Water to Oil Cooler

[mdb4879]

So I know it's been discussed that an oil cooler isn't really a necessity for us, but I may be about to get my Pulsar back on the road and I was curious about this. I noticed my GSR has a water to oil cooler. It's basically a sandwich adapter as most aftermarket kits are, but instead of oil running out of it to a separate cooler all the oil is contained and water runs through it to cool. I figure it's better than nothing and cheaper and simpler than an air to oil cooler setup. I thought Mocal would have something like that, but I didn't find anything when I did a quick check.

While typing this I remembered the E15ET's had an oil cooler like this, so I'm going to check into that and see if I could find on of those. I figure it'd work since they use the same filters as our motors. Has anyone else come across something like this for us?

[r34 gtr]

Lots of CA18s came stock with one of those. Shouldn't be difficult to track one down. I'm willing to bet one of the regular folks on here has one they will part with.

I disagree with the "proper oil cooler not being a necessity" argument. I don't see why you wouldn't run one. If you do any kind of regular interstate driving, its very nice to have. I used to see oil temps that were pretty high when going back and forth to school (~75mph for 3.5 hours).

Here's a picture I shamelessly lifted from another site. Stock CA18 cooler.

[boost_boy]

Tim's right on this one. They are good to have, but won't kill the engine without one as they do come with and without oil-to-water coolers. My 536whp CA powered S13 does not have one, but my sentra's CA18 does.

[mdb4879]

Yeah, I wasn't saying they aren't good to have. Hence why I was searching around for one. I think I just remembered seeing a thread where someone was talking about an oil cooler and I think it was Dee who said they weren't a necessity (not that they aren't nice to have, just that they aren't required and I think he may have used the same example or a like example of his high powered S13).

I know heat will kill a motor faster than anything else, and after having my single cam KA and it's lifter tick problems after a few minutes of hard drifting (drifting a stock KA24E? haha, yeah right ) and eventually killing the motor entirely I figured it'd be nice to have one on anything I build. Especially the way I drive. I deliver pizza at night in an area that is, let's see how to describe the area, it's the line between suburbs and country. So I accelerate hard and have plenty of opportunity to drive sporty and I'm constantly stopping the car and starting it again. So yeah, I figure I battle heat a lot.

I don't know why I didn't realize some CA's had an oil cooler from the factory. I just assumed they didn't so I didn't bother searching for that and skipped straight to searching for aftermarket options. So on another note, since they share the same filter, is there any chance a CA oil cooler would fit other Nissan motors such as KA's?

Anybody have an oil cooler they want to get rid of? It may be a few weeks before I'm really in the market for one, but I'd like to know their availability. Dee? I know you almost always show yourself whenever someone is in need of an odd part.

[themadscientist]

I find them on all turbo automatics. Never seen one on a nonturbo.

[r34 gtr]

Tim's right on this one.

HA! Take that, every teacher I ever had!

[float_6969]

Oil coolers are good. IIRC, Nissan used that cooler on the automatic turbo CA's in Japan, and all of the european CA's (Autobahn). I can tell you that my oil gets pretty hot running 75-80mph on the hour drive to go pick up my daughter (220-230°F in July in Kansas). I'm installing a traditional oil cooler because of it.

[mdb4879]

Then I'll definitely have to get one when I get around to getting my car running again.

Tim's right on this one.

Hmmm, you say it like he isn't right on a lot of other stuff... Lol, sorry Tim. Just kidding.

[boost_boy]

Tim's right on this one.

HA! Take that, every teacher I ever had!

This guy is special. Hard not love him in a non-gay way .

[float_6969]

It's also easy to love in him in a totally gay way.....he may not be willing, but it's easy

[mdb4879]

I think his kitten helps with that fact, lol

[float_6969]

[themadscientist]

But he got it on Skymall.

[TheMAN]

yup, only JDM auto CA18DETs came with the oil cooler shown above... the EDM one is bigger and all of them came with one (looks very different too)
the upper radiator hose inlet (to engine block) is different on the oil cooler engines as it has an extra fitting for the oil cooler's coolant hose, and the water feed tee block on the lower back side of the block is also different as it feeds both the intake manifold related stuff and the oil cooler

BioSehnsucht and I went through a lot of trouble just using water tees to hack up a feed and return source for the oil cooler... it sucked! it already made the cramped space under the intake worse than it already is.... so if you want to get the OEM oil cooler, be sure to buy all the proper parts to make this happen, don't half a** it like we did!