DanLewis
Jedi Trainee
Offline
I know that a lot of people who add an oil cooler to a Bugeye wind up mounting it vertically on the passenger side of the radiator, giving up the fresh air intake for the heater. I'd really like to find another solution so I don't have to give up the fresh air intake. Here are two ideas I had and I wanted to hear everyone's opinion:
Idea #1: There's more than 4" between the mechanical fan and the radiator core, so my first thought was to place an oil cooler behind the radiator. The rectangular space available is about 12" wide by only about 8" high due to the steering rack. If the hoses were connected at the bottom of the oil cooler, they could be easily routed without any interference from the fan. However, it's not recommended to turn conventional "stacked plate" oil coolers like the one below upside down because it causes air to be trapped in the cooler.
On the other hand, if one were to use a "tube and fin" style cooler like the one below, I don't think you would have this problem. These are usually used as transmission coolers, but there are some advertised as suitable for cooling engine oil. The disadvantage (I believe) is that tube and fin coolers are not as efficient as stacked plate coolers.
Idea #2: I've also seen "frame rail" oil coolers (see below) that could be mounted on the side of one of the frame rails near the engine. Like the tube and fin coolers, these are usually used as transmission coolers, but there are some advertised for cooling engine oil. Although they have a much smaller surface area for cooling, the frame that they are mounted to will act as a huge heat sink.
Finally, here's a curiosity item I ran across on eBay. It accommodates filters from 2.75-3" in diameter and will thus fit the WIX 51348 spin-on filter that I have on my 1275, but I haven't checked to see if there's enough clearance around the filter. (The heat sink has an outside diameter of 4" and each fin is 0.3" deep.) Certainly it wouldn't provide very much cooling, but it's still an interesting idea.
Comments?
Dan
Idea #1: There's more than 4" between the mechanical fan and the radiator core, so my first thought was to place an oil cooler behind the radiator. The rectangular space available is about 12" wide by only about 8" high due to the steering rack. If the hoses were connected at the bottom of the oil cooler, they could be easily routed without any interference from the fan. However, it's not recommended to turn conventional "stacked plate" oil coolers like the one below upside down because it causes air to be trapped in the cooler.
On the other hand, if one were to use a "tube and fin" style cooler like the one below, I don't think you would have this problem. These are usually used as transmission coolers, but there are some advertised as suitable for cooling engine oil. The disadvantage (I believe) is that tube and fin coolers are not as efficient as stacked plate coolers.
Idea #2: I've also seen "frame rail" oil coolers (see below) that could be mounted on the side of one of the frame rails near the engine. Like the tube and fin coolers, these are usually used as transmission coolers, but there are some advertised for cooling engine oil. Although they have a much smaller surface area for cooling, the frame that they are mounted to will act as a huge heat sink.
Finally, here's a curiosity item I ran across on eBay. It accommodates filters from 2.75-3" in diameter and will thus fit the WIX 51348 spin-on filter that I have on my 1275, but I haven't checked to see if there's enough clearance around the filter. (The heat sink has an outside diameter of 4" and each fin is 0.3" deep.) Certainly it wouldn't provide very much cooling, but it's still an interesting idea.
Comments?
Dan