Hello Bill,
I guess that I am one of the 'poor schmucks in Texas'. I think that Jim
has some valid points, especially about keeping the radiator clean. What
he says might be true in Maine or Connecticut or North Dakota, but it sure
doesn't in the Texas Hill Country. And, yes, I do have an oil temperature
gauge in our daily driver, as well as an oil cooler. There might be three
weeks a year when we are concerned about getting the oil up to temperature.
Have you ever noticed how race cars tape up certain openings if the
weather is cool? If I worry about the cool oil temperature, I can always
cover the cooler. I am more concerned about being stuck in bumper to
bumper San Antonio traffic and watching the oil temp. and water temp. race
each other to the peg, although I don't usually have a problem. It is my
contention that with a properly maintained vehicle, with the appropriate
aids to pinpointing problems, this shouldn't really be a concern.
The bottom line is that, living where we do, with the driving that we do
(my wife has a h-e-a-v-y right foot, and does drive hard) we would be
foolish to run without an oil cooler.
Don't you think that the main reason that the later model Bs were not
equiped with oil coolers was purely economic, and had nothing to do with
the operation or efficiency of the engine?
Fisher Jones
Comfort, TX
At 11:09 AM 3/9/99 EST, WSpohn4@aol.com wrote:
><>
>
>Not to put too fine a point on it, Jim, but when it comes to MGs, you don't
>know what you are talking about.
>When you say that the 4 cylinder MG should not kneed an oil cooler, you are
>flat out wrong. The early 63 Bs were shipped to North America without
coolers
>and were such a warranty nightmare that the factory took the less expensive
>measure of standardising an oil cooler - something that they would never have
>done had it not been necessary.
>Having raced various MG engines for (Gawd) 26 years, I can tell you first
hand
>exactly what oil temps certain cooling arrangements require, (yes, I do run a
>temp gauge), and assure you that unless you are using a late model single
carb
>B and not driving hard at that (thought with the late cars it is difficult to
>know whether someone is driving hard or not), you stand an excellent
chance of
>cooking your oil and bearings without a cooler. I have seen everything from
>290 deg., briefly, before slagging down the engine, while running without a
>cooler (it leaked in practice and we took it out - hey we were young and
>ambitious, if not overly cautious) to 190 deg., which is what I usually run
>with my giant Mazda rotary cooler (remember - they used oil spray on the
>inside of the rotor as a significant cooling element) on the Twinkie.
>
>I'd suggest that if your area of expertise is in the V8 converted cars, you
>might want to stick to giving advice on what you know, and not extrapolate
>into areas where it may not be valid, as was the case here.
>Each engine is a little different. I drive a daily driver with a V6 that puts
>out half again what your V8 does, and it does not require an oil cooler. Why
>some run hot and others cool, is an engineering question that I would be
>interested in hearing those with more engineering knowledge than I have,
>comment on. But let's not generalise so that some poor schmuck in Texas in
>summer thinks you know what you are talking about, and goes out with his
new B
>without a cooler and turns it into Southern fried garbage. Sorry just
won't do
>it in those circumstances.
>
>Bill S.
>
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