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

I found a couple of hours this morning , although the garage was -1.5degrees C to begin with . With the help of two fan heaters it quickly rose to 5 degreesC......

The easiest side to sort out on the Series One Roadster is the nearside/passenger side. The next photo shows the coolant pipe which passes under the exhaust manifold. There is only one or two mm clearance to the first pipe, rather more on the other two. Clearly in summer, some heat radiated from the manifold will be absorbed into the coolant, even though the pipe is silver.



Because the coolant pipe is kinked, it's not easy to fit a single length of insulation, so I split it into manageable lengths. It's self adhesive so is easy enough to wrap around the pipe. The second photo is with air collector box removed which makes access easier.



Now the vertical part of the bulkhead.



The washer bottle lifts out, but needs a bit of persuasion with a screwdriver, as there are two plastic bulges which hold it in place. Interestingly the bracket was loose, even though it's riveted. I managed to fit four strips of insulation around the edge to tighten it up, as I couldn't be bothered drilling the rivets out and re-doing it.........too cold.

I used three pieces of insulation to cover this area, as one big single piece would be very difficult to fit neatly.



And here it is with the bottle refitted.



So for today, that's all.......

PS - a reminder that this product is 'Reflect-a-Cool' from Agriemach.

The bonnet corners rub on the cowl and bulhead, and this eventually rubs the paint away. I'm not that keen on the leather corners which are available, but there is another way.

The first photo shows a small neoprene square which buffers against the hinge fastener. It's stuck with Bostik.


On the bonnet corners I've stuck some sacrificial electrical tape to protect the paint. This eventually rubs off.
Just visible here, vertical alignment, and the top is blackening.


On the front edge it's horizontal alignment with the edge rounded to match the bonnet shape.


This is the cowl - offside, and you can just make out that there's an oblong of red electrical tape onto which is stuck a small length of neoprene, which is just enough to buffer the bonnet.


And finally the bulkhead - a square of neoprene.

I managed to make a start on the offside today, and the first job was some radiant heat protection for the alternator.

The front manifold is very close to the back of the alternator, around half an inch/ a centimetre or so.







I used a rectangle of stainless steel, curved to mirror the pipe shape - with an aluminium bracket fixed with two allen bolts. It was easier to use aluminium for the bracket as it's much easier to work. The bracket must be an odd shape to make this fit. It is covered both sides with the Reflect-a-Cool self adhesive foil......

This is it:




And here it is fitted with a brass nut, washer & lock washer.





There is more to come on this side.

Why not use heat wrap on the manifold, Dave?

Nigel, I'm still not convinced that exhaust wrap is a 'good' thing. While it's true that some of the wrapped heat will escape down the exhaust, some will conduct back into the head. Nobody has ever come up with real science about this, so for now I'm leaving it. I'd really like to see the increase in combustion chamber temperature as part of a lab evaluation, but I doubt it will ever happen.

Next I intended to remove the master cylinder heat shield to smarten it up, but a look underneath put me off. It seems that the brake pipe may have been connected after the shield was fitted. You can see how it fits here:


The brake pipe is closer than it looks, so I've fitted a plastic edge trim to the aluminium (not fitted here), although I don't think that it will chafe. Lower down the pipe touched the body on the corner of the metal here:


The clutch slave cylinder lower fixing is in view here.
Neoprene provides a cushion and a quick fix:


Here is the brake master cylinder heat shield from the top, as it comes with frayed edges:




And later with Reflect-a-cool added to tidy it up, and provide a bit more insulation:




Finally for today, as it's too cold to stay long in the garage. a photo of the starter motor:


Jaguar eh???? Mmmm.

Jaguar indeed, but made in India. How times have changed.

The MWS wires are of course made in India too.

BTW it was John Macdonald who recommended heat wrap to me (though I haven't done anything about it, needless to say). He showed me a very neat installation of heat wrap in a Healey 3000 where the exhaust manifold is very close to the carbs. He should know a thing or two about this of course.

Nigel

Great set of informative photos again Dave

Regarding items from India - It was Marco Polo that gave Italy its Icecream, Silk, Grappa, Pasta, and a few other things nicked during his trips to China. The Italian Artisans then added their magic touch.

Does anyone know the equivalent 'Invented in, and nicked from India' story?

Well, a bit more progress yesterday on insulating the drivers side bulkhead.
This is how it looked:
You can see a small grommet left of the column. There were four small holes in the bulkhead, into which I fitted these grommets (from my grommet jar)...............


You can also see how tricky this side is. The easiest way is to fit small pieces in an overlapping tile effect.


While I was under there I also added some rubber caps to the three starter connectors - to reduce the likelyhood of shorts.


There's still a bit more to do but that was all I could manage in the time available - and the fact that it was ffffffreezing.

More great ideas and photos - Is there no limits to your talent Dave?


Is that the Aircon done for then Dave?



And no limit to the contents of your spare parts jars?