External Oil Cooler, let me see some pictures Options

[tradisrad]

I am going to install my 25 row Earls oil cooler over the 4th of july and I am looking for some more ideas, tip and tricks.

I plan on using a wafer adapter to keep my filter in the stock location. I will also install a thermostat and a fan. I will most likely mount it under the rear trunk.

I'd like to see some pictures of what others have done. Experinces on the wafer adapter vs relocating the oil filter and what thermostats are being used. I've seen the Pelican Article.

thanks
-Rob

[qa1142]

With this kit...

http://www.jegs.com/i/Derale/259/15950/10002/-1

Can I get Setrab anywhere close to this? If so where?

Thanks

[McMark]

Those adapters will all work, but space is tight, both in relation to the engine parts (oil cooler) and the engine mount bar. The second adapter may put the filter down too low, and I don't like the built in thermostat.

I've bought Setrab parts from Livermore Performance. The 119 cooler is the one I've used a few times and it's $160 from them.

[qa1142]

Those adapters will all work, but space is tight, both in relation to the engine parts (oil cooler) and the engine mount bar. The second adapter may put the filter down too low, and I don't like the built in thermostat.

I've bought Setrab parts from Livermore Performance. The 119 cooler is the one I've used a few times and it's $160 from them.

yes but $110 more $272 with the fan... are Setrab that much better than Derale if I am just running on street with some autoX?

[McMark]

I have no qualitative analysis. I simply respect the construction quality of the Setrab. Derale may make great coolers, I have no idea.

[VaccaRabite]

I'll put pics of mine up tonight. Going to be stupid hot this afternoon (100 and humid - ick) but its going to be the only night this week that I am kidless since Wife and Child are going to the fair.

my issue with this kind of set up:
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/www.jegs.com-1435-1279889922.1.jpg)

in the rear of the car is that you get very little airflow back there to start with. With the cooler set parallel to the rear trunk floor, you are going to get even less. When I did mine, I set it perpendicular to the rear trunk floor to make use of all the air going under the car, and it also has fans. You could not do that with a square unit - not enough ground clearance.

With the fans installed, and the mounting kit, the Setrab cooler that Aircooled.net sells is 13" long, 6" wide and 6" deep. Even so, I still had an interesting time finding some place to mount it the way I wanted it mounted.

All told, I spent about $700 on mine including the thermostat, sandwich adapter, fan switch, cooler with fans, 10 ft of AN-8 hose, AN-8 fittings, and the tooling I needed to make the hoses since I was starting from scratch. it was not a cheap project. However, I am getting 20degrees more cooling out of my set up then the folks who did a parallel mount with a square cooler. In my case where I was seeing oil temps ~240, and can now drive all over and never see higher then ~205 when I am really on it, thats huge and i feel the money was well spent.

YMMV

Zach

[qa1142]

waiting for the pictures (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[tradisrad]

I added an LED to my oil temp gauge to indicate when the oil cooler fan is on. I drilled the led hole a bit low and the light clips the top of the "220", but I don't think it looks too bad (for having limited tools and doing it by hand).
The needle is capable of clearing the LED if it ever gets that hot and it is hard to see when it is off. I also added a variable resistor the the back of the gauge so I can controll the brightness of the LED. Now my oil cooler project is done.



since the oil temps are not getting too hot my oil pressure is staying high. This next picture is on the freeway at 3k rpm. I have been told that the pressure is good and I should be happy, but I guess I need something to worry about because I think it's a bit too high.

[qa1142]

that's nice

[VaccaRabite]

Here is a QUICK picture of my setup.
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/farm5.static.flickr.com-1435-1280104274.1.jpg)

I was chaing the oil in my wife's car, and the 914 was next to it, so I just rolled over and snapped a quick one of the cooler location. Its a cell phone pic. To show more I have to have time to put the car up in the air. I am going to move it slightly to add a little more room away from teh rear suspension, but the general location will not change.

Zach



Zach

[qa1142]

Zach
With it mounted like that, do you really need the fans?

that is a 16x6 unit right?

thanks for the picture

[VaccaRabite]

Yes, I felt I needed the fans. I was told by a lot of folks (on World and locally) that I would not get enough airflow w/o fans. The fans keep the air moving through the cooler, and it works very well.

