Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Mulfab Radiator fitting?

As a general tip and if you don't want to muck about with the steering bits then take an angle grinder to the metal bottom outlet. Plenty room then to slide out the rad. Well on a 1997 Plus 8 anyway. I guess you won't want to keep the old rad if knackered anyway!

Instructions for fitting SiFab Aluminium radiator to replace the “plastic” radiator on a 2008 onwards Traditional Morgan

Raise the vehicle up, place axle stands under the front crossframe just outside of the chassis legs, if not using a ramp

Drain coolant from OE radiator.

Disconnect top and bottom radiator hoses, and small return hose between the top of the radiator and the header tank

Disconnect fan wiring

Remove the large folded sheet metal bracket supporting the top of the radiator from the upper crosshead tube

Remove the tie bar from between the inner wings and replace with the new tie bar supplied in the kit. As a general rule of thumb, the new tie bar should be fitted with the welded bracket facing into the engine bay, however these are Morgans....

Undo the centre track rod ends from the drop bracket on the steering rack and swing the track rods aside

Remove the aluminium blocks and the brackets securing the radiator to the steering rack. If you do this one side at a time, and replace the bolts back in the steering rack mounts, and retighten them, then you will not have any problems with the steering rack moving

On some cars a plastic shroud is riveted inside the cowl to direct air through the radiator. If this is the case then the front grille will need to be removed to drill out the rivets

Lower the radiator out from underneath the car. Discard the shroud if fitted

Swap the fan across onto the radiator

In the supplied kit, there are two large skeletal black brackets, these are fitted to the sides of the front crossframe just above where the steering rack mounts are. The holes are already pre drilled in the cross frame

Loosely bolt these brackets in place using the supplied M8 x 30 bolts

Loosely fit the supplied rubber bobbins to the underside of each of the radiators 3 mounts (one each side and one welded to the top tank)

Carefully lift the radiator up into place, and hook the rubber bobbins into the slots on the black side mounts, and the top tie bar

In the kit is a short length of silicon hose, and an aluminium elbow, this is fitted to the bottom hose stub of the radiator with the long leg of the elbow joining up with the bottom radiator hose in the engine bay.

On 4/4 and +4 models the top hose needs trimming back to fit on to the top hose stub, a new hose clip is supplied in the kit

Once all the hoses are loosely fitted then nip everything up and the radiator position can be adjusted both vertically by rotating the black side mounts and fore and aft to ensure a stress free fitting

The radiator should be fitted with plenty of “wobble “ room

Refit any remaining components including the steering

Check sufficient clearance exists on all components, especially where the bottom hose rises up over the track rod and steering rack

Tighten all bolts, and refill the system with coolant

The system should self bleed

Lower the car back onto the ground and run up to temperature, monitoring for any leaks, and the coolant level

The hose clips should be checked and tightened if necessary whilst the system is hot




Simon @ Sifab.co.uk
sifabtemporary@gmail.com

Simons fitting instructions are really good but having struggled a little to get the radiator up into position I would emphasize the "loosely bolt these brackets" means very loose!
I had fitted mine so that they could freely swing "up and down" to help with the radiator final positioning, what he actually means here is "very loose" so that they can also be wiggled from "side to side".
Basically you push them outwards so that the radiator slides up passed them and then swing them back in again under the radiator and drop the bobbins down into position.

Once I realised this the whole job was very straight forward

I need a new radiator for my Plus 4 , 2006 car. Where can I get one of the Sifab rads? Still available? If not what do people recommend?
Many thanks

I've had a Mulfab radiator in my car since 2008, it's been great.

Unfortunately Simon is no longer making MOG parts or trading so you will have to buy the mulfab version.

I posted in your other thread. I would avoid Mulfab, mine failed due to poor welding.

This is the SiFab aluminium radiator (sadly no longer available) that I fitted to my car several years ago.



Relevant is the top support bracket and it's welding to the top radiator tank. The seam formed in an M shape spreads the load over a far greater length of weld and so greater area of tank.

The Mulfab ones I've seen employ a top bracket shaped to offer just a semicircle of welding seam covering smaller area of tank. Allied to this poor welding penetration leaves nothing in reserve leading to the bracket tearing out top of tank in one case.

I recall that members on morganexperience.com had good results from Chinese radiators. Search the bay.com for morgan radiator china. Might be worth checking with morganexperience members if current situation is still good.

Speak to Cain at Wolf Performance.