I've been thinking alot lately about adding a 3rd oil cooler in series somewhere in the car. I've been motivated by alot of OD's post regarding temps, and the flow problems created by many of the protective screens that are commonly used to protect the two stock coolers.

My thought was possibly relocating the battery to the trunk and placing an oil cooler where it used to be. Then cutting a NACA type duct in the hood or the nose to direct cool, fresh air into the oil cooler.

The main downside I see is the lack of any place to vent out the air which has passed through the new oil cooler. Also, it will be right next to the air intake possibly heating it up. It may also be hard to find a good way to route the lines etc.

I'm sure there are probably reasons people haven't tried this already, but I'd like to hear others thoughts on this.

Thank You.

 

A big downside I can see, if it even is one, it that if you place it where the battery is, it may be elevated too high and cause flow problems.

But I could be wrong.

 

Hmmm, could be an issue for sure. We'll have to wait for some of the Renesis tech experts to chime in. I'd like to be able to run screens on my oil coolers, run track days and not have to worry about oil temps. My gauges are coming soon so I can get a feel for what the temps are like on the street to start with.

I've also considered some 7" fans from summit that move around 1300cfm for behind the oil coolers. My concern is that at higher speeds the fans will do more harm than good.

 

Mount the 3rd cooler vertical, a al WRX, and get a big-*** hood scoop. No remounting of batteries, etc.

 

I had the RB screens and when i removed them didn't notice any change in coolant temps.

The mazsport cooling fan mod has really worked well for me. I would not go without it. Temps easily exceed 200F without it, with it on, I sit usually between 179 and 185.

 

^ agree completely.

 

I was going to get the rb street flash as it accomplishes the same thing as the mazsport mod. I'm now waiting for the access port in hopes that it will allow a change in the fan on/off temps.

Since I haven't even gotten my gauges and haven't tracked my car yet, I don't really know if I need to do the whole 3rd oil cooler thing. I was just interested to see if it was feasable.

 

If your car is N/A, mount it where us turbo folks mount our intercooler.
That way you can plumb it inline with the existing coolers.

 

I used a 2nd Gen oil cooler and mounted it there. Just get a couple of hoses made at a hydraulic place...12MM banjo bolts on the ends...and fab up brackets to hold it in. Worked great...but now I have to take it out to add the intercooler....back to the drawing board for a location ::

 

Leave it there, but lay it down flat.
Then, open up some slits in the plastic under tray.

 

Yep I have thought a lot about this obviously---temps i mean. I dont run screens but my driving situation may be differant than others. if I was in a lot on interstate traffic every day--they certainly would make sense. I wouldnt worry about the oil coolers--they are pretty tough. The a/c one though is not(to my understanding). One problem with a 3nd oil cooler is it could make getting the oil temps up high enough! Damn if you do, damn if you dont. A thermostat could be added but then you get into adding to the complexity of the system. certainly dont want a failed stuck closeD thermostat in your oil system!

 

rather than a 3nd cooler, replace one of the ones you have with a better design. A fan may patch it(and I may try that one) but it is cooler design/efficentcy that makes our oil cooling on the edge. remember you have to get the oil temp high enough during daily driving also. if you dont you will sudge up. its a balancing act.
One of the other things i did was to remove the rotory symbol from the front airdam( i dont have the appearance kit). I think that actually helped with airflow during in town driving. people will roll their eyes about me saying that. i did it for the looks--I like the way the looks were changed--but i just happened to notice it did(i think ) affect my coolant temps just a little. await flaming!!
olddragger

 

I am more of a fan of using 2 larger cores in the stock location and then doing some work to the fender liner as well as proper ducting to improve flow to and from them.

 

For some of us, getting the oil warm enough is not an issue.
I agree with Fred for a number of reasons, but has anyone sourced a piece that is better yet similarly sized to the OEM cores?

 

Do you guys have any thoughts about the 7" 1300 cfm fans I mentioned above? Presumably they would be mounted behind the oil cooler and be run in pull configuration. Again my concern is actually hindering performance at high speeds, but in town I imagine it would help.

 

You'll need to modify the mounting brackets to use them. The brackets run across the back of the oil coolers. Fans could help. I don't think you'll have too much of a problem of them hindering high speed cooling performance.

Check out these coolers. You could probably make these work great.
http://www.fluidyne.com/pl_theoc.html

 

how about determining if you actually have a problem before fixing it

 

Yeah, the bracketry is sucky, but easily modified.
Mounting a puller fan would require that, anyway.
Personally, I think fans are not needed - just more surface area.
The banjo bolt to circlip fittings are annoying, but the existing hoses could be butchered up and a set of AN fittings added to the cooler ends.

Well, we know we have a problem.
Those of us that live in hot climates can easily see oil temps approaching 260°F, which is way beyond the safe region.
The heat rejection time on the existing coolers is pretty slow as well, which means recovering from those kinds of temps is almost impossible.

 

You don't need to have a problem before you make something better or more efficient. I'd rather have too much oil and water cooling ability and then let the thermostats take care of it rather than having too little and wondering what will happen in the longterm.

 

I've also been considering upgrading the stock oil cooler to a Setrab of FLuidyne units with Russel hoses and fittings. Probably really need to with the Phoenix summer appraching rapidly.

 

We know the mazsport cooling mod helps quite a bit but how does the RB reflash compare in that department?

+1 for larger oil coolers as opposed to adding a 3rd.

 

The cooling mod only changes the coolant temps. Since heat is rejected by both oil and water and more heat rejected by one is less by the other, I'm sure there is a slight amount of oil temp reduction with the cooling mod but for the most part it really only affects the water temps.

 

Its actually quite easy to have ~190°F and still be above 240°F in the oil.

 

I find the 2nd Gen cooler works well...it is a good size...and it has a built in thermal bypass valve...that bypasses till the oil is warm...not sure of the temperature.

 

i did spot this at the D1 drift event on the RX8... but i believe it was used more in their between run cooling frenzy then while driving