that's about what i see here in mass. this should help piston cooling and who knows maybe combution chamber temps;timing etc.

 

Ok checked out the camera and I only need to take a couple pictures of the car with the bumper on, so here come some pics.

First off, this is where the OEM heat exchanger goes. I assumed that oil came out through the center of the filter, then through the exchanger and back into the filter. But this is not the way it flows, it actually comes from the engine to the exchanger then through the outside of the filter back into the engine. Basically the lower one is out, higher one is in. This only matters if it effects your thermostat, mine still worked hooked up backwards...but I switched it just for the sake of being correct.




The plate on, but with the lines that I could not use.




And why I couldn't use these lines. I wasn't about to cut the tow point out, so I came up with another solution that involved spending more money.






I didn't want the cooler to be all shiny.




Originally I planned to route the lines along the frame rail, but then I realized if I did that I would have to remove the lines any time I wanted to remove the belt. It is not worth doing a mod if it severally hinders your ability to maintain the car. So I re-thought my routing a bit.

The return line comes over the top




Then it goes straight down to the adapter plate. Though yes, in this picture it is the hot line...this is when I found out the direction of flow.





The hot line makes a quick bend and follows the underside of the frame rail





Then in this picture you can see it makes another 90 degree bend down when it reaches the core support




From here the hot line makes two more 90s, one the bends it toward the front of the car and another that bends it sideways towards the cooler. The cool line simply bends down through the core support, then makes a turn up to that 45* piece.




And now this is how it looks on the car...there was a solid 1.5" or more cut out of the bottom portion of the bumper grill to make this fit. But to me that doesn't even matter, I just want to re-do the grill with a little better material and make it match the OE grill with block offs so you can't see the stuff to the left and right of the cooler, nor the actual metal bumper at the top.








And here are a few more pics I took along the way

 

Great job there. I'm envious of your work.

 

oh wow what a great post. thanks so much. i will be doing this soon

 

nice work. thanks for sharing.

 

Yea, nice clean work. Good job on that install. Always great to see such a clean undercarriage also.

 

Thanks for all the nice comments guys. I definitely took my time on this install, since it wasn't just a bolt-on ordeal. A lot of customizing to try and make everything look as OE as possible, and honestly the pictures don't do it justice IMO. I'm quite happy with both the aesthetic and functional end results. Of course, like I mentioned, I still have the grill to figure out. I realized you cant really tell in the pictures, but there is a black mesh there. But since a pretty grill is purely for looks, it'll be pushed aside until I really have time.

Thanks again, and if anybody wants any more info, just let me know.

Eric

 

Nice work man. Where is the opening for your brake ducts since you still have your fog lights in place ? You should also try to direct the hose towards the caliper instead of the rotor. A diy brake duct is one of the things I really must do so maybe you can help me out ?

 

Aren't you concerned about the low temps? Optimum should be around 215-220.

 

Errggg, this is why I have shed away from this board for a few months. Far to many misconceptions here, no I'm not concerned about "low" oil temps.

Part of this is where you a measuring your temps, I'm measuring in the pan so that I can have the more stable temperature of the majority of the oil. Measuring anywhere else, besides the return from the cooler, would yield higher temps. Also, the common concern for having oil over 100 C is to boil off water in the oil, that is the only reason. With the amount of heat entering the oil under the piston skirts and in the bearings, I guarantee my oil is seeing temps well over boiling.


215-220 for oil temps is where they rate the viscosities (actually 218 or rather 100C). This is a good temp to bring the oil to for engine and oil efficiencies to be at their peak. But for protecting the oil and making it last long 180-215 is the range that is good to see.

Now I've seen everywhere from 170-200 cruising on the highway, this is perfect, sure if I got it a little warmer I might see a 1mpg increase...but since I keep very precise records of my fuel economy I'll let you know if there was any change when I have more data. But the temps are hot enough that water is being boiled off (once it leaves the sump), and cool enough that longevity is increased.

On hard driving I've seen 200-218 and expect to possibly see 230 on the track...No I'm not concerned

 

check an airport and see the radial engines dont even use cooler thermostats . they not even needed . if they were i'm sure they'd be on a vehcle that goes 20000 ft up . kinda need reliability up there.

