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MG Midget and Sprite Technical Wing vents BBS discussion at MG-Cars.net
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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Wing vents
| Well i'm bored at work, so have decided to design some better wing vents, at the moment i have some Landy ones, they do the job of letting the air out, but are plastic. My new design has to have the same internal cut out profile & i wanted something a bit big Healey-ish. I'm not sure if i'm best making them from S/S, Ali or steel, any comments welcome. The picture is of near side vent fitted, the diagrams for the offside.  |
| Brad (Sprite IV 1380) |
Top view OS.
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| Brad (Sprite IV 1380) |
OS bottom view.
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| Brad (Sprite IV 1380) |
| Brad This was going to be my next project! I fiited alloy ones from A+H spares on to my Big Healey and could not believe the difference in temperature under the bonnet as soon as the Kenlowe came on you could feel the heat being pushed out the vents,I think the most important thing is to make sure your angles are correct on the fins so you have a nice flow of air in through the grill and out through the vents. I was thinking of drilling three holes in line down the side of the wings like one or two of the race midgets have, but if you could replicate a smaller version of A+H spares vents these would look nice and serve avery good purpose,maybe leave in alloy and just seal and pot rivet to the wings. I would be intersested if you get any made. |
| Rob Newt |
| Rob, the Landy ones are held in place with s/s self tappers, i was going to keep the hole spacing the same to avoid having a wing like a dart board. Your right about the airflow, it made a big differance, having a black car doesn't help the under bonnet temperatures in slow moving traffic. I guessed the fin angle at 45 degrees, does that seem about right? So thats one vote for Ali then. |
| Brad (Sprite IV 1380) |
| Hi Brad, I went with Ali and fabricated some,but the turbo throws out a lot of waste heat.  |
| steve cowling |
| Steve, what fin angle did you use & did you flare the inner bit over? |
| Brad (Sprite IV 1380) |
| yay vents! i thought about them last time the wings were off: made a ducktape mock-up one on a dead wing and wasn't sure if it would work or not definitely going to try building some now :) spotted some venty/louvre things on carbuildersolutions online catalogue, not the shape i'm after but looked OK Rob  |
| Rob Armstrong |
| Hi Brad, About 45 degrees I think.I loosely copied some AC Cobra ones which were on sale for only(!) £120.Held on with self tappers,the fins are pop riveted to a frame which was shaped to fit the curved surround and glued on with no nails.Everything at the back sprayed matt black to hide it.Another view below. |
| steve cowling |
| Thanks Steve, the landy ones i have are flat, but they fit the wings well where they are. I'll probably get the fins Tig welded, i've a mate whose got a fab shop & very good at ali. Have you thought about anthracite minilites? |
| Brad (Sprite IV 1380) |
| Hi Brad, The 13,s I had on before were anthracite,these are 14's I picked up cheaply. |
| steve cowling |
| You could always try aftermarket LR ones in stainless. Try www.rebel4x4.co.uk/Stainless_steel.htm Mark |
| M Crossley |
| Thanks Mark, £18.50 is pretty cheap too & a better option than the plastic ones. I've asked for a quote on making the above design in Ali, so i'll wait for that first. |
| Brad (Sprite IV 1380) |
| Brad, looks good. I'd vote for steel as I'd probably paint them and if I wanted to weld them in flush with the wing I could. |
| Bill Young |
| Umm, i was thinking ali, then you could shot blast & spray it if needed. 1 vote ali 1 vote steel |
| Brad (Sprite IV 1380) |
| Im still a great fan of Carl Bintclif's wing vents. If these were available i would serious consider putting them in. You guys say it gives great venting of warm air when in slow moving traffic(and helped by a fan) but would bonnet louvres not be better for that job? |
| Arie de Best |
| This is the Blue One on the day I sold it over 12 years ago. I used Ford RS Turbo bonnet vents in the sides. Still there on it when we bought it back 3 or 4 years ago. Not a right good pic I know, but you can just see them. interesting thread tho, as we are contemplating what to do with the new race car front. Andrew.  |
| Andrew McGee |
| Arie, i also found that the front of the car doesn't rise up so much at speed; it gave me enough confidence to break the speedo. |
| Brad (Sprite IV 1380) |
| Ok! How much would people be prepared to pay for a pair of these? Carl  |
| C Bintcliffe |
| £30 a pair. |
| Tarquin |
| How much are you thinking Carl? A. |
| Andrew McGee |
| I have a friend going to England in a week, can he pick a set of these up? ;-) David "not anxious nor nuttin..." Lieb |
| David Lieb |
| ali or f/glass? what Tarks said and I'll have 2 pairs please :-) |
| David Smith |
| Whats the deal then Carl?have you made these or are they off a Big Healey as they look just the same?I would have a pair if made in ali at a reasonable price. |
| Rob Newt |
| "how much would people be prepared to pay"? Pay? Us? Your best and ONLY friends! ;) I see all of the vents shown here have the "blades" diagonal from top-front to bottom rear. Does this give a better airflow compared to diagonal bottom-front to top-rear? |
| Arie de Best |
| Carl, i'd be interested if they fit over the profile of my landy ones. |
| Brad (Sprite IV 1380) |
| These things have been around for years...because they work! I'd be interested. Dave  |
| Dave Rhine |
I fancy making some of these...
