Silicone rubber cooling hoses

Replacement hoses for the V8 in silicone rubber?
Phil Bristow wonders if there is any interest amongst fellow V8 members for sets of hoses for the MGBGTV8 in a more durable slicone rubber material. (9.5.06)

I have just completed a restoration on my 1973 CB V8, and I found that many new parts are now of indifferent quality. Given the obvious importance of the coolant hoses I wanted to get the best available, and this led me to consider silicone rubber hoses. These are not available as a set for the V8, but read on!

Silicone rubber hoses are used for fast road and race applications, they are extremely durable and long lasting, and they also look good too with a 'shiny' finish and a choice of colours! See the photo alongside. There are two main suppliers in the UK:
SFS at www.sfsperformance.co.uk
Samco at www.samcosport.com/home.asp

Both sites give general information about the hoses and their characteristics. They both do various standard hoses (90 deg bends, straights etc.), but these are of no use for the V8 as these hoses are custom shape. However, both companies produce kits for some cars but not ours. I contacted SFS, sent them a set of the six hoses and asked if it would be possible to produce a set for the V8. They replied that they can produce them, but to cover the tooling costs, the first order

V8 Register - MG Car Club

Set of silicone rubber hoses fitted to a Sierra Cosworth 4WD
has to be for a minimum of 20 sets, after that they can be ordered individually as single sets. The colours available are black, blue and red, and the first 20 can be a mixture of colours. A set of 6 hoses will be £100 including VAT, the other hoses (servo, steam etc. can be cut from straight lengths so a full kit could also be available). I would like to see if there is sufficient interest to get an order for 20 sets together.

In the first instance please email me at phil.bristow((atat))btinternet.com or call 01344 751269