The CVT trans cooler lines are pretty small ~10MM OD, so they should be enlarged, the adapter plate has about 20MM threaded opening (I'm assuming AN-8) since the CVT cooler is aluminum, I'll need to keep the fittings aluminum...I'm open to suggestions as I will be farming out the TIG work. I can MIG, but tallented TIGgers are needed for the thin stuff.

 

Did not intend to Hijack your thread.

 

sounds like mens wearhouse . lol

 

Mine are AN-10 fittings and work very well. All I did was cut and capped off the pipes coming from he left which are too small anyway and got them installed in the exact same spot on the other side. But the new ones were 13mm. I have a thermostat on mine and it is a mocal one. Pretty sure it opens at 170 F which is about 80 C. If you use 5-30 Oil that is fine. Just remember to change the 2 o-rings when you remove the existing Oil Heat Exchanger. If you don't you'll end up with leaks like I did. They also say to use one of the coolant hoses and bend it back to let the coolant keep flowing. We took out the solid lines and took it right back. It is a very good system but I wish I had of gone with RMW's adaptor plate and not the MM one. I also heat wrapped the 2 lines as well as not to let any of the heat to transfer to the cooler line from the hot line.

 

Good point on the heat transfer...Thanks for your input!

 

[quote=scolburn79;2818114 I wish I had of gone with RMW's adaptor plate and not the MM one. [/quote]

So, please eloborate on why the RMW plate is better as the MM plate will also accomodate a couple of sending units. It does seem to be significantly more expensive though.

 

Here is a picture of the RMW Oil Cooler Adapter Plate:

 

not showin for me

 

not showing here either

 

here is the RMW plate

 

The RMW plate looks like a nice piece, similar to the plate I got from Moss Mini, and similarly priced too. Nice to see there is competition for nice hardware, that is not over done or over priced like the MM one.










I was torn for a while as to what I would do for oil cooling in my situation. My original plans were to use an RX7 oil cooler. I got it, then found out that it wouldn't fit without a little cutting. After a good couple weeks of contemplation of the options I finally decided that it was probably best the at I continued with my plans for the RX7 cooler. Here is where I am thus far. I've ordered a AN-10 aluminum weld bung and am going to plug the bottom outlet and have the bung mounted on the side so that there is more clearance from the ground and less worry if I were to go off the track. No 90 degree fitting on the bottom to break off.

I am slightly concerned about water temps, so I will probably also be getting a water temp gauge to make sure they are ok.

 

Just ordered 215 Degree F Thermostat from Thermostasis http://thermostasis.com/products Cheaper than Canton and in the right operating range for Mini. I'll post a picture when it arrives.

 

That looks like an appropriate selection. Where are you mounting it? From what I understand, the closer to the heat source the better.

 

I'm open for suggestions, I was thinking of mounting in behind the cowl, but there will be some movement of the oil lines, The AN fittings are very expensive and would like to minimize bends (lower CV)

 

Well, of course the optimal configuration would be to have an uber adapter plate that integrates a thermostat as well as the taps for sending units, but I can't seem to find one of those to buy.

In lieu of that a location as close as possible to the adapter plate is best. I can't tell you where mine is cause I have not done this yet either.

Is it possible to go with hard fittings from the plate to the t-stat and keep it essentially on top of the plate, and then run the flex lines out to the cooler?? I think you would have to have the t-stat in hand and the adapter plate installed, then you can get in there and see if something can work.

It just seems so messy to be running much longer overall length lines to go off to the t-stat mounted off engine somewhere and then from this location out to and back from the actual cooler.

 

Hi there,

I was just wondering. If you have an oil cooler installed. What happens when the car goes for an oil change? Surely not all the dirty oil will get drained as some will remain in the cooler itself?

I'm know nothing about cars mechanically, so if I missed some logic - my apologies.

 

^ Just as you said, not all of it comes out. With my cooler, I will have a drain plug on the bottom of it as well if I choose to drain it. But most of the time you just accept that not all of the oil is going to come out. Its really not that big of a deal if you keep the intervals a little closer.

 

Also, while having a drain at the bottom of the cooler is optimal. It is also extremely rare. In fact none of the aftermarket MINI oil cooler kits have a cooler drain.

 

I've just gone through about 10-20 different threads on oil coolers. This is so confusing! I can't decide if it is necessary or not after reading some of those responses

 

Think of the rotary when you think of oil coolers. First of all, they MUST have oil coolers just by the nature of their design. They need the help of the oil to aid in cooling the engine. This is part of the reason I'm using the FC RX7 oil cooler...its a great core and it cost all of ~ $150 with the modifications I had done to it. I've got a friend with a Miata also running an RX7 oil cooler...its so effcient he can't get his temps to go over 180 and is now going to run an inline 200 degree thermostat to bring temps up a little more.

Now, as for draining the cooler during changes...think of the rotary. They all have oil coolers, FC RX7 N/A & Turbo, FD RX7, RX8...they don't drain the oil cooler when they change the oil. Its really not that big of an issue as long as you change your filters and keep the intervals a little closer. Only run 3-5k on the oil instead of 7-10k if you were going that long before anyway.

 

It depends on what you want to do with your car and not so much on your climate, but it is still a factor.
There are many opinions here, what you are doing is the best course of action. Read all you can and then make your decision.

 

Thanks guys for your input. I would very much like to add one to my car - it is definitely running warmer since my modifications, but by how much I'm not really certain. I was planning on doing with the "rather safe than sorry" motto in mind.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by scolburn79

This is my Oil Cooler, it is an Automatic cooler with bigger lines on it. Fits in the stock location if you don't have an Automatic. I have a thermostat on it as well coming out of the Mini Madness adaptor plate.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeanKidd

I just picked up a CVT cooler on EBAY for $10, I like SCOLBURN79's method, I'll be calling RMW soon. Thanks!

Yo scolburn79 or SeanKidd any pics of this setup (oem CVT Cooler, oem Mounts, RMW adaptor plate) Should do a write up of assembly, what parts used, and MORE PICS, TOO, etc.
Thanks much appreciated!

 

If anyone is after an oil cooler Thermostat I have a 5/8 Push on hose fitting Mocal one lying here and it is brand new. I bought the wrong one!! I live in Brisbane, Australia so the shipping would be on top of the price of the thermostat. I would part with it for US$55 plus shipping which wouldn't be much. PM me if your interested

 

Just figured I'd let you guys know that my oil cooler is finished. It works great. Oil temps on the highway will come up to 170 as a minimum, on a cool morning ~ 55 degrees, the temps came up to 170 and didn't budge. On the way back home later in the afternoon temps sat right at about 180 and ambient temp this time was between 75-80. This is was for a 2 hour drive up to an autoX.

I also did some hard driving prior to the highway drive...drove hard on a back road for about 15 minutes in 100 degree heat, and made a purpose to try and not let the engine cool. Oil temps peaked up to 218 but wouldn't go past. Also at the autoX the oil temps got to 218 there as well, but again, just wouldn't get any higher.

As far as I'm concerned, thats perfect. I'm VERY happy with my oil cooler setup, now I just need to finish the grill and I'll be happy with all of it. In the end it turned out I could use the original lines I had made for it, which ended up being a waste of $100...wasn't happy with that. But I ended up with some really nice lines and fittings from pegasus auto racing, really good stuff.

I'll get some pictures up this week, some are still on my camera, and some I haven't taken yet.