 

^ Yep, hint* I fly airplanes

 

Nice observation, im curious too

 

That's fine.....I was just wondering cause all of my friends that race cars tell me they want to see temps around 100C. Has nothing to do with boiling off contaminates as that happens in the engine not the pan, but it has to do with what the oils are designed for. Modern synthetics are designed for an operating temp of 100C as you pointed out ( includes long life.). Not sure why you think lower would be better?

And how can you compare an air-cooled radial airplane engine to our water cooled one? Completely different oil req's. and the air temp up there is a whole lot colder than down here.....lol.

I a not trying to bust you up, just want to understand your reason behind running such a cool thermostat.

 

Dude my temps come up to 100C! What do you want?

edit* any brake cooling stuff, take to PM, thanks.

 

DUDE.......sorry I ruffled your feathers, but a driving temp of 170 is not 212.

 

Do you know how long it takes oil temps to come up? Even with the stock heat exchanger the average go to work driver would still be just reaching warm temps by the time they got to work. As long as the oil isn't cold at something like 100 F its not a big deal. If I'm seeing 170-200 in normal flat boring highway driving I consider that perfect. This way when I go on the track the temps will be up in the 215-230 range.

Just like coolant and its thermostat, it brings temps up to ~180 and sits there consistently but will reach the 215-230 range when running it hard. If my oil temps were reaching 210-220 under normal highway driving then the thermostat wouldn't let the cooler keep the temps that low on the track because it wouldn't be fully open. I'd see temps of 240-260 which is what I'm trying to avoid.

Should the average driver have an oil cooler? No, especially not one as big as mine. But this is an oil cooler thread, with people concerned about keeping the temps in a comfortable range on the track. There is always give and take when modifying a car, and IMO this setup is perfect for the daily driver track enthusiast. Temps are warm enough under normal driving to not care, but stay nice and cool when pushed hard. Now if temps were down at 150 I'd probably put a plate to block off the cooler until warmer ambient temps came.

 

that's why the thermostat. i live in all seasons so the thermostat will divert something like 95% of the oil back to motor untill thermostat comes up . so on really cold days the cooler doesn't flow muck at all /

 

But he is running a thermostat and it is apparentely a low temp 170-180 degree one, thus my question about why the low temps. With a thermostat of 200 he still maintains proper temp for day to day and it wil keep the temps low while on track.

And my temps come up fairly quickly, usually around the 10 min mark.

 

I got my hands on the MINI Madness hose and plate kit but looking to get a cooler...has anyone sourced one themselves for this kit and which one did you use and where did you mount it?

 

I modified an Auto Transmission oil cooler for mine. Just cut off the small inlet and outlet and put on the size I needed. Mounts up in OEM location so it looks standard. I too used the Mini Madness plate as well

 

You might try Pegasus Auto Racing supplies.

 

I used a Flex-a-Lite Oil Cooler. I special ordered it with AN fittings on it already to make hookup easy and clean looking. it will also help if you ever have to take the car apart, and you will at some point. a hose clamp will work o.k. but can damage the house in the long run and can only be taken apart a few time before it starts to leak, and this is under pressure, so leaks are never good. i also used the Madness plate, but after that i used all my own parts. Black AN fitting, a very large front mount cooler (which needs to be a bit smaller to clear the bonnet, my only design flaw) and some cool black braided hose. this setup was not cheap, but looks good ans works even better. in the long run it was well worth the the cost. when you track a car, you need to have the best of everything so you do not have to spend the big bucks to rebuild the engine.

Also keep in mind that you will need to run more oil in the the car as the cooler will take some to fill, which is a good thing. i run 6 1/2 qts. in my car now.

http://www.flex-a-lite.com/auto/html/oil-coolers.html

 

that set up is awesome...by the way what size AN fittings are needed...problem is im in the middle east and my mini is back home in the states and right now im assembling the parts needed to install this when i get back home because just before i return its going into the shop for some work and i think ill have them install this while they have the engine back torn apart...i havent seen what size AN fittings go on the plate and the cooler

 

i've got the madness plate . i went with a slightly bigger setrab than madness . just google setrab oil coolers and go from there . i mounted straight to underside of bumper and ran hoses along passenger rail with mocal thermostat mounted to rail . think it's an 10 cant remember . remember the bottom hole is outgoing .(on the plate)