Is a 12inch by 6 inch unit. With the fans and the mounting brackets, its 12" long, 7" tall and 6" deep. I am not sure that I needed the brackets with how I mounted it, but the bracket kit came with rubber isolators to I used them.

Zach

[JimN73]

Does anyone know how hot it gets in the area above the transmission, say on a 90 degree day? If there's not a lot of air moving, it might get pretty warm. Hard to dissipate a lot of heat from the oil if the area is hot.

[JimN73]

My request for more info got buried in a busy day, I'm reposting
thanks,

[Elliot Cannon]

Fans only help when you're sitting idle in traffic. Whey you are moving, they restrict the flow of air.

[McMark]

I'm not so sure about the fans-restrict-airflow. Seems to me that the cooler itself is a far greater restriction than an idle fan could ever be. You can easily imagine a pressure differential between the inlet and outlet sides of a cooler. But can you really say that a non-powered fan would restrict air flow?

I don't buy it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[tomeric914]

Fans only help when you're sitting idle in traffic. Whey you are moving, they restrict the flow of air.

If a cooler was mounted on the vehicle in such a way that air would flow through it when the vehicle was moving, the airflow would rotate the fans. They will not be a restriction.

[bugsy0]

Yes, I felt I needed the fans. I was told by a lot of folks (on World and locally) that I would not get enough airflow w/o fans. The fans keep the air moving through the cooler, and it works very well.

Is a 12inch by 6 inch unit. With the fans and the mounting brackets, its 12" long, 7" tall and 6" deep. I am not sure that I needed the brackets with how I mounted it, but the bracket kit came with rubber isolators to I used them.

Zach

Is a vertical mount like this too exposed to the elements? Water and road debris will ruin the electric fan motor and heat exchanger, no? I don't drive in the rain unless I get caught, but I do drive on gravel and am concerned about dirt kicked up by the front wheels. Front mount requires cutting up my car. Are there better alternatives? I'd like to use the Setrab dual fan unit (16"x6"x6") or a Derale (11"x12"x4"). The Derale would have to be mounted parallel to the trunk floor which is not optimal imo.

[VaccaRabite]

Well, lots of cars use electric fans on radiators and they are driven daily in all manner or weather and conditions. I am not worried. I bet the bearings will fail before the motors do.

[realred914]

Yes, I felt I needed the fans. I was told by a lot of folks (on World and locally) that I would not get enough airflow w/o fans. The fans keep the air moving through the cooler, and it works very well.

Is a 12inch by 6 inch unit. With the fans and the mounting brackets, its 12" long, 7" tall and 6" deep. I am not sure that I needed the brackets with how I mounted it, but the bracket kit came with rubber isolators to I used them.

Zach

Is a vertical mount like this too exposed to the elements? Water and road debris will ruin the electric fan motor and heat exchanger, no? I don't drive in the rain unless I get caught, but I do drive on gravel and am concerned about dirt kicked up by the front wheels. Front mount requires cutting up my car. Are there better alternatives? I'd like to use the Setrab dual fan unit (16"x6"x6") or a Derale (11"x12"x4"). The Derale would have to be mounted parallel to the trunk floor which is not optimal imo.

bottm line is tradisrads mounted his 72 plate cooler horizontally a couple inches below the trunk floor. his oil was at nearly 220F prior to that, with the cooler he got a slight reduction in temps, when teh fan kicked on he sees about 180F oil temps.

###this tell me the fan makes a significant cooling contribution

###this tells me the cooler can be mounted horizontally and give a significatn cooling contribution (and it is out of the way of many road debries)

###this tells me the cooler works fine even in the reported low air flow and high temps found above thre transmission.


bottom line is this system works great. no need to risk debries damage by hanging hte cooler down low in the slip stream. no need to run cooler up front.

this is plenty of cooling for a big bore 2 liter motor.




costs: my 96 plate cooler with fan attached cost $170 from Bugformance, this is the Empi brand cooler.

the Hyaden andwich adaptor with built in thermostat cost about $40 (use the Hayden 205 part number) the Derale thermostate switch for fan about $45, and the hose was $9 a foot for AN 10

all told it was about $350 for my install. could have saved about $100 if I had used regular hose and barbed fitting (the barbed fittins come with the cooler and sandwich adaptors)


so you could potnetially do it for about $250.

[bugsy0]

Yep - I might just be over-thinking it a bit - everything's a trade-off I guess