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| Tarquin |
| I'm sold on the use of wing vents as opposed to holes drilled in the back of the wing having done both on racing Spridgets... Carl, it would all depend on your price and the weight of said items :) What about replicating the top wing vents as fitted to Chris Montague's racing Spridgets many moons ago (I don't have a pic but I think there is one in one of Daniel's books)? JB |
| James Bilsland |
| Carl anny serious ideas on a run of those? i'd be in for a set dependant on the execution |
| Onno Könemann |
| i fitted the ones in the photo to a kit car they came from a boat parts shop made from s s they did the job ok had a 2.2 engine in it i thik cost about £ 35 |
| bj camp |
the photo
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| bj camp |
| Brad I think these that are from Cape have to be the most sexy looking,someone out there could surely copy these in ali for a reasonable price,they would just need a 5mm lip round the edge to cover the rough cut on the hole into the wing,then leave in ali or paint if needed.  |
| Rob Newt |
| I really like the ones in the green Midget in Carl's photo way up there. They look the part and style. I would be interested in a couple pair. David "mr gullible" Lieb |
| David Lieb |
| Carl, i'm very interested in a set, but need to know if they would cover my existing cut out, can you mail me so i can send you my Cad diagram. |
| Brad (Sprite IV 1380) |
| OK! It looks like I need to give some serious thought to getting some of these made. I have a few options in terms of material. ABS,glassfibre,aluminium,carbon fibre or any combination ofthese. I will make some enquiries and get back in the new year. All the best to everyone for the festive season Carl |
| C Bintcliffe |
| I would prefer that they not be ABS, but I could live with any of the others or even with a weld-in unit made of sheet metal. David "the fussy one" Lieb |
| David Lieb |
| Ali first, steel second for me. |
| Brad (Sprite IV 1380) |
| Has to be Ali. But dont forget ali causes a reaction with steel! |
| Rob Newt |
| Carl, I'd be prepared to pay as little as possible.... and slightly more for carbon vents. James, The louvres in the top of the wings are not designed to reduce engine bay temps but to reduce the aerodyanmic drag created by the wheel and tyre whizzing round a closed space. The louvres vent out the turbulence. CM would never say whether he thought they worked or not so I guess that means he was certain they did? whatever happened to him and his cars? |
| Daniel Thirteen-Twelve |
| Daniel - yes - I was thinking it would be good to run both... I think CM died a few years back - his Class A I don't know, but his old B car I believe was broken up in Wales - John Collinson has the Cyl head and carbs (split Webers) from that car on his new Blue Frog. |
| James Bilsland |
| how about this item from ebay? 230410630292 looks good, there is a bigger one on there too. Snowy |
| sm white |
| Carl, have you a quote back yet for the vents? before i go ahead myself? cheers Brad |
| Brad (Sprite IV 1380) |
Too cold to venture into the garage today so I thought I'd look at wing vents. Here's one I made earlier - made from some offcuts kicking around. I think with a few tweaks it would be good enough to fit. The pukka ones come in 2 varieties - flanged and unflanged. Flanged is better suited to retro fit but throwing the corners in aluminium is quite difficult, so I settled for the easier version instead.
