Radiator grille protection

[Frank Catt]

Tommy, the biggest thing I have dug out of the front of a 40 is the (very) few remains of a pheasant, but if I can find a armadillo in Sussex I,ll have a go at it. I have seen cars in the US on car lots for sale only because they have run over a skunk and whilst undamaged the owners cannot live with the smell ! Frank

[Julian West]

Ian,

Looks really good. Do you have any details on those driving lights? I bought a set of aircraft landing lights, but they look quite different to yours.

TIA!

regards,

[Bill Bayard]

Tommy,

On the subject of roadkill:

I struck a dead cat a couple of years ago at 80MPH+, and it put a nice dent in my oilpan. How it didn't hit anything else is a mystery. Had the cat been standing and not prone, the result wouldn't have been pretty, especially for my car! I'm not sure if my radiator grille would have saved my radiator in that case, but I can sleep better now, knowing it's there. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] I'm sure that it will keep any bird strike damage to a minimum. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]
I have never had any overheating issues since installing my screens. Probably not a good idea, if you plan to race your car though.

Maybe they don't have roadkill in the UK???? [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

BTW, foxes do it "doggy style". [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]


Bill

[Canuk40]

Hi Julian,

I struggled with the idea of driving lamps like the later Gulf cars used, but how to do it? We're running Cibie or Hella 5.75dia headlamps with the parking lamp included. As your over the pond, check out Europa Spares, they have the lights and mounting pods.

Installing the lamps is quite a fiddle so give yourself lots of time, a pint or two and the support of some good freinds The lower lamp opening varies in size for different manufacturers so you could be in for a real fight. Once they're done it's worth the trouble.

With each lamp having 1)Parking Lamp, 1)High Beam, 1)Low Beam there's lots of combinations of optimising illumination and functionality. What we decided on was: full time amber parking lights, high beam for turn signal and low beam for added light when running the main headlights' high beams.

Very cool and the high beam turn signals are so close to the ground there's no glare to oncoming traffic along with no doubt about which way you're turning.

[Pat Buckley]

I'm still chuckling over the image of a dead cat standing in the road...

[Canuk40]

Hi Bill,

Right on brother! I hit an armadillo on my way to Enid Oklahoma. The now extinct specimen wandered onto the highway at nite. With just enough time to decide not to loose the car by evasive manuevers or take out a tire or alignment, WHACK right in the middle of the engine cradle on my Olds Cutlass. It's amazing how flat an armadillo can get, not to mention the fossilized print on the crossmember!

[Canuk40]

Hi Frank, You've been lucky my freind, although I don't think a '40 would have come out as well as an American sedan against an amadillo. Still when I was out with Ken Atwell in his car, he did caution me about sheep on the roads around Swansea. Heck, we have wool carpets but there are better sources!

There's been other discussions in the forum about loss of surface area affecting cooling but I have to say we've seen no adverse effects on our cars. Picture attached is of an original car, so there's some justification, I believe the JWA cars also had screens in front of the radiator. Cheers mate

[Keith Hardy]

An interesting photograph. Anyone know what the supplementary cooler is for in front of the rad? A bit far away for the engine oil cooler methinks.

As for road kill, try 300lb red deer and New Forest ponies. That's why everyone drives 4X4's around here.

[Frank Catt]

Ronnie Spain in his famous bible refers to the very marginal airflow available to the radiator on a gt40, and that is with the originals unprotected openings, so anything that reduces the volume of airflow can only be questionable, Frank