After track sessions this past weekend, oil temps as indicated by a dipstick thermometer (Mainely Custom item) indicated temps of about 252 F after 20 minute sessions (ambient temps in the 60's). The engine is a Euro D-Jet with 20-50 Brad Penn. The engine that was in the car when I bought it (not the same engine as in the car now) has a sandwich oil cooler adapter and the oil cooler is still mounted on the car and I think I will hook it up again. Two questions; first is the indentification of the outlet and inlet on the adapter; which is which or how do I figure out which one the oil should exit from and which should the oil return. Second, on a radiator style oil cooler, do you hook it up so that oil goes in the "top" and filters/goes down the coils and exits out the bottom connection or goes in the bottom and pressure feeds up the cooler and exits out the top to return? TIA

My sandwich adapter has an arrow cast into it's side, and the instructions showed them as well. Perhaps you could look at the manufacturer's website for online manual?

Oil coolers should always fill from the bottom and exit from the top or they won't fill completely.

Good Luck!

Note: My sandwich adapter (PermaCool) raises my oil pressure by quite a bit. Does yours?

I drove the car with the original engine with the adapter about 5 yrs ago so I don't remember the pressure status and for that matter, didn't drive the engine w/o the adapter. I will let you know if I notice any difference after I install/re-hook-up the cooler. Thanks for the answer to my questions..... will hook it up maybe this weekend...

This morning I removed the adapter from the engine that was in the car when I bought it and identified it as (possibly) an Earls sandwich adapter with thermostat.
Click to view attachment
If you recognize it as something else, please let me know. Before I removed it, I tried to determine the tightening torque and got between 25 and 30 ft lbs. A little ball, spring and "stay" (for lack of better description) was lying in the groove and looks like it came out of the filter stand. Any ideas what caused the ball and spring to be pushed out of the stand?

I'm trying to determine the inlet and outlet connections of the oil cooler. The cooler looks like this Hayden but is about 13"x5.25"
Click to view attachment
the cooler is mounted such that the inlet and outlets are pointed upward, that is, the cooler lines are connected above the cooler (cooler is mounted inverse from as shown in pic). Best I can figure is it doesn't matter which is inlet and outlet

From the oil filter's perspective oil will flow from the outside to the middle and then into the engine. Now I'm just thinking I'm pretty slack for not knowing if the oil flows through the filter before or after it goes through the cooler. There are no marks that show direction?

If I were designing the adapter oil would be filtered before it's cooled. That'll protect my cooler as well.

What I don't know is whether the ball would close off/open up the sandwich adapter and return all oil to the engine if...
1. the oil cooler or filter were clogged (huge pressure increase) or
2. the oil filter or cooler were punctured (huge pressure drop)

I suspect #1 to be the case but #2 could equally catastrophic. One ball couldn't do both

The engine wouldn't "care". That entire assembly is a "black box" as far as the it's concerned.

I don't know why the ball would fall out, but if the retainer won't keep it in there I'd replace it. Whether #1 or #2 is true, it won't do either!

So much for thinking out-loud, I have reading to do! It appears I've installed a device into my car that I don't fully understand. That's just embarrassing.

The oil cooler on the other hand functions the same in either direction. But that one looks like an automatic transmission cooler. The oil won't stay in there very long. Most high viscosity oil coolers use more complicated passageways to keep the oil in it longer so it can transfer more heat to the atmosphere. Might be just fine though. You're right though, it's upside down in this pic.

Good luck!

That ball, cup and spring are the oil filter bypass. The oil was likely bypassing the cooler and the filter and going back to the engine.

I removed my spring, punched out an aluminum plug a thousandth or two larger than the hole, pressed in the plug and peened over the edge of the hole in a couple of spots.

It's in a thread I contributed to on oil coolers. Search and ye shall find.

I'm an advocate of RTFM also but there are "billions" of oil cooler related threads. How about a few key words or a link to the thread? You know... for those of us who are busy too?

I used to think that blocking off the bypass was a good idea...
until we tore down an engine that ate a set of lifters. The wear metal clogged the filter and collapsed the element because there was no bypass. The bearings were getting starved and catastrophic failure was only narrowly avoided.

I'm planning to look into a heavier spring for the bypass instead of blocking it off, since I think the stock one only needs a few psi of backpressure before it opens.

Without that ball check valve in place you were getting zero oil filtration.

Then I guess it's good it's sitting on a dolly in the garage and not in the car. I removed the engine 'cause my car wouldn't pass PCA track tech because of oil leakage. I removed the sandwich oil cooler adapter from the engine and installed it on the engine currently in the car. Not finished as on start up there was alot of oil leakage gonna go back under and tighten things up a bit. Need to repair before July 13th-ish; track weekend July 20.

Ok,
This is one where I have some experience. I worked for Hayden Oil Coolers for 27 years.
That probably is a Hayden or Thermal Dynamics cooler. I used an identical one on a 1.8L engine with the oil cooler mounted to the engine grill and got a 30 degree oil temp drop. Very strong copper tube coolers with the only draw back being the weight.

That spring and plunger in the adapter are a pressure relief for the oil cooler circuit, not for the filter. The filter head in a 914 engine has one built into it. Many filters also have one built into the bottom. The oil cooler needs to have a pressure relief in case of severe restriction and cold weather startup. During normal operation the pressure relief prevents a pressure drop to be no more than it's opening setting.

The oil flow is from the pump to the oil cooler and then on to the engine.

The adapters we had used a 7-10 pound relief. The cross flow cooler pictures is capable of flowing 8-10 GPM with minimal pressure drop.
More restrictive coolers have high pressure drops forcing the bypass open bypassing most of the oil around the cooler. In this situation cooling is reduced but oil pressure reduction to the engine bearings is limited.

Bruce

Sorry Chris that is wrong. The ball and spring bypasses oil from one side of the adapter bypassing the cooler , not the filter.

You will have very little oil cooling but the oil has to go through the adapter and or cooler to get to the filter to get back into the engine.

If you are referring to the ball and spring in the oil filter head then you will have both reduced filtration, oil flow to the engine and major oil pressure loss.

Bruce

Those coolers are not directional. The can be mounted in any direction but mounting with the ports up will trap old oil when trying to change the oil.

Bruce

revisiting this thread. the system leaks badly. I probably need to find a replacement 0-ring and see what snugging up the parts will do....

You're sure Bruce?
The thermostatic valve in the sandwich plate doesn't need a ball as part of the assembly.

I just took these out of a filter bracket. Looks just like the pcs shown above.
Click to view attachment

My PermaCool sandwich plate has a ball. Frankly I'd like to change the spring rate to see if it would lower my oil pressure a bit... might not but what the heck, it's worth a try. To your issue however...

Which o-ring? If it's the sandwich o-ring on top, you may have to simply tighten the internal center-nut. The hex on the center fastener is very shallow and the sandwich adapter casting is in the way on mine. So I had to grind down the "muzzle" on a socket to be beveled so it would grip. Sorta like grinding a big socket to fit over other choice Porsche bits, like the flywheel gland-nut on the 356.

Click to view attachment

Good luck!

I went out to confirm that the ball, spring and the round thing I found in the adapter were in fact from the oil filter stand. Sure enough, they came from the oil filter stand. If you have interest in the o-ring, I was told that Earls is now owned by Holley in CA; I googled and found a catalog and the o-ring size was listed in the info about the adapter

http://www.holley.com/EarlsCatalog/Catalog.asp?pageNumber=86

Found the o-ring in the McMaster-Carr catalog and ordered; will get a package of 10 for $10.51; will install Fri in hopes of results of no drip.... Thanks Root.....