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| F Pollock |
| Carl, You know Im down for a pair, ABS would be my last choice As I dont know how to form it, but any of the othere materials would be fine thanks buddy Prop |
| Prop |
| F Pollock Vary nice, In fact Ive made one just like that, BUT...Any ideas on how to put a (nice looking) lip on the outside edge in order to cover the rough cut out hole edge in the fender...thats where Im held up at. My guess is it needs to be about 1 inch. In fact I was planning on getting a pair of air powered jobbers to make a recess into the fender so the vent would sit flush with the fender surface....just not sure how to achive that yet, esp. in the corners where its a rounded edge....perhaps break out the angle grinder and grind a circlular sect. into the jobber faces Let me know if you got any ideas for (easliy) putting a nice looking 1 inch edge around the vent, (remember I only got a rock and pocket knife for a machine shop...LOL) Prop |
| Prop |
| To produce an aluminium vent with the lipped flange you'd need to start with the fold already made. The section is then bent around a wooden former or checking fixture, finishing with a butt joint. The maximum width of the flange depends on how tight the corner is - but on this model 6mm was achieved with only light dressing with a bumping hammer. I think you'd struggle to get an inch flange, but 10mm may be possible. Rebating the wing is not so straightforward. Rolling jodders would do the job as would chasing the metal into a steel tool. But it would mean working with stripped wings with all the associated tools of a bodyshop for dressing and refinishing. It's all do able but it would be pretty costly and labour intensive. Not recommended if all you have is a rock and pocket knife.  |
| F Pollock |
| F Pollock Did you do annything (heating?)to the aluminium before bending it around that corner? i realy like that look with the lip and forming it around a wooden mold should not be so difficult being a carpenter |
| Onno Könemann |
| No, the lip was formed cold. For best results you need to flange the cut aluminium on a folding table, and then make a start at the top, as in the photo. Once you've screwed the section to the former with a pan screw, you can use bodyweight pressing on the former to roll and form the corners. When you've done all 3 corners the top section is then butt welded together. This would also work in steel, but of course the flange condition at the corner will need heat and additional stretching to achieve the same profile. |
| F Pollock |
| The forming of the flange is more difficult by the factthat when the vent is placed in an asthetic position the wink has already started to roll inwards. I hope to do a little more work on mine soon and will then approach someone to make a small batch. The ones on my car where vacuum formed in ABS which made it easy to include the flange. My first effort was to just cut out a nice neat hole in the wing, paint the edges and then bond a piece of mesh on to the back. It works well for removing the heat but doesn,t look quite as nice imho Cheers Carl  |
| C Bintcliffe |
| Carl, I'm still up for a pair. |
| Daniel Thirteen-Twelve |
| Bump! Would be a waste to let such a highly intresting thread be archived without having all the anwsers. |
| Arie de Best |
I've had a bit of change around with the design & come up with this.
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| Brad 1380 |
I've got this far, but am not sure about the fins, what do you lot think before i weld them in, are the square holes ok or pants?
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| Brad 1380 |
| Um... Shouldn't the fins slope the other way to extract warm air? Assuming widest side is closest to the wheel arch. Or is the first image from inside the wing? |
| Paul Clark |
| Paul, 1st image is the drivers side. |
| Brad 1380 |
Is that an unofficial pants then?
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| Brad 1380 |
| >>> Is that an unofficial pants then? <<< Depends... I don't see the square holes impeding airflow to any great degree, but that said, do they serve a purpose? Seems it would simplify fabrication to do without them. Actually, they don't look bad at all. -:G:- |
| Gryf Ketcherside |
| Gryf, it was me being lazy actually, the sheet with the holes pre-punched was the same thickness as the fine disc in the chop die grinder. The plain sheet we have here is 0.5mm thicker so i would probably have to use a needle file to make the slots wider if fitting solid fins, i'm not sure it would be worth the trouble? |
| Brad 1380 |
This thread was discussed between 14/12/2009 and 20/10/2010
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