Habe im MG Enthusiast März 2016 ein interessantes Interview gelesen mit Steve Wood, einem der Entwicklungsingenieure von MG-Rover.
Thema: der schlechte Ruf der K-Engine in Bezug auf HGF
Kurzer Auszug:
MG Enthusiast:
so the engine itself was a sound design, and the original cooling system in the Metro was fine if filled properly, so what went wrong because the K-series has certainly earned its poor reputation?
Steve Wood:
Many reasons, really. In those early Metros, when you turn the heater off, all you do is close the flaps that stop hot air from coming into the cabin. On later cars, turning the heater down reduces the amount of coolant circulating in part of the system. After Metro, everything was done that way to get a more refined vehicle. And because the first of this next generation still had the bottom hose thermostat rather than the later Pressure Relief Thermostat, the problem is that thrashed from cold with the thermostat shut, the depression could suck the bypass shut, reducing the flow. This was a big change as the early Metro engines had extra flow on bypass through the inlet manifold tubes until the thermostat opened.
Caterhams used the K-series and they didn't get the same kind of problems, but all Caterhams were built with a drilled 'stat and stiffer bypass hose. The only time we did that at MG-Rover was with the 1.8 Turbo, but again too late and too close to the end of production.
However, I've competed in the Van Diemen, the original Sport and Racing MGF Trophy 160, the TF that now belongs to Chris Gillie and which you featured in the August 2015 issue plus my own ZR, and I've never had to change the orginal factory head gasket. If, from a cold start, you don't rev the engine over 2500rpm until the gauge has gone to fully warm (meaning the 'stat has opened), keep the heater on 3/4 and keep an eye on
the coolant level, you will be fine.
In addtion on the F and TF, as soon as we ended a run over the finish line, we put the heater fan on full blast so by the time we got back into the paddock, the engine has cooled down. This is important because if you look at the MGF/TF bootlid, it is made up of two layers. The gap between them was supposed to vent air and shift it out of the engine bay. Unfortunately instead of in a small bootlid spoiler, a high level brake light was put where we had hoped to have the vent. Other mid-engined cars like the MR2 or Elise have better venting for the engine bay.
Ich denke, die "Cracks" wissen das eh alle schon, aber vielleicht interessierts ja noch den einen oder anderen, nach dem Motto. ich weiß ja nicht ob Sie's schon wussten....
hab ich noch zwei gebunkert... man weiss ja nie...
