Best/Cheapest Front Oil Cooler, anything close to a fluidyne? Options

[porsche735]

So, I am looking for a front oil cooler for my 914-4. I have priced many out and so far they are on 2 ends of the spectrum. Mocal 13"x5.75"x2" at $130 and the Fluidyne 21"x5.88"x3" at $320 (or is there a better price?). I have heard folks speaking of Mazda coolers, etc. What is the best bang for your buck cooler out there? I am trying to find something that is at least 16-18" wide and around 6" tall. Are junkyards a good place? What cars and where are they?

Thanks,
Chris

BTW, I am in the South Bay

[ArtechnikA]

So, I am looking for a front oil cooler for my 914-4.  ... Mocal 13"x5.75"x2" at $130 and the Fluidyne 21"x5.88"x3" at $320 ...  Mazda coolers...?  I am trying to find something that is at least 16-18" wide and around 6" tall.  Are junkyards a good place?

BTW, I am in the South Bay

the Earl's coolers come in a couple of different modular designs that let you adjust the number of 'sections'. basically there's one with about 6" between the ports, which would be good for plumbing with the inlet on the bottom and the outlet on the top, and the ones that are about 12" between the ports that'd be okay for plumbing with both ports on top. (any installation with both ports on the bottom is a bad idea, because it's then impossible to get out the air bubble that will inevitably form there...

if you've done the analysis, you know how much too hot your oil is now, and how many BTU's you need to reject, and the available airflow and ambient temp for plugging into the sizing nomographs, and you therefore know what size you need. spec'ing that size cooler - what is it you're trying to cool ? nevermind, off topic...

junkyards are -not- a good place after you price in the ultrasonic cleaning you'll need to have peace of mind that the thing's not all full of whatever cr&p it was that drove the prior car there in the first place. the RX-7 coolers work for some people but they are NOT bolt-in's - because they require you to cut out the old fittings and re-weld new ones in - with an altrasonic cleaning along the way to get out the previous owner's gunk and aluminum shavings from having cut the old ports out.

so if you're trying to get by on the cheap, get an Earl's cooler in whatever configuration you like. if you absolutely, positively, want the very best, get the Fluidyne. they're very good, but look at the rejection graphs - i promise you they won't be rejecting 2.5X more BTU per unit. their performance lies elsewhere and like many things - that last 10% of performance costs as much as the first 90% did.

i'm a little confused what it is you're trying to accomplish, tho (it's none of my business, i know...)

you're specifing a huge front cooler, but you don't want to run a thermostat, so you're resigned to warming it slowly and carefully and running lots of tape on the bumper for most of the time when you have no way of regulating the cooling to get the oil hot enough. i don't understand, but it's your car, do what you want ...

"The" South Bay would be what - Tampa ? National City ? ??
nevermind - when i saw the full original post - not the 'synopsis' the reply screen gives you - i saw Los Altos. so i know it at least can't be Tampa :-) ...