Front Mounted Oil Cooler ..., what has worked for you? Options

[J P Stein]

I've posted my set up bout 30 times so I'll spare ya'll this time.
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/laugh.gif)

[joea9146]

QUOTE (J P Stein @ Jan 16 2005, 01:08 PM)

I've posted my set up bout 30 times so I'll spare ya'll this time. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/laugh.gif)

Come on .... or a least a link to the Previous posts

[SirAndy]

QUOTE (Steve @ Jan 16 2005, 07:50 AM)

How do you clean behind them??

pressure washer ...

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/wink.gif) Andy

[jd74914]

very interesting 914rs. it really does work (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif)

[brant]

Andy,

once upon a time I sent you a pic of my black car through the hood. If you want me to try and re-take some shots of it I could.. (but car has a dead motor, a dead tranny, and a smashed fender from christmas where a 2x4 fell on it..) so It won't look too pretty and is very dusty.

anyways... you know I like the through hood Idea for a clear exit. It worked very well for me. I ran lines (I know you can't) under the rockers and even used an aluminum tubing (sorry trekkor I did it in 1990) for part of the run.

I think you'll be fine through the cabin, but in case of an accident or something you really should consider the stainless lines instead of tubing.. Don't want that hot oil spraying on you.

Also, I'd recommend that you add a 2ndary filter into the front trunk. It might save you from ruining the cooler and I found with ours that it was amazing how much particulate could be caught up there.

I ran an earls oil cooler back then. And my front cooler had 3 different air-exits during its life time. #1 was a restrictive under the floor set up. #2 was an open under the floor set up. #3 was the through hood. Each of the progressively less restrictive exits dropped my oil temp noticeably on the same motor and same gauge.

It was due to this lesson that I went the route that I did on my current double front cooler set up. We didn't want a restrictive down exit.. and our fuel tank ate up too much of the floor space so we had to find a straighter shot for the exit air.

The sandwhich adapter is fine, and the one you have most likely has a built in thermostat. When we got to full race we gutted our thermostat and continued to use the sandwhich.

of course you should upgrade the oil pump and go with AN-12 lines. Some of the really big -6 motors would love AN-16, or even AN-20 return, but you don't want to do that with a -4

I learned that volume and lines effect cooling too, and if you flow too much the oil won't have time to cool either.

Is there anyway you can talk with the motor builder. Believe it or not there is a science to this. The builder may be able to tell you the correct flow rates if there are any oiling mods inside. Otherwise just go AN-12

Regarding Coolers... I'm a firm believier in Fluidyne now.
they make a single pass and a double pass model. You can also custom order the cooler with your choice of fittings if you go direct to the factory for it. Hoerr racing is a good source but make sure you clarify if you want certain fittings. That way, if you go AN then the cooler will not need another adapter.

[SirAndy]

QUOTE (brant @ Jan 16 2005, 01:07 PM)

If you want me to try and re-take some shots of it I could.

yes, pics are always guud!

thanks for all the info ...
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/beerchug.gif) Andy

[brant]

Ok... here are some dark crappy dirty pics.
car is sitting in a falling down shed and yes those are cat prints somehow....

looking quite dirty and neglected, but since I blew the motor last fall I haven't touched the beast.

Hopefully by mid summer I'll have a new motor, possibly a new tranny that I think I'm getting from a member in CA and a fresh coat of wax:

[brant]

So I went through the hood to maintain temp on it as a race car. We ran production race class and were required that all panels remain the same material as stock.. Thus its a metal hood. It was also the very first thing I ever welded so its not my best work ever.

We cut the hood with a jig saw and then rolled it down the amount we wanted. We cut some side plates out of an old ford pick up hood, and welded them in.

then a little bondo and Viola:

[brant]

car was also street registered once upon a time, so the air intake is directly behind the lisc plate. 2 screws to pull the plate and open air flow:

[brant]

Inside the trunk, we took sheet aluminum and folded up a small both to complete the duct work for the cooler to the hood. When the hood is closed it fits fairly tight and almost but not quite water tight. We pulled and got rid of the accusump when we decommisioned it. Still have an aux oil filter and we rigged up a 2nd oil light into the "fasten seat belt light" on the dash.

this sender is 15psi, and its amazing how easy it is to turn that light on even with street tires... but when the accusump was installed you would never turn that light on... at least it was a back up to me to remind me to open the accusump.

Also you can see the relocated battery and plumbing...

oh and we put the spare tire upright on a spacesaver about 15years ago:

[brant]

duct work from the side:

[brant]

close up to show shape:

[brant]

hood shape from the inside with embarassing welds:

[SirAndy]

thank you sir!

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/smilie_pokal.gif) Andy

[brant]

no problem...

and I still owe you a beer for the green car PPI last year.

[retrotech]

I am glad someone finally agrees, exhausting air under the car is not as desirable, as out the hood.

[brant]

Under the car is not all bad...
Its just that you need to heavily cut into the front trunk to get a very low restriction exhaust..

On my black car I didn't want to hack the whole front trunk out.

and on my orange car I couldn't go through the front trunk in an unrestrictive manner since the fuel cell was taking up all the floor space.

I think a Factory gt style exit is much less work than a hood and doesn't open up all the problems of having water in the trunk etc, on a street set up.

for a race car up is fine though.

[retrotech]

But I thought the point of lowering front of car, and using spoiler/splitter was to get down force & reduce air under the car? What air does travel under speeds up to create low pressure area & better down force. How can adding turbulence/more be a good thing?

[SirAndy]

QUOTE (retrotech @ Jan 17 2005, 05:32 PM)

How can adding turbulence/more be a good thing?

it's usually not, *but* the way our cars are designed, air under the car helps with the engine cooling!
just ask the people that run a monster air-dam, they will all see a significant increase in engine temps.

having said that, i also firmly believe that running the oil-cooler air under the car is counter-productive.
you add more lift plus pre-heated air doesn't cool that well.

i'll vent my oil cooler out the top, through the hood and refrain from running a monster air-dam.
more downforce, better cooling, more heat in the cabin!
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/driving.gif) Andy

[retrotech]

Andy,

Wouldn't the compressed air under car [low pressure] increases air speed, there for pulling more hot air from bottom of engine?
Not tyrying to dispute, just wanting to learn. I have been researching from various race/performance websites. This is what I understand from my research.