I am in the process of getting the parts together for a remote oil cooler. I was following the PP Tech article for the placement under the right side of the trunk with a puller fan. Brad brought out his experience that others with that location did not fair well. The location is still in the heat envolope with the engine, heat exchangers next to the cooler. His suggestion was to place the cooler up front like a 916. So I crawled back under the car looking at the rocker panels for plumbing the oil lines and noted a huge space in the forward aspect of the rear wheel well. The space extends about 2 1/2 feet in front of the wheel. It is seperated from the engine compartment, has easy access to plumb the cooler there. Cold air can be drawn up from the underside of the chasis. Has anyone placed the cooler in this location? If so what was the results? I realize I will need to place a splash guard between the cooler and the wheel. The location for the remote filter and mechanical thermostats would be in the undersurface of the trunk as in the tech. article.
Thanks,
L. McChesney

Umm.. same post dufferent day ?


B

Not really Brad. I am looking at your sugestion of relocation in front. However, I would like to avoid cutting the front trunk if possible. You had said that the under trunk location was a poor choice secondary to the heat created by the heat exchangers and engine. When I went out to look for other sites, I ldentified the recess in front of the rear wheel well. It is seperate from the engine, I would not think the temp. would be excessive here and with the use of a fan, would provide air flow.
L. McChesney

I don't think that area gets a lot of air circulation... (what do I know?) If not, you'd have to install some kiind of scoop to direct air into or out of there... maybe an NACA duct?

You don't have to cut that much in the front trunk...just pop out the rubber plugs behind the bumper and cut a couple 4+ inch holes to exhaust the cooler air...

L,

This is one time that I need to disagree with the Master.

I installed a custom remote cooler with a filter thermostat/coupling on my 74 2.0 Bumblebee. (Cooler parts courtesy of Engman, who game me an excellent deal.) I mounted the oil cooler under the rear trunk, similar to the PP article.

While there wasn't a huge benefit at highway speeds, it made a huge difference for stop-and-go traffic in 100 degree July and August days in Iowa. I used an electric fan from my FLAPS, with a switch mounted in the center console near the heater lever. Flipping the switch gave me an almost immediate 20 degree drop in temps, in traffic.

I would do it again, for a daily driver car.

-Rusty

!

Sorry, I left the CD with all those pictures back in Kansas.

-Rusty

If I'm not mistaken I just saw pictures of a wheel well oil cooler installation in another thread here. The June Excellence 914 story was the topic.

Looking at that space, it seems that a small air scoup directing air from under the longitudinals could be directed up into that space to provide a cold air source. In fact, why could the opsite side be used for a cold air intake for the engine?

i don't get it ....

you don't want to cut a 10" by 4" hole in your front trunk floor (where NO-ONE can see it)
but you are happy to cut out BOTH sides of your rear quarter panels for fresh air scoopes ???

what am i missing here?
Andy

Hey L;

Check out This website.

Good luck,
Kevin

thanks,

thats was good reading

Andy, either you are mis reading the idea or more than likely, I have not stated it well.
Brad suggests placing the oil cooler in the front turnk with ram air flow. No problem with the dynamics of adaquate flow to a cooler in a non heated space. MY worry, and is dependent on others experience is that the car will be used frequently in less than Calif weather. When you cut the air intake, how do you protect water from entering the front trunk? The other problem I can only extend the thought logic from other posts. If I am to run 10-12 feet of _10 hose along the side of the rocker panels in cold (0°F) weather, even with a oil thermostat in front of the oil supply, am I not endangering the cooler and plumbing. My understanding of the oil thermostat is that it is a gradual flow adjustment. Some oil flow occurs at all temps. Only when supply oil reaches 180°will full flow occur. Thus, in cold enviroments I will be attempting to push 30wt. oil through a system with very high resistance.
I looked at the wheel well as providing the following: Short distance, reasonably less heated enviroment. No, I'm not thinking of inserting NASCAR type of air scoup on the quater panel, instead I was thinking of using the air flow under the car as a source of cold air. The down side of this is the disturbulance of the laminar flow under the chasis and what effect it will have on down force.
L. McChesney

I don't think you will upset the airflow substantially or reduce your downforce even noticeably regardless of how you duct it .
If you used a NACA duct mounted flat so it sucked air up into the cooler area you would also not cut into ground clearance.
As far as water in the front trunk with a front mounted cooler, by creating a shroud that exits out the floor of the trunk any water would also be expelled in the same way.

I put a cooler in the right side rear quarter, below the sail panel. It was a Mocal (20 row IIRC), and just barely fit. I don't think it would be do-able with the Brad Mayeur stiffening panels, but it worked fine without. It was a challenge to get the mounts fab'd and so that everything fit, but it did.

I had also mounted a fan directly to the cooler with a thermostat/relay to turn the fan on when it got to a certain temp. Well that thing was a waste of time as the fan ran too frequently and burned out. I didn't know it though for quite some time. That car is still running nice and cool, with a 3.0 six.

The only thing I'd do differently is to have a stone guard, which I didn't.

Sometime next fall I hope to fabricate an oil cooler system for 914's that will work well for all 914's that need extra oil cooling, but less than needed for race cars (front mounted). I don't like extra fans. I don't like cutting panels. I don't like thirty feet of rubber oil hose.

I guess I've overlooked it, but what engine are you using?

PK

My understanding is that the thermostat begins to open at 180ºF so as to provide minimum temperature rise time of the oil circulating in the engine. You want to get the engine up to temperature fast. This minimizes the flow of cold oil through a high restriction.

From the PP tech article is the following:

Thus, it seems there would be the attempt to pump cold thick oil through your cooler.
L. McC

Open or closed there is always a bit of oil going pass the closed orifice, this is a safety feature nothing else. It is never 100% through the cooler or vice versa.
Almost closed means almost no pressure to the cooler.

That space is where the 914/6 oil tank goes.....as to up front.....get a 75-76 front bumber cap or a fiberglass replica and mount the cooler OUTSIDE the front end and cover it up with the cap.....ventilate as needed.

If you put a cooler in front of the rear wheels it will possibly get destoyed by the rubber and stones thrown from the rear wheels. That area gets packed during one race weekend and on a street car would probably suffer the same fate. I'd say go with the front cooler, save the pieces of sheet metal you cut and if you ever need to you can put them back. I have seen many locations tried but the front works. The factory chose it so it must work well.