DIY oilcooler kit for less than 200$

[Carl H]

since the topic of oilcoolers has come up several times now in the past few weeks i thought i would post my solution to the lack of an oil cooler that the rb20 has.this is just a general guide so your mileage may vary...

the basic parts list:mocal thermostatic sammitch adaptor - 75$ onlinefittings for -8an for oil cooler - 8$ x2 = 16used but in good nic setrab oil cooler from a turbo volvo - freecustom hydraulic lines 100-150$

a quick pic of the cooler and sandwitch plate, cooler is a great value most often never go bad and are very cheap.core dimentions are 11L x 4W x 2D, not shabby and perfect for this application.



i'll post pics of my mounting an hose routing tommorow, didnt have time to fab all of the bracketry today.

[Coolwhip]

I see kittah approves, so I approve.

Good stuff can't wait to see the whole setup

[240z4u]

Hey dude, someone let some cats in your house LOL.

Pets FTW!

Carl, at what point do you think that an oil cooler is needed?

Thanks man - Evan

[Bluefire]

cute mackerel's!!... Anyways I figured I might that unless you get your oil cooler for free like carl did expect to pay between $100-$150 for a new core

-Bluefire

[Shocker]

we got cat and hamster man here, looks good!

[DJButton]

Well if Fluffah approves so do I! Looks like a good solution man.

[Yellow4g63]

mocal thermostatic sammitch adaptor - check! I got that part a while back, I should put it on a do my oil cooler but I want to drive my car now!!! lol. I'll keep an eye on this thread Carl.

[OKRB20DET]

i got everything i need...but i can't seem to find cats like that, any suggestions on where i should get them so my oil cooler setup will work?

[l0nestar]

Why, that looks strikingly similar to the oil cooler and sandwich adapter that I possess! *grin* But most importantly Teh Kittahs!!

[StricNyne]

thats awesome that sandwich plate i was looking for one that has a theromostat built in !!! foshizzle

[Bronze MFP]

for those of you who actually have to pay for the oil cooler core at pull-a-part, its like 15 bucks at most. carl likes to throw parts over the fence and retrieve them later for free. lol

[Carl H]

hey hey now...thats not true.altho i did tell the parts counter person it was a powersteering cooler :p, she was more interested in the harness bits i had in my hand so she let the cooler slide go figure.

[Yellow4g63]

for those of you who actually have to pay for the oil cooler core at pull-a-part, its like 15 bucks at most. carl likes to throw parts over the fence and retrieve them later for free. lol

LoL

[Bronze MFP]

sorry, i must have been thinking of the maxima injectors then

[devil_child]

yeah, for little stuff around here we carry a backpack of tools with a secret pouch in the bottom, so if we need small things, we stick them in there and when it comes time to pay, just dump the bag on the counter along with the tools.

[AZhitman]

I hate to admit it, but I have done a bit of "pocketing" of tiny needed bits in junkyards....

I'm using an FD oil cooler - Bigger, and if you can get the lines too, it saves a TON of work!

[Carl H]

an fd oil cooler?im curious now; if i had the space i would go for the fc turbo 2 oilcooler...thing is beyond massive!

[002-M-P]

how big is that oil cooler carl?...I was looking at getting a new 25-row Setrab oil cooler, but if there are oem setrab units I can pull off junk cars with -AN fittings already on it that would be crucial. Also, is it steel?

[Carl H]

core dimentions are listed in first post, the fittings on the cooler are not an but rather 1/2" bsp, which any proper hydraulic line shop can fab up lines for.again this is a good budget cooler for those who dont want to speend loads of money on a cooler kit.as with any cooler this is made out of aluminum, many of the coolers for sale out there that are 'racing spec' are nothing more than units simmilar to this one but cleared out instead of black.

[AZhitman]

The FD cooler is a nice size - sits right atop my intercooler.

[Shahee1]

FC oil coolers are an upgrade for the FD ... Most FD guys will either jump on R1/R2 oil cooler setup cause they run two coolers parallel from the factory ... but FC3S cooler is still much better. So some High HP RX7 will have two stock FC oil coolers running in parallel.

[nissanman04]

should have kept the core from my '88 gxl that I junked.

[Carl H]

some minor updates...hoses should come tommorow assuming i get going early enough...

[Sky80]

Dam, how long does that make your line with the cooler being on the passenger side? No worries with it that long(like does that add stress to the oil pump?)

[Carl H]

well final update for this project as it is now complete.im pretty happy with how it came out for the most part, and it seems to be doing its job, but for it to be really efficient i need to construct a duct for it; another project for another time...as far as temperature, im not totaly sure what the before and after temps were but there is most certianly some cooling going on.previously before the cooler at idle my oil pressure was 2bar, now its 2.75 bar according to my defi gauges.i run royal purple 20w50 so it would make sense that the cooler oil would be much more viscous thus have a higher pressure.in the end i did come out to spending about 200$ all in all for the whole setup, the lines and fittings ran me about 100$ but i measured a bit too long and had extra hose (read: ~4ft) so realisticaly it would be more like 80 for the hoses.the most expensive part of this setup is really the sandwitch plate, so like i stated before your mileage may vary but i did this for sub 200$.so thats that, and some pics to close out...

[Yellow4g63]

So where do you mount the oil temp probe?

[Carl H]

it will go into one of those greddy oil plug temp probe adaptors, i just dont have money to ball up for the defi oil temp gauge yet...

[Sky80]

How hot is the climate where you live carl? 20w50 seems a little thick

I guess i would be curious to see what everyone else is running weight wise? Im on royal purple 5w30 and at idle my defi bf gauges say 1 bar(no oil cooler)...

[Yellow4g63]

it will go into one of those greddy oil plug temp probe adaptors, i just dont have money to ball up for the defi oil temp gauge yet...

For the ballers out there that have such a defi gauge can you link to the oil plug thingy so that I can errr we can order it .

[Carl H]

http://www.google.com/product_...hl=enbehold the power of google search.