Best oil cooler for the Northeast??
 

I'm not sure if this has been discussed before or not but I live on Long Island and daily my FRS everyday. It also sees about 6 track days a year. Been stuck between the mishimoto and Perrin oil cooler and which one to go with. The mishimoto is cheaper and I've had great experience with their rads, only issue is I noticed, kit does not come with a thermostat. Would that be a big issue for driving the car in the winter or should I just spend the extra money and get the Perrin which already has it? Please help with my decision. Thanks.

I would consider an oil thermostat very important for your location. Even the Mocal thermostat lets some oil flow and can result in over-cooling in the winter. As a minimum, I'd run a thermostat and block off the cooler with a piece of card board.

The water-oil coolers are nice for this, because in the winter they will help warm the oil rather than cool it (Robispec radiator, etc).

It's probably all of 10 minutes to remove the sandwich plate for the cooler in the winter. Either put the whole sandwich plate in a baggie (lines and all), or just get a male-male AN fitting and connect the lines together.

That's actually not a bad idea. Ill prob end up going with the Perrin since it has the thermostat. Then when winter comes around just disconnect it.

See the thread on oil coolers here in this section. (There's a brief DIY on it too... 'oil/water laminova.') I went with an oil/water system and it works perfectly for DD and autox. I would bet that it would also be fine for HPDE and some lighter track work.

hahahahahha because race cah!

I am in the same boat with winter, Ive got my eye on the Cusco oil/water unit.

The cusco oil/water unit looks pretty interesting. Now I kinda wanna wait to see what reviews it gets. Only issue I see is, you'd prob want to get a bigger rad for this set up.

I would just run the Mocal/Perrin. Keep an eye on temps in Winter. Either disconnect it when the cold gets to be too much or block it off.

Only problem with disconnecting it is there will be oil sitting in the cooler and lines. So when you plug it back in you will have old oil flowing back into the motor.

With my oil/water system the radiator has never gotten above 204-degrees....and that was while sitting still for a few minutes after a hard auto-x run. If you were doing some series tracking a new radiator would be smart, but for anything else I don't know that you'd need it.

Additionally, you would NEVER need to disconnect an oil/water system once it's installed regardless of the cold. An oil/water system not only keeps your oil from getting too hot, it helps warm it up faster on a cold day.

Planning on running either a custom setup with T-stat or the Mishimoto version.

-Mike Paisan

http://www.pbase.com/paisan/image/153798190.jpg
Maintaining, Modifying and Educating TriState Enthusiasts since 2001.
Like us on Facebook! | E-mail: sales@azpinstalls.com | 725 Fairfield Ave | Kenilworth, NJ 07033 | 908.248.AZP1 (2971) |AIM: AZP Installs
"Race Tested, Enthusiast Approved!"

Sorry to bring this back from the dead (didn't want to add clutter with a separate thread), but I'm in the same boat DDing my car for at least one more winter, with the car seeing at least six track days a year. I'd like to get a water to oil cooler as added insurance for the track, but am I correct that only Cusco makes such a unit? Has anyone run it for a while? Any issues?

Can anyone who uses one chime in with experiences? I really like the idea of just bolting up the cooler and setting off, not having to worry about blocking it off, potential leaks ect. Any input is much appreciated!

The Cusco is nothing more than a really expensive version of the Forester oil cooler. There is a DIY thread for the system on the forum. For a bigger set-up that is probably better for track check out the Laminova set-ups.

Edit:

Laminova set-up
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42511

Forester
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50427

Sorry for not updating this sooner...

We tested the 2015 WRX Oil-Coolant cooler and the Perrin/Setrab Air-Oil Cooler on our Project BRZ.

WRX Cooler- great for a DD and occasional track car. On track we saw temps come down from 289 to 265 on our car during hard tracking in the summer in NJ/CT. This setup is more cost effective and will also help warm up your oil in the winter.

Perrin/Setrab- T-stat controlled and this is now taking the 289 temps down to 225-227 on track under the same conditions. On the street she is running 189-215 depending on how much throttle we give it. Don't use the suggested mounting location which is the undertray. We mounted ours to the bumper beam so if we rip off the undertray we don't lose the cooler.

Shoot me an e-mail to paisan@azpinstalls.com for details.

-mike

You can also check out the Maximal Performance oil cooler which will save you some bucks.

Like Mike said, if I was installing it on my track car, I would likely reinforce the mounting.
http://www.maximalperformance.com/fr...oil-cooler-kit