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MG MGB Technical - Oil Coolers

I understand that the correlation between water and oil temp at sump is around 1.2 - 1.4 however as oil temp around bearings etc is a lot higher this is sufficient to keep oil sweat, so adding a oil cooler should not present a problem, any opinions.

Paul
Paul

They were standard equipment on North American cars for most of the production life of the MGB. It was felt that in our climate the additional cooling would be a factor in improving the servicibility of the engine.
If you are worried about winter driving you can either fit an in-line thermostat or simply blank it off with a piece of stiff cardboard, which is what I used to do. Years ago when my B was my only mode of transport I drove it all winter, which can be very brutal in the northern US, much worse than anywhere in the UK, save the Highlands, I beleive.
Andrew Blackley

While the radiator performs the function of cooling the head and cylinders, it is the oil that cools the internal parts of the engine. To assist in this function, as well as to help protect the lubricating qualities of the oil from breakdown, an oil cooler was fitted to all MGBs except during the 1975-1980 production years when power output was chopped in an effort to meet emissions regulations. US market cars had a 13 row cooler, and this should be considered to be the minimum for an enhanced performance engine. If your car has one, be sure that it is hot tanked along with the other components and thoroughly cleaned out before reinstalling it. If you are replacing it or installing one for the first time, use one that has at least 16 rows and install a 200 degree Fahrenheit thermostatic bypass valve as overcooled oil can rob power and lead to accelerated wear. An excellent thermostatic bypass valve with 1/2" NPT threads is available from Perma-Cool (Perma-Cool Part# 1070). Perma-Cool has a website at http://www.perma-cool.com/ .
Steve S.

Paul,
Here's my opinion. The midget didn't get a cooler but really needed one. The B didn't need a cooler (in the UK) but got one anyway. I have a thermostatic valve on my cooler which will not allow the oil to go through the cooler until it exceeds (I think) 85 Celsius. Even on hot days, the cooler stays out of circuit unless I get stuck in traffic.

Mike
Mike Howlett

"unless I get stuck in traffic" ... at which point it is doing virtually nothing anyway, until you move off again. Not a dig at fitting the stat, more that it was never available when needed most.
Paul Hunt

Hi all..

Like Mike's, my oil thermostat rarely opens.
On the other hand, I never had 'mayonaise' (ie white goo inside the rocker cover, indicating that the oil isn't getting hot enough to boil off any water) before the stat was fitted.

I would imagine that an oil cooler is partly effective when stuck in traffic IF an electric fan is fitted and running.

HTH.. Don
Don

You might not believe this, but oil coolers were actually standard equipment on SWEDISH spec MGBs from late sixties...

On the other hand, I only drive in Summer.
per

This thread was discussed between 21/08/2003 and 22/08/2003

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