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MG MGA - Bonnet Felt

When striping the bonnet in prep for painting, I remember pulling felt from between the frame, cross members and the skin, I asumed to prevent drumming. I never re-install the felt and have not found any mention of it in "The Original MGA" by Clausager, or seen it in any other MGA. Should there be felt in this location?

Ken
L Caya

ken

you need the felt to stop heat from the engine flowing over the top of the radiator and ending up in front of the radiator. this causes hot air to pass through the radiator and the engine to overheat, especially in warmer climates. i think you can buy replacement felt from moss or brown & gammons

tim
t sullivan

Try Clarke Spares. Marvin
Marvin Stuart

I have 4 felt pieces, to original specifications, excess to requirements if anyone is interested. Cost recovery only to me.
Barry
BM Gannon

Tim, I believe Ken is referring to the pad between skin and frame, not the sealing pad. Ken, there should definitely be a pad between the frame and front wooden stiffener. I have an old bonnet that still has the original pad on the underside, which Tim refers to. It definitely has another at the front as I mention above. I will check later today to see if there is also another pad between the crossmember and skin. My assumption is that if the pad has survived on the underside all this time, then any other pads should still be there too. It's off a one owner car that was never repaired/restored.
Neil McGurk

Hi Barry may I bag one of your felt pieces please let me know the cost my email is gcpugh@hotmail.com


regards Gordon
g c pugh

Gordon

I recall an episode of M.A.S.H where the character of 'Radar' was sending Jeep parts home to his mother. The idea being that when he returned home from the war all the necessary parts would be available and he could build his own Jeep.

Are you going to build a new MGA starting with the bonnet felt?

Regards...John
J Bray

Tim, Neil is right I have the large pad to block the air flow above the radiator and I also have the pad with the wood stiffener. The pieces of felt I'm questioning to go between the two frame pieces (and maybe the cross members) and the skin of the bonnet.

Ken
L Caya

Hi John I have to start somewhere lol



gordon
g c pugh

I just looked at 5 different hood/bonnets there is the big piece of felt that seals to the radiator and the matting material on top of the wood in the front. I have never seen any other felt on a hood. What else are you talking about?


R J Brown

Barry, Do you have the padding that RJ Brown is showing ? The padding that seals the gap between the bonnet and the top of the radiator.
I thought from reading somewhere that it is horse hair.
If this is the one you have ,then could I buy a piece from you.
David
D C GRAHAME

Barry -- e-mail david.grahame@pcshopnet.net
David
D C GRAHAME

I have the FELT pad that is glued to the underside bonnet, and sits on top of the radiator. It is white and can be sprayed body colour or dyed black. It fits as in RJ's picture above. It is 340mm long X 90mm wide X 25mm thick, just like the original (as fitted to Australian cars at least!). I can post to you, but will need an address so I can calculate cost of postage. There are 4 available and cost me $6 each.
Email me as above. First in - best dressed!!
Barry
BM Gannon

(I believe Ken is referring to the pad between skin and frame)

Neil, do you have any pictures of this felt located between the bonnet skin and wood stiffner
J Dick

Texan J, I will take some pictures. There is also a piece in the same position on the bootlid.
Neil McGurk

Here is a picture of the felt and spacer. The felt between wood spacer and skin can just be seen.

The bonnet felt seems to have migrated over the years from a straight line to the curve shown. You can see the glue from the original installation.

And finally, to answer the original question, there is nothing between the crossmember and skin. The gap there is about 6 or 7mm so no chance of touching/vibrating.


Neil McGurk

I was beginning to get confused with all the posts above. I have now gone through them all a couple of times and the following seems to be agreed:

1. One piece of flat felt attached to the wooden plate in the nose of the bonnet. Neil shows the picture in his latest post. Barney also shows the exact measurements here: http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/body/bd111a.htm

2. Block(s) of felt across the bonnet in line with the radiator. Gordon is about to own the most expensive set in the world by the time he has paid postage and import duties with the falling £ value!! (Bob West has them in stock).

3. That's it. Nothing else.


For what its worth I never fitted the felt to the wooden block during the rebuild 11 years ago - Not sure if that's good or bad. Should the bonnet have fallen apart by now?! If it's just a vibration or noise issue I am not aware of anything from that area. Also, about 4 years ago I put the felt blocks on - made not the slightest difference. Recently I found one or 2 had fallen off - again did not notice any difference.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Neil
Thank you for the time to check your original bonnet and post the pictures. I feel confident at this point that there was no felt in that location.

Ken
L Caya

I believe the felt and wood filler is to provide some support for the bonnet skin for people who latch the bonnet by pushing on the top surface in the centre.

MGB owners who have an aluminum bonnet have a technique of allowing the bonnet to drop on its own from about 6" above the closed position so that there is no need to press on the surface.
John DeWolf

I just want to ask who's had their bonnet felt?

I fitted the pad across the top of the radiator a few years ago which is supposed to help cooling. I didn't notice a great improvement but it didn't get any worse.
Dan Smithers

See Moss catalogue, p.48,item 47. Bob Prentice
rsa prentice

I believe, if I read the original post in this thread from Ken (L Caya) correctly, that he is asking if anyone has seen felt peices between the bonnet cross braces? (not the thick peice over the radiator, and not the peice under the wood at the front) I have stripped and painted two bonnets ('56 and '58) and have not found these pcs. So either they were not there originally, or they blew away many years before I acquired the cars!
Peter.
P. Tilbury

Steve, The felt piece above the radiator supplied by Bob West is not to original specs! Sorry mate, but it is fact. (At least if you see the one supplied to Mike Ellsmore, it was far too narrow)
Ken L Caya (original thread!) In 6 restorations I have never seen any felt other than above radiator and between wood nose-plinth and bonnet skin.
Barry
BM Gannon

Barry

You could well be right. Clausager shows quite a wide pad. Mine are 4.5cm x 3cm section. So it would seem that they are fractionally thicker than yours, but half the width. Other than for concours/original spec I am not sure what the extra width achieves. With all the cost cutting measures at the time I would have thought that MG would have got away with the least possible.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Hi the felt I got from Bob West was in three pieces and had to be stuck together, I then got another version from Moss in the States which was in one piece but was a bit thinner than Bobs


Gordon
g c pugh

The original pad appears to be made up of two pieces, see my picture above. If anyone is interested I can measure them.

Neil
Neil McGurk

The large felt is actually 2 pieces of felt. Page 25 Clausager, my above picture and Neils all show 2 pieces. The piece that is next to the bonnet is 2" x 13.5". the piece glued on top of it is 2" x 12.5" Both pieces are 5/8" thick.


R J Brown

I found adding a thermal pad to the under- side of the bonnet, along with a added bulge over the radiator location, would help keep air flowing from the grill to rad. & help with the overall temp in the cockpit along with thermal padding on the inside of the bulkhead. See attach photo.
Cliff(SC)



Jones

This thread was discussed between 14/04/2008 and 22/04/2008

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