Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Traditionals - next step - underbonnet insulation

Please don't get too excited just yet.........

However......
On Friday night at 21.30hrs I was relaxing on the setee.
MrsW was busy in the kitchen (as usual).
Suddenly there was a loud "explosion" followed by a long 'breaking/broken glass' sequence which went on forever.

The glass oven door had been left down and was cooling off. My forensic examination when the dust settled led me to believe that the left hand return spring had broken, and the unwinding spring had struck the edge of the glass, leading to to a zillion pieces of toughened glass over everything.
You might remember that "The Deal" with MrsW was 'Bathroom'>'Morgan'>'Kitchen'>'Ahem...BroomBroom2'.
It appears that my strategic stalling may now have been prejudiced by this fatigued spring.......... To be fair, this kitchen is 23 years old, but still works. Obviously a new glass door will be hard to find at this age, and those more modern and available are well over £100. A quick check on replacement cookers quickly proved that we should wait for 'The new kitchen' - probably early next year. Although I did the bathroom myself (over 3 months), I can't live on sandwiches for 3 months so we will have to get a man in. He'd better be good is all I'll say.......

So I was left with the problem of getting us through Christmas with hot food. At least the inner oven door was intact. This is a steel pressing. First I lined the inner door with some spare insulating blanket from Agriemach Ltd which I had used on the front mudflap backing covers. Next I ordered some "Reflect-a-cool" from Agriemach which is self adhesive, and thinner than the original blanket - more of that in a minute.
Next I trawled the web for a supplier of small stainless sheets. I ordered a precut sheet of stainless on Sunday (they were monitoring E-Mail) from here..... http://www.metalsheets.co.uk/index.php
It was delivered today and fitted tonight with the new insulation. MrsW is delighted and now I should get hot Turkey on Christmas Day. ....even though it needs the help of a garden cane to seal the door on the left side.

'Metal Sheets' sell most metals and there may be future Mog applications as they also cut holes etc etc so there are definite possibilities.

So where is this leading you might ask???

The answer is that I have a nice patch of "Reflect-A-Cool" to use productively. I was looking under the Morgan bonnet before I packed up tonight and have developed some ideas..... Hmm.

I will be getting on with this job as soon as possible, but a trip to Devon is in the offing at the weekend, so doing much before Christmas depends on domestics and how cold it gets. I'm looking forward.
And I also need to get the seats out to oil the floor beneath.

As a PS, I've just been sent the Demon Tweeks competition catalogue, probably since I bought the friction modifier for the diff from them. It's an incredible catalogue of competition parts, including stuff you didn't know you wanted......or anybody made. All the stuff is on the website, but I still prefer a catalogue so I can read it in bed.

So over Christmas I'll be thinking about treating myself.

More will follow in due course.

The stainless panel was £12.90 +P&P by the way.

Hi,
What does a 'friction modifier' do to the diff???

Will

Dave
While you were involved with your discoveries on heat reduction, my car was being serviced by a local specialist. I mentioned to him that I could detect a sweet smell from the front of the car after a run. This consistant with a small fall in water in the header tank. The likehood is a leak in coolant which is evapourating on the engine, hence the smell.
I have now ordered your "tapioca".
I am hoping your leak has remained in check and the stuff looks a good bet to solve my problem

Dave,
What are you hoping to achieve with underbonnet insulation? Is it to reduce engine noise , or , perhaps bulkhead / transmission tunnel heat? I would not like to reduce engine noise as it is part of the character of the car, and I must say that the new car is much cooler as regards the temperature of the transmission tunnel.

Just musing as to what you are looking for!!

Cheers!

Dave, I enjoy reading your stories ~ should that read adventures ~ a lot. Keep up them coming as they often make my morning coffee break thoroughly enjoyable.

Demon Tweeks catalogue.... good reading material

Can also recommend

GPR Direct Catalogue
Burton Power Catalogue
Cosworth Catalogue

Demon's et. al. front a whole bunch of small companies... I've had good results going to the companies direct (post discussion with Demon's) for custom engineered Morgan Components where evidently Demon's don't have many Morgan parts listed.

Result!

Hi - now that I have a stainless 4-2-1 manifold under the hood of my zetec 4/4, there is no heat shielding and I'm sure it gets pretty hot. Mind you the cat is now under the R hand wing instead of on the L side of the engine, so that's one less heat source in the underbonnet area.

Has anyone tried heat wrap on their manifold(s) - if so which type, and did it make any difference?

I'd like to know as it's not cheap, so would be reluctant to order it on a whim.

Nigel

Hi,

I fitted "Cool It: Thermotec wrapping" on the manifold of the crossflow engine of my previous Morgan. The alternator broke down after a track day, and I wanted to protect the new one from excessive heat.

I like to believe that the engine felt a little bit more responsive similar to driving at night compared to a hot summer day, due to colder intake air, but perhaps I had a too strong imagination.

Harald

So many questions!!!!

Flyfisher: friction modifier – from the Demon Tweeks website - Use with 'recommended diff oil' to fine tune the performance of your LSD. Perfect for hill-climbs/sprints/drag race and auto tests. Use up to 4% in oil. Use also as a break-in additive to reduce friction and heat generated by new gears, which can ruin hardness of teeth. May be used with any synthetic or mineral gear oil.

Lightsphere: The coolant treatment has not stopped the level falling. It’s very slow but over the last couple of hundred miles has dropped a quarter inch. Some of this will be due to the much cooler weather – the water will contract slightly. There’s no sign of a leak, although I’m not convinced it’s sorted the damp patch on the radiator.

Robbie: I (deliberately) bought more insulation material than I needed for the oven door………… so then I started looking how to make use of it. It’s not to reduce the noise, but it will be 'easy' to insulate the vertical parts of the bulkhead. I also want to upgrade the master cylinder insulation, as it’s messy. Then on the offside the front exhaust manifold passes very close to the alternator. On the nearside a metal water pipe runs under the exhaust manifold against the block. Under the offside wing, the loom runs close to the Cat.
All this can be fine tuned with the self adhesive insulation. Pictures will follow as soon as I get the time.

Trent: Glad you enjoy the stories. It looks like they will go on and on……….

By the way, tomorrow is my first anniversary on this site, having stumbled across it after a chance mention on Mogtalk. And what a great site this is...... I feel as if I've been on here forever

And in the year I've managed to meet Graham at least three times, and Simon, Boshly, AsboJohn, Easter, Minikeefy and Frank 4x4 once. All very nice chaps.
I hope I haven't forgotten anybody...

Cerealsurfer: Good point about small companies behind Demon Tweeks, and well worth remembering. I might just chase up those other catalogues...........

The stainless oven door.........

Dave,
Many thanks for the explanation -- I will now look at this area of the new +4!! I await your photos and findings.

Brilliant site this -- great ideas to which you, Dave, have contributed hugely, Thanks!

BTW - Great job on the oven(Necessity - full tum -- mother of invention!!)

cheers!