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MG MGF Technical - Water/oil heat exchanger

I was just reading a thread on SELOC about water/oil heat exchangers. One of the participants made a comment about the one fitted to other Rover engines (diesel and/or KV6). They intermated that it had a Laminova core.

Anybody got any information/knowledge about a rover water/oil heat exchanger (other than that fitted to the TF160)?
Steve Ratledge

Hmm - that's news for me Steve - and interesting if true! :o)
Rob Bell

That's what I thought ;-)
Steve Ratledge

Steve, I've just compared the KV6 oil cooler pictured on the SELOC site ( http://forums.seloc.org/viewthread.php?action=attachment&tid=45734&pid=658585 ) with the one on the Think! Automotive site that shows the Mocal Laminova water/oil cooler - http://www.thinkauto.com/images/laminova.jpg

Bottom line is that they're not the same - but I trust what Carlo suggests - namely that the internals may be very similarly designed.

I wonder how the dimensions compare?
Rob Bell


the pic on SELOC was taken from the Laminova site some time ago, now the site has been updated... so it's not there anymore.
Prove of Laminova supply to Rover is:

http://www.opcon.se/subStart.asp?pageID=510&catId2=103&ContentID=13&subPageClick=1

they are OEM products, while Think! Automotive is distributor for aftermarket ones.
Got an e-mail from Laminova stating they used to supply only the core (the finned cylinder) to Rover in the past.
Anybody on here with a Rover/MG part list?

Carlo
Carlo

What about the ones fitted to the MG Metro? A sandwich plate that sits between the filter and its mount, with water fed from the heater circuit. If you can still find one in a scrapyard it shouldn't cost too much.

It's supposed to be about as effective as a 13 row 235mm width air/oil type cooler, so should be OK.

Al
Alan Brooke

renowned for leaks IIRC
Will Munns

Alan,
routing the coolant towards the filter isn't that straightforward on a K...
Carlo

Thanks for that info Carlo :o) From that website it appears that the Laminova was used on both the 2.0 litre KV6 (presumably the 2.5 litre as well?) and the L-series diesel.

Do you know the dimensions of the casting?

Hmm - time to start researching scrap yards.... :o)
Rob Bell

Rob, looking at this picture of the L-series you can see the oil cooler to the right under the alternator.

http://www.turner-auto-design.com/images/L_series-big.jpg

I think the L-series was used on Rover 220, 420, 620 25 and 45 diesels so there should be a few in the scrapyards. :-)

Now need sizes, conectors and flow rates. The external view would tend to suggest a better flow rate than the TF160 cooler.
Steve Ratledge

Hmm - promising! Time for a chat with a scrappie then? Presumably we could get the flow rate data from Mocal?
Rob Bell

Steve - might be worth obtaining all the hoses and especially the oil filter adapter sandwich plate if you can find one. :o)
Rob Bell

I have just looked at the Rave disc for the ROver 600. Under the section for the KV6 cooling system it is clear to see that the Laminova oil cooler was only used on the Automatic gearbox models. Further more it was connected directly to the gearbox. So it looks to be used to cool the Automatic gearbox oil not the engine oil.

Might still be worth a look.
Steve Ratledge

Might be Steve although the Matrix may be of a different size.

I wonder what way is the best to approach this? We'd definitely benefit from getting more info - but it could all just boil down to putting some cash down and buying the cooler from a scrap yard?
Rob Bell

Looking at the Rover 420 on Rave the heat exchanger looks larger and more a kin with the above picture. Inthis application it is used to cool the engin oil.

Next steps:
1) Compose a short list of models/years etc
2) contact a scrap year - via a search engine and get a price.
3) ...
Steve Ratledge

3) Buy the cooler, the pipes and the filter sandwich plate. :o)

So are we going to concentrate on cars fitted with the L-series diesel? I'd probably therefore stick with the 45 then...

I wonder if a local scrappie would prove to be cheaper than one of these internet specialists?
Rob Bell

This thread was discussed between 14/04/2005 and 18/04/2005

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