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MG MGA - Cockpit Heat

Hi All,


I very carefully insulated the cockpit, with Dynamat, the sticky aluminium backed sheets that claim to offer sound and heat reduction. Over this I placed the under carpet felt along with the carpet on top.

On long journeys the gearbox tunnel in particular gets hot enough to melt steel :-(

In the winter I hope to take another look at how best to insulate the cockpit.

Do people have any suggestions for particular products that they have found to be effective at repelling the heat ? I hope to drive through Europe when it is a tad warm so will want to do everything I can to reduce the heat.

Thank you



Aleks
Aleks Stojanovic

Hi Aleks

I did a full insulation job on floor and tunnel during my rebuild. For good measure I also fitted a heat shield to the exhaust. Details are towards the bottom of Barney’s EX-203.

No excess heat problems, even in a Coupe!

Cheers
Dave

Bolney Coupe

I had my exhaust manifold ceramic coated. Significant heat reduction in the engine compartment. I also fitted a 7-blade assymetric fan. Blows a lot of air through the engine bay. The two combined have reduced the overall heat soak quite significantly.

In my early days with the car I also noted significant gaps between the firewall and scuttle skin. I plugged those and it reduced the flow of hot air and fumes into the cockpit. Have a look under the dashboard into the upper corners of the firewall. That's where the gaps are.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Thank you Dave / Steve for your comments.

Steve - I assume ceramic coating of the exhaust manifold can be done almost anywhere ? Or are there specialist places ?

Thanks


Aleks
Aleks Stojanovic

Aleks

I acted on a recommendation from I think it was Colyn Firth and contacted Camcoat Performance Coatings Ltd in Warrington: www.camcoat.com 01925 445003.

Back in October 2022 it cost me £289.20 including shipping, plus my postage of sending it there. Many colours available.

Others suppliers are available. Prices may vary.

Picture shows it as received.

After a run I found I could touch it briefly without getting burnt, certainly much less hot than before. One other bonus was that the carbs were also much cooler and didn't suffer from fuel vaporisation when the car was briefly left standing.

Steve



Steve Gyles

Brilliant - thank you Steve.

Will try them once I lay the car up for winter.


Best wishes



Aleks
Aleks Stojanovic

Aleks,
I had my Maniflow tubular manifolds (exhaust and inlet) enamel coated, both inside and out by Camcoat.

I had the exhaust manifold done mostly to apply a long lasting finish that wouldn't rust or need painting so that it would last a long time.

I didn't originally plan to have the inlet manifold coated, but a BIG! fuel leak from the banjo connection caused a lot of the paint on it to be dissolved and left an large unpainted area. We were using some Austrian 110 octane fuel that really suited the engine. (for some odd reason, in Italy, the home of the supercar, we could only find regular fuel)

It happened when we were driving hard over the Dolomites and we noticed a strong smell of fuel from the engine bay. I stopped the car and had a look under the bonnet and noticed a lot of white powdery deposit over much of the carb side of the engine but I couldn't see a leak. I had been carrying a lot of bottles of fuel octane booster stuffed everywhere I could in the engine bay, quite a few between the heater unit and the bulkhead. So, I suspected that one of the bottles had sprung a leak and I threw one of them away to see if I had solved the problem.

We drove over the mountains for a few more miles and we noticed the fuel smell was getting much worse, then I saw some liquid splash onto the windscreen from the engine bay and evaporate instantly!

So we quickly pulled into a petrol station and parked it well away from the pumps, switched it off and left it alone for about 30 minutes.

I had noticed a trail of liquid on the forecourt which had trailed from my car as I drove it in and a group of German motorcyclists had just parked over the trail to have a smoke. When I pointed out that they shouldn't be smoking on the forecourt, they were not so happy with me, until I pointed out the big fuel trail they were parked over.

30 minutes later, we went back to the car and I carefully lifted the bonnet and then asked my wife to briefly switch on the ignition. This caused a Karcher-like fuel spray that drenched the engine bay again and me!

The large banjo bolt that on my Webber carb connects the flexy fuel line had come very loose, fortunately, it hadn't fallen off, and I quickly tightened it up and fixed the leak.

We were very lucky to avoid a fire, so much high-octane had been running over the painted finish of the Maniflow inlet manifold that it had dissolved quite a lot of the paint from it! It's strong stuff that 110 octane Austrian fuel!

So, I do now regularly check that banjo bolt.

And this also explains why I then decided to have the inlet manifold enamel coated as well as the exhaust.

I never really went for the apparent heat reducing effect of ceramic coating, but I was really surprised to find that the engine bay was in fact a little cooler with the Camcoat on the exhaust manifold.

And, so far, it still looks pretty good too.

Colyn

(PS the 2nd pic shows the original painted finish on the inlet manifold, it now has the same enamel finish as the exhaust manifold)

Also, regarding cockpit heat, my wife much prefers the standard carpet felt and carpet covering for the transmission tunnel. Years ago, we were visiting a section of Hadrians Wall on a cool damp day, she decided to stay in the car whilst I walked to look at the Roman artifacts. When I returned to the car I found her spreadeagled over the transmission tunnel and I asked her if she was ok, she grinned at me and said that it was lovely and warm there! :^)









Colyn Firth

This thread was discussed between 02/07/2024 and 21/08/2024

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