Oil coolers

Brian · 03-10-06, 07:42 AM

I am looking for some more thoughts on oil coolers. I plan on fitting one at some point and I see that the majority of coolers on replica are mounted in the engine bay on the left hand side behind the body air inlet. Has anyone mounted them in different locations? The original car that I am familiar with has the oil cooler mounted up front behind the radiator. An it is a thick cooler, multipass perhaps, more like a Fluidyne style rather than the Mocal or Setrabs I typically see.
How about horizontally across the back of the car down low behind or slightly above the transaxle, has anyone mounted a cooler back there?

If I run -10 lines, is there any issue with oil pressure if the lines are too long? I know that some Porsche's put oil coolers in the fender well up front, so maybe line length is not too much of an issue. My motor has a Melling high volume oil pump, so I'd like to think I have some margin.

Lastly, my philospohy is maximizing performance and durability over everything else, so I really don't care what the technical approach looks like and additional wow factor has no value.

Many thanks

Brian

roaldin · 03-10-06, 08:07 AM

Like this?

Tim.

Rob · 03-10-06, 08:53 AM

Hi Brian,
I am about to begin build on an RCR40 and have purchased two B&M oil coolers which I plan to mount in the same fashion Tim has his. I too considered running up front, but was not comfortable with the long line length. Figuring a round trip of ~30 feet of rubber (elastic) hose would have to drop oil pressure some. Plus, some degree of drain back would have to occur between start ups. Plus, oil evacuation for oil changes would be that much more difficult. My thoughts.... So, I'm mounting in the rear. The B&M pieces fit nicely in the body cut outs.

JCoop · 03-10-06, 09:08 AM

Check out the pix on this other thread:

http://www.gt40s.com/ubbthreads/show...0/page/0#72848

I'm still trying to figure this out also. The oil cooler I saw on an original undergoing restoration looked like the last pic I posted and for a Continental aircraft engine, It was mounted on the LH side next to the scoop but my airconditioning unit is there. Next best place is the other side, RH but the lines would have to go under the engine. That pic that Roaldin posted is awesome. I've seen one other original with a big cooler (1) installed back there. Can we get more pics closer up please?

Thanks

Brian · 03-10-06, 09:21 AM

Wow Tim, pretty much right up my alley. If you could be kind enough to post several more pics of the installation, I'd appreciate it.
If you by any chance have an Accusump and remote a filter, I'd be interested in learning about those too. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

By the way Tim, that is a magnificant engine bay, gives me something to aspire towards..

Many thanks guys I appreciate the thoughts.

Brian

roaldin · 03-10-06, 09:30 AM

I'll see what I can dig up.
Yes it has an accusump. It is also dry sump. My local track has a sweeper that's killed many an engine so I took no chances. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] The Accusump in this configuration really just serves as a pre-start oiler.
It has a racor filter.
Here's a small collage I did for something else. Hope it helps.

Tim.

roaldin · 03-10-06, 09:36 AM

Found this, still digging.

Tim.

Doc Watson · 03-10-06, 10:27 AM

P1075 oil cooler location.......or is it a transaxle cooler???

And while I'm on the subject, what powers a transaxle cooling system? do you run a oil pump from the the speedo drive?

Doc Watson

Neal · 03-10-06, 10:48 AM

Mocal with thermostat. -10 lines. No issues. Tim, that is one serious setup. Nice work!

Ian Anderson · 03-10-06, 10:53 AM

Have a look at
http://www.proalloy.co.uk/cgi-bin/si...64&id=proalloy

So yes the oil coolers have been at the front - seem to remember seeing some originals at the Le Mans classic 2004 with set ups like this

Ian
ps no links to Pro Alloy - just one of my finds when surfing

David Briggs · 03-10-06, 12:05 PM

Tim, you Aussies have the serious cars! This is what my CAV wants to be when it grows up!I believe I saw a picture of your cooler installion a while ago and I have basically done the same thing.
Nicely done.

Mark Worthington · 03-10-06, 12:06 PM

Tim, I really like that setup. I assume one cooler is for the engine oil and the other is for the transaxle? Are the fans mounted in a pusher configuration? The only shroud fans I've ever seen are "puller," which would require the fans be mounted on the rear of the coolers which I don't thing would look right.

One of the things I like about rear-mounted coolers with fans is that the fans may help evacuate the rear clip, which is often a high pressure zone when the car is at speed. I don't know if they move enough air to help with aerodynamics, but they can certainly help with cooling.

Doc Watson, thransaxle oil pumps can be either mechanical or electric. I know that certain flavors of the Audi 016 (e.g., Porsche 944 turbo) and 01E transaxles were offered with a mechanical pumpo that was driven off the right side output shaft. I do not know if the ZF or the G50 had mechanical pumps available. There are numerous solutions for electric pumps, including thermostats and solenoids to allow the oil to heat up before it is sent to the cooler.

Doc Watson · 03-10-06, 12:35 PM

Ok, thanks Mark, its a zf-2 that i have and will probably do a setup like Tim.

Anybody out there know how they did transaxle cooling in 1966? and what coolers they used?

Doc Watson

Jac Mac · 03-10-06, 09:30 PM

Hi, Any of you guys considered using a water/ oil heat exchanger in the bottom return line from radiator to water pump. I know its not "original", but they are virtually bullet proof and one could be fitted in a GT40 with a minimum of oil hose length.The only caution would be use an adequate sized radiator to cover the total cooling needs.
Regards Jack.