> Have recently purchased a 1961 MGA 1600 Roadster . The car has been fully
> restored and is in superb condition - not completely purist original but
>pretty
> close to. A great comfort to middle age! The car is an "Aussie build" having
> been despatched from Abingdon to Australia in CKD form.
> Engine No 16 GAU/26224
> Chassis No YGHN2/894417/992
> 80,000 miles and in original Mamba Black/Red interior.
> I'm currently trying to trace the service records back to establish what
>engine
> mods. have been made. Already established that it has a high performance
> camshaft, which would account for the excellent mid and high range
> performance. Also accounts for the fact that the car demands to be taken out
>of
> traffic and returned to a straight, unrestricted highway as soon as low gears
>are
> used for more than five minutes!
> Also fitted was an auxiliary cooling fan to cope with our heat!
Overheating is a common problem with MGAs. The problem is not really
lack of frontal area or radiator capacity, but rather inadequate air
exhaust venting. The two little vents in the fenders are too small,
and in the wrong place to do any good. The factory works cars have
large vents on the sides of the fenders. My friends race MGA finally
solved the overheating problem by adding spacers to the hood hinges,
thus raising the rear of the bonnet by about 2 inches. That would look
kind of wierd on a street car, though.
One other little known item is that MGAs originally had a felt (jute)
strip fitted to the underside of the bonnet which, when the bonnet is
closed pressed hard against the upper radiator brace. This closed up
the major place where air could bypass the radiator. Most MGAs have
had this piece deteriorate and then removed completely over time. In
fact, the MGCC/Rocky Mountain Centre just rediscovered the existance
of this piece about three years ago. Fitting it immediately cured
cooling problems on 4-5 of our cars. This strip is made of jute felt
and is about 3 inches square by 16 inches long (numbers approximate)
> Can anyone offer advice, tips, info., reference sources, personal experience
>on
> performance tuning of this specific model - not too techo. as we are still in
> vertical learning curve mode!
The easiest way of getting more power/torque is to go with an MGB
engine. Although my friend retains the MGA engines in order to run in
vintage class, he does lunch the occasional bottom end (about 1 1/2
per season). I personally feel that the 3 bearing MGA engine is not up
to serious tweaking. Others will probably disagree.
> Also interested in sourcing a pair of competition de luxe seats. These were
>an
> optional extra introduced in mid 1958 and most commonly fitted to the twin
> cam. They differ from the standard seats in that the cushions were integral
>to
> the seat frame and with wider seat slides. Squab and cushion had horse shoe
> borders and five pleats in each central area. My trim is red, but will
>consider
> any colour, any condition, provided that all frame/metal parts are complete.
Good luck. These were only fitted to twin cams, MK II deluxes and
some works cars. Moss does sell the upholstery kits, but not the seat
frames themselves.
> > There is some history available for evaluating the impact of turning
> > an enthusiasts' mailing list into a newsgroup.
Exactly what Scott says. I was on the original autosports mailing
list as an active rallyist, and it didn't take months for the group to
be turned into a F1 popularity poll. I unsubscribed exactly 2 weeks
after creation. We formed the rally list about 3 months later. I
still kind of miss the way the autosports list allowed (encouraged)
discussion across interests. If a group is formed, we will end up
with MG, Triumph, etc mailing lists anyway and something will be lost.
BTW, the worst part of this list is when these political discussions
come up (newsgroups, commercial participation, etc)
Would it be ppossible to bundle these recurring discussions into a FAQ
summary and send them out to a new subscriber?
Cheers,
ay
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