The Midget's original cooling system is adequate for normal road use in temperate conditions, but owners using their cars for fast road, track, sustained motorway driving, or in hot climates often benefit from upgraded cooling components. The four areas where measurable improvements can be made are radiator core capacity, hose quality and durability, coolant chemistry, and fan efficiency.
Aluminium Radiators
Aluminium replacement radiators offer a substantial increase in cooling capacity over the original brass and copper item, with thicker cores, more efficient fin density, and improved heat transfer characteristics. They are also significantly lighter, useful for owners reducing front-end weight for handling or competition use. Aluminium radiators are available for each of the four cooling layouts (948/1098, 1275cc vertical-flow, 1275cc crossflow, and 1500), so the correct version must be matched to the car. The trade-off is appearance: aluminium radiators alter the engine bay from original specification, which may be unsuitable for concours restoration.
Cooling Hose Kits
Silicone coolant hose kits replace the original rubber hoses with multi-ply silicone construction, offering a longer service life, greater resistance to oil and ozone degradation, and a tidier engine bay appearance. Silicone is more flexible across temperature extremes and significantly less prone to internal collapse on the suction side of the cooling circuit. Hose kits are available in a range of colours, blue, red, black, and yellow, to suit the appearance of the car. Each kit is layout-specific, comprising the top and bottom radiator hoses, bypass hose, and heater hoses where applicable.
Forlife Coolant
Forlife coolant is a long-life ethylene glycol-based formulation specifically developed for classic vehicles with mixed-metal cooling systems, cast iron block, alloy or brass radiator, and steel water pump components. Modern OAT (Organic Acid Technology) coolants designed for contemporary all-aluminium engines are not suitable for classic systems and can cause galvanic corrosion of the brass and copper components. Forlife provides the necessary corrosion inhibition for all metals in the Midget cooling system while offering an extended service interval compared to traditional coolants requiring annual renewal.
Revotec Electric Cooling Fans
Revotec electric cooling fan kits replace the engine-driven mechanical fan with a thermostatically controlled electric unit. The benefits are several: the fan operates only when needed (when coolant temperature rises above the thermostat set point), recovering the engine power that the mechanical fan continuously absorbs; cabin and engine bay noise is reduced at higher engine speeds; and the engine warms up faster from cold because the fan is not removing heat during the warm-up phase. Revotec kits include the fan itself, mounting brackets specific to the Midget, the thermostatic controller, wiring loom, and fitting hardware. The system can be wired to either switch the original ignition feed or to operate independently for post-shutdown cool-down on hot days.
Choosing the Right Combination
The cooling upgrades work well in combination, an aluminium radiator with a Revotec fan kit and silicone hoses gives a cooling system capable of handling sustained high-speed use, hot climates, or track work without overheating, while preserving the original brass radiator and mechanical fan as period-correct items for show or future reinstatement. Owners running standard-tune engines for local road use will normally find the upgraded radiator and fan combination delivers more cooling capacity than the engine actually needs, though the noise reduction and warm-up benefits of the electric fan are independently worthwhile.