[Mgs] A short tale of parts & service

[Dan DiBiase]

A bummer that you couldn't participate in the melee, Max, I bet you were
disappointed. Good recovery by Moss, though.

Just tells you how fast these things spin, for a plastic blade to puncture
a metal radiator!

Dan D
'76B, '65B
Central NJ USA
http://dandibiase.cbintouch.com/


On Tue, Sep 25, 2018 at 11:36 PM Max Heim via Mgs <mgs at autox.team.net>
wrote:

> I haven’t said much on the list about my project. but I got my “new” 66 B
> roadster together in time for the start of the California Melee on Sept. 8.
> Unfortunately, a blade flew off the new Moss plastic fan within the first
> ten miles and punctured the radiator, so that was as far as it got — from
> the San Francisco Presidio to Marin Civic Center.
>
> I made the mistake of trying to get it to the next exit (it was a bad
> place to be on the shoulder, between the sound wall and 5 lanes of traffic
> doing 75+), which resulted in overheating and a blown head gasket. Total
> mileage to failure on this fan was 307 miles.
>
> Subsequent examination of the stub revealed an air pocket in the plastic
> right at the center of the base of the blade. Moss accepted my photo of
> this as evidence of a manufacturing flaw. This model of fan was already out
> of production (and out of warranty) — I had purchased it as part of a large
> order back in 2015 when the car body was still in the paint shop.
>
> But regardless, they decided to send me a new fan ("new model" nylon
> 7-blade fan) and a new aluminum radiator (the shop had told me mine was
> irreparable). I thought this was pretty decent of them.
>
> I just picked up my head at the machine shop where they had skimmed the
> surface and cleaned up the valves. In the meantime I had inspected the
> lifters based on a tip from Dave at British Motorsports in Campbell and
> found a few of them were showing pitting. By replacing them now I can save
> the cam.
>
> Now I just need to pick up the lifters and the gasket set and I should be
> able to have it back together this weekend.
>
> A few tips based on my experience:
>
> 1. Just shut it down. If I had stayed out on the freeway verge I would
> have saved the head gasket, and AAA would have picked me up in a timely
> manner. But since I had reported myself “safe” and off the highway, it took
> 4 hours to get a tow.
>
> 2. Check your lifters every so often. I had replaced the cam and lifters
> due to lifter spalling sometime between 1998 and 2010. The new lifters were
> just starting to pit in 2018.
>
> 3. If you have a yellow plastic 7-bladed fan from Moss USA purchased prior
> to mid-2015, you may want to consider retiring it. I suppose if it hasn’t
> broken so far, it probably doesn’t have air bubbles in a critical location.
> But they had perhaps a dozen reported incidents. The current product being
> sold as part #434-332 is a different pattern by a different maker in a
> different material, so should not be a cause for worry.
>
> Buy British, Buy Best!
>
> --
> Max Heim
> '66 MGB
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