a 57 MGA coupe, 1800 engine and AC. There was a guy at a recent Florida air show (Sun n Fun) selling portable AC units for small airplane cockpits. These units were comprised of a standard, insulated cooler, the kind you'd buy at WalMart, filled with ice and water. A 12v blower, with an automotive 12v plug and long power cord, was built into the lid that took air in, passed it over the ice water, and out via a swivel vent or hoses. It worked amazingly well, and came in all sizes, even down to one slightly larger than six-pack cooler size. You'd probably have to forego the company of a passenger... or have an interesting contraption under their legs. A quick serch on the web turned this one up for forty dollars: http://www.popthetop.com/catalog/product_info.php?currency=USD&products_id=255 |
| Frank Nocera |
| Dominic Doesn't the A heater motor rotate in the opposite direction to the B? Larry |
| Larry Hallanger |
| Larry, If the motor does,(and I'm not sure) reversing the direction is easy, just reverse EITHER the field winding connections or the wiring to the brushes, not both. It is a universal motor and should run the same direction regardless of the voltage polarity applied. Chuck |
| Chuck Schaefer |
| The biggest source of interior heat is from the exh pipe directly under the driver seat. there was a heat shield but I haven't seen one on any of my mgas. Some alum sheet metal screwed to the bottom of the drivers floor board whil help as will an extra shield around the top of the exh pipe. |
| Fred H |
| I added a heat shield between the floor and the exaust pipe under the drivers side. You should to put spacers between the floor and the heat shield to allow for some air flow between them. I just used some longer screws to hold the floorboard, and then put the heat shield on to these long screws, using nuts as spacers on the screws. Works well. |
| Ed Bell |
| Frank Nocera, There was a guy at the British Invasion in Stowe, VT last year, who had installed a A/C unit in a coupe. It actually looked like a nice installation, but the compressor was a bulky installation, and the oultlet and condenser took up quite a bit of space inder the dash area. Gord Clark Rockburn, Qué. |
| Gordon A. Clark |
| Space to put the cooling end of the air con is always an issue. Some Rolls Royces with divisions have a second are con unit for the rear compartment. On LWB Shadows I have seen an air intake at the base of the back window. I believe the cooler unit is mounted in the boot. Pehaps this could be done with an A. Even better could you fit a compact cooler unit in one of the battery boxes and use a single 12v. Although cutting the heat soak from the engine bay and exhaust should be the first step unless, like me, you spend more time trying to keep warm than cool! |
| David Witham |
| Huper Optic has a window film Sech that can be applied to the windshield that rejects 60 percent of the suns heat as well as uva and uvb rays , It has a visible light transmittence of over 65 percent , making it virtually clear . The same film was used on the Gugenheim museum . There where no laws governing laminating windshelds back in the day so legalities are cloudy . |
| karl |
| I plan on doing the MGB plastic fan mod shown here http://www.chicagolandmgclub.com/photos/b_heater/ Interested to see a picture of the pedal box mod, as I sure got hot feet when I drove back from Le Mans last year. Cheers <MARK> |
| Mark Hester |
| Drive faster? Bill ;-) |
| Bill Eastman |
| I was.... as fast as she would go captain... 90 + MPH... Gotta love those french roads... |
| Mark Hester |
| What about EXHAUST WRAP. I have seen it on motorcycle exhausts and it is suposed to reduce heat coming off of the exhaust pipe. What if the exhaust pipe,on the MGA was wrapped with this material. Would it help reduce the heat in the car? Would the whole exhaust pipe have to be wrapped or could you just do from the manifold back to about the battery box area? The Extreme (or is it)LOL Add a heat shield under the driver side, put on some exhaust wrap,insulate the inside flooring, block all the extra holes in the cockpit bulkhead,wrap the 4" air vent hole in insulated wrapping,increase the heater fan speed,by pass the heater hoses,insulate the roof and tint the windows. |
| Gordon Harrison |
| yep that stuff is magic. I can do laps of whatever track, yank the bonnet and tough the pipes. Its suppose to reduce the life of the extractors/header, but I think the benefits far out weigh the negatives... Hot jet coating is suppose to work also, but I'm dubious of it working as well. Looks ugly though. |
| Mark Hester |
| There are old threads on the exhaust wrap in the archives. Maybe I'm alone here, but I don't get much heat in the cockpit from under the drivers seat (exhaust). Almost all the heat in my cockpit comes from the fire wall, especially the gap between the fire wall and the cowl, and there is some minor radiant heat from the tranny tunnel. At some point, I need to fill the fire wall / cowl gap with something - but I'm not sure what to use. Regards, M.D. '57 Coupe |
| M. D. |
| This may be somewhat radical and would depend upon your individual driving circumstances but I only drive me car in the summer months. I never could completely cut off the flow of warm air coming out of the heater. Last year I took the heater box out and removed the heater core. I blanked off the control valve port on the engine and plugged the outlet on the front elbow and removed all the heater plumbing. I then reinstalled the "empty" box. I blocked off the heater hose holes with plastic plugs/grommets and reconnected the 4 inch duct that extended all the way to the front grill. There was a good flow of "outside" air into the footwell which could be augmented by the heater fan which I left in place and connected. It certainly made a difference in cockpit temperature and even when I drove the car well into the fall I always found that there was enough radiant heat throught the firewall and the floorboards to keep the cabin comfortable. Except for the absence of heater plumbing the underhood still looks stock. The purists may not approve of this, but for me it worked. Mike 60 MGA 73 MGB |
| Michael Hosier |
| Drive at night. I took a drive to a fellow club memeber's place for a Brit Car tech session yesterday. It was about an hour drive in mid 90 temps and I've never had the A out in this southern summer weather. I could have baked bread or taters in that cockpit. All the holes are plugged in the firewall and the heater is off. There's a heatshield under the driver's side floor. The car has a very good quality carpet set with thick backing but no other heat insulation. That car has to be the hottest vehicle I've ever driven. Won't be taking it on any trips during the day until fall. You guys driving MGAs to MG2006 have my respect. |
| Wray Lemke |
This thread was discussed between 29/05/2006 and 12/06/2006
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