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Excellent Geobloke, thanks very much for such a strong reply. I’d read lots of other stuff, but hadn’t come across that other thread so that was handy too.

I have picked up a recon LR oil cooler adapter on eBay - “last one available” allegedly. I’m normally pretty wary of anything that says it’s been reconditioned on that platform, but this guy wrote up what he did and it seemed good enough. I absolutely agree on the point about UK temperatures and the benefits of a thermostat. I had also picked up that the R380 has a pump. In fact I remember looking at the big round fitting on the back of the gearbox when I had the transfer box out, and wondering what it was. Now I know.

Similarly having looked at your installation vs more “traditional” oil coolers I think the robust nature of the finned tube is appealing - less to worry about.

I can find double pass ones on eBay - from China, Poland, or the US - I just wonder if it’s worth the wait vs the one you’ve linked to? As I still have the passenger floor and transmission tunnel out after the ‘winter’ jobs this is an ideal time to do a thing like this, but I don’t want to add another month’s delay to getting the car back on the road.

Finally on the Roamerdrive - yep, I’m quite up to speed on the heat issues there. Because of a quick onset of bearing noise from the unit I have it off the car and in bits while I’m replacing all the bearings. While researching this, and with the thing apart I’ve decided just to get the extended sump and the rear half of the OD unit tapped for 3/8 NPT fittings. As you say, the next thing is to find a suitable, low-flow pump just to lift and trickle oil from the sump up to the back of the Roamerdrive, where the most vulnerable bearing is.

Well done on sourcing the LR adapter, I think it is the right choice for the UK. There are not many moving parts in the adapter and if it were me I would strip it down and rebuild it so I knew it was done correctly before fitting. I do not trust anything on eBay that says recon/refurb'd/rare.

I doubt the chineseium oil coolers have anything wrong with them and like you say they are probably all made in the same factory. If I was buying again I would buy a double pass cooler purely because there would be fewer connections to leak. There will be a difference in cost between the single and double pass coolers but it will not be too different.

I actually like the idea of an LT230 cooler and pump to feed up to the roamer drive. If I were doing it (when I do it) I would feed up to the upper filler grub screw and extract from the drain bung in the extended sump. Might as well use what is already there. A filter, pump (switched thermostatically via the temperature sender) and cooler in-line and bob's your uncle.... It is a good idea for a modification