Homebrew Oil Cooler (Setrab/Mocal)

[brillo]

So after three weeks of testing in 95-102f houston near 100% humidity summer weather, including cruising, stop and go driving (both city and hwy), spirited driving, and some feeder road ragging, I can say that the thermostatic setup works great. Oil temps never go over 200f in any of these conditions.

Oil temps that would be 215ish with spirited summer driving now typically hover in the high 180's low 190s with the coolant roughly equal. In fact my coolant temps are lower as well as they would also be in the low 200s prior to the cooler.

Warmup doesn't seem to be an issue. I'm at 165 in about 7-8 minutes of driving, and I don't really notice a material difference from before.

Next test will be winter driving with temp swings in houston from low 40s at night to low 70s during the day I guess.

oil cooler is great piece of mind and I can't wait to take it out to hit the track and auto-x this fall once things cool down.

[dabocx]

No way to really clear it all out unless you want to be fancy like the LFA

They drain the oil, fill it up and crank the car.
Then drain it again and fill it up again.

[mikalem]

Got mine installed over the weekend, a question from the others that have done this - any worry about heat through the hose itself running that close to the windshield washer fluid?

Other than that, it seems my fittings by the OEM airbox dug in a little under WOT - not a huge deal.

As far temps and such - I'm getting about the same results so far others in this thread have seen..... what was floating in the 210 - 215 range now struggles to get above 190 - also temps seem to stabilize and start coming down much faster when relaxing the throttle. I actually saw the temp go from 185 on the street down to 171 as I got on the highway and cruised for a few minutes. It's not nearly as hot as Houston, but still I think this is something the car could have used from the factory.

[brillo]

Mike,

I noticed some chaffing/rubbing of one of the fittings on my airbox this weekend. while I have a slight gap stock, it appears that under load the airbox must shift a little and catch the edge of the areoquip fitting. I'm going to take some extra hose, cut it down the middle and fit it over the fitting to create a rubber buffer.

I also noticed like you the location of the lines and the windshield washer fluid and have been watching the for any signs of heat stress. I haven't noticed anything yet but next time I take the bumper off I'm going to wrap the neck of the washer fluid filler with some heat resistant tape I found at autozone for some insulation.

[labskaus]

Is the Location of the oilcooler strong enough to Hold it?

Is ist possible to Flip ist upside Down and Mount in to the Front bumper (Metal Bar in Front of the waterradiator?

[brillo]

Originally Posted by labskaus

Is the Location of the oilcooler strong enough to Hold it?

Is ist possible to Flip ist upside Down and Mount in to the Front bumper (Metal Bar in Front of the waterradiator?

The plastic base is strong enough to hold the light weight 13 row core. In addition, the hoses also provide some support up top. I intend to create/fab a top mount of some sort this winter just to be extra safe, but I'm not worried about the current mounting position.

I suppose you could try mounting it to the crash beam but you'd have to drill into it.

One other part I would recommend ordering when you fab your kit are some 10an plugs incase you need to disconnect the lines for any reason. I ordered some today just to have in case I needed them. For example, on a really cold day you could plug the lines and remove the sandwhich and just run the car normally.

[labskaus]

I am a Bit worrying because of the additional oil. Wehen changing the oil, the one in the cooler will stay. And half a quart of 5.6 liter is arround 10% "Old oil".
Your ideal of having a disconnector near the cooler is Good.

[brillo]

Originally Posted by labskaus

I am a Bit worrying because of the additional oil. Wehen changing the oil, the one in the cooler will stay. And half a quart of 5.6 liter is arround 10% "Old oil".
Your ideal of having a disconnector near the cooler is Good.

My RX8 had dual oil coolers stock and had no issues with the residual oil and ran great for 8 years. Any car with an oil cooler will have this "issue" (I don' think its a material issue). Believe me when I say not overcooking your oil is better than any issue that could some from some "old" oil hanging around in the system.

good quality oil these days can go quite a ways if its not overheated (8,000+ miles), much longer than the filters, so if your running synthetic a little older oil is even less of an issue.

[mikalem]

Originally Posted by brillo

The plastic base is strong enough to hold the light weight 13 row core. In addition, the hoses also provide some support up top. I intend to create/fab a top mount of some sort this winter just to be extra safe, but I'm not worried about the current mounting position.

I suppose you could try mounting it to the crash beam but you'd have to drill into it.

One other part I would recommend ordering when you fab your kit are some 10an plugs incase you need to disconnect the lines for any reason. I ordered some today just to have in case I needed them. For example, on a really cold day you could plug the lines and remove the sandwhich and just run the car normally.

So, something like this? -10an Flare Plug Making sure I'm looking at the right type of plugs. Thanks for the input!

[brillo]

Originally Posted by mikalem

So, something like this? -10an Flare Plug Making sure I'm looking at the right type of plugs. Thanks for the input!

yep, thats exactly what I'm talking about.

[F1point4]

I did share concerns about the plastic tray tearing off in a bad event...and taking my oil cooler off. I also wanted to correct the sag of the tray, causing my bumper to be misaligned.

I took my car back to DD Performance Research in Sealy, Texas and had them custom make me a bracket. One bracket rivets into the crash beam and the other mounts to the side of the Vortech Supercharger. They did fantastic welding installing the bung into my exhaust so it was easy for me to come back.

I was lucky I placed the cooler so we can use the supercharger as a mounting point.

Overall, I'm very happy that the core is top and bottom mounted. I can undo a few nuts and release it from the custom brackets. The brackets also bring the tray up so it doesn't sag.

Here is the finished brackets. I told them not to paint them. Just a personal preference

20130815-DDPR_Day2-013 by VictorN07, on Flickr

The bracket that mounts to the side of the intercooler

20130815-DDPR_Day2-014 by VictorN07, on Flickr

The bracket that rivets into the crash beam

20130815-DDPR_Day2-017 by VictorN07, on Flickr



Found this while working on other things on the car

20130815-DDPR_Day2-007 by VictorN07, on Flickr

[labskaus]

Did you drill your Owen holes into the Crash beam or are there enough?

[F1point4]

Originally Posted by labskaus

Did you drill your Owen holes into the Crash beam or are there enough?

drilled my own

[Sportsguy83]

Originally Posted by F1point4

Found this while working on other things on the car

20130815-DDPR_Day2-007 by VictorN07, on Flickr

Borla?