Oil Cooler

[jagnut66]

Hi,
Firstly excuse my ignorance on the subject but has anyone on here fitted an oil cooler to an 'A' series engine and if so where do you connect the pipes to the engine?
If anyone has and they have pictures as well that would be a great help.
Many thanks in advance to anyone who responds.
Best wishes,
Mike.

[les]

Using flexible pipes it takes the place of the pipe running from the oil filter bowl to the take off point on the block.
An oil cooler was added as standard from '66 on the cooper s. Unless your A series has been highly modified I think it would be overkill, generally most A series run cool.

[IslipMinor]

Agreed that a standard(ish) engine will not need an oil cooler.

We have fitted the water cooled MG Metro sandwich type in between the filter head on our 1380 and the filter itself. This needs a spin on type filter, and a 5/16" spacer between the filter head and the block - the MG Metro head pushes the filter out too far and the canister fouls the chassis rail.

The heater return hose is routed via the oil cooler into the bottom of the radiator, as standard 948 practice.

Normal running temp is around 90°C, going up to a max seen of 120°C on very hot track session in Italy a couple of years ago, so it works pretty well.

[bmcecosse]

I couldn't hold my rally Minor engine together - until I fitted a cooler. Partly I think because i had a 'sledge' sump guard fitted so no cooling air to the sump, and partly the oils of the day were not so advanced as they are now. Experts will tell you a cooler is not necessary these days - but I suspect it WILL be if a sump guard is fitted. As Richard mentions above - the first Cooper S cars had no oil cooler - and they were infamous for pressure dropping to 40 psi when driven hard, and then running the bearings, and using oil at 50/100 miles per pint! They were soon fitted with 13 row coolers - and this seemed to help considerably. If I ever manage to get a 'high power' engine in my Minor - it will be fitted with an oil cooler.

[MikeNash]

For a bit of background here's some typical figures off my completely standard 1098 1963 Trav (standard except for radial tyres and Wilkinson 20/50 grade oil). In a trial a while ago in an air temp of 20-22C and after fully warmed over about 30 miles and at a steady 50-55 mph (all GPS read) I got a steady 180F (82C) for both water and oil. Later at steady 60-65 mph water was at 190-5F (88-91C) and oil at 200F (93C).
Both gauges are old Smith's non-electric ether pressure bulb types (Imperial readings too!) and have been checked against a quality mercury thermometer. The water temp's measured on the feed to the heater (I've removed the bypass hose between the head and block behind the water pump and have a 89C thermostat fitted) and at the time the oil level was low running from 1/4 down to 1/8 of an inch above the "MIN" mark on the dipstick. With oil so low I think the oil temps can be taken as rather higher than would be seen with a full sump - but, of course, the "low oil" condition is what must be catered for.
The highest oil temp I've ever seen on this car is 210-212F (99-100C) when driven at 65-70 mph (true) on a motorway for over an hour on a summer's day, so in my opinion a standard car doesn't need an oil cooler but with a sump guard (as Bmmcosse had) or tuned so you're regularly doing over 70 mph (naughty!) then its worth thinking about. However, for most ordinary running, shopping, etc I rarely get above 70-75C especially between October thro' to May in which case an oil heater would be more useful!
But in all cases I'd have an oil temperature gauge fitted. Regards, Mike N.

[chrisryder]

I've got a small oil cooler fitted to my minor. It came on the car, but looks like one off a Midget.

I took it off for a bit, as it seemed to over-cool in winter months. But then found a Mo-Cal in-line thermostatic valve so that it recirculates below 80C, by-passing the cooler until it gets hot enough to need it.

I thrash the car quite a bit, and have noticed that having driven the same engine with and without it, the oil pressure stays a bit higher on a good run than it used to. Not a lot, high 50's rather than just 50psi.

[frame][/frame]

There's a rectangle cut in the rad-cowl panel to allow air through.

[bmcecosse]

Problem with these small coolers is that they don't pass enough oil through when it's cold (and maybe not even when it's hot and running decent revs...) - the flow path is very limited. 13 row is really the least you should use. That looks like it is intended as an auto trans cooler.

[jagnut66]

Thanks to all for the above.

Les, your suggestion makes perfect sense to me, so I think that is the way I shall go.

Chrisryder, any photo's of how your pipes connect to your block?

BMC, 13 rows is what I shall be looking for then.

Best wishes,
Mike.

[bmcecosse]

To fit a cooler - you remove the steel pipe running from the block to the filter. The cooler than connects between these two points - instead of the pipe.

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

As said above there are points to note... namely the taking consideration of the oil rarely warming up properly in winter, and a thermostat with the oil cooler so it only becomes active when actually needed. Both these points have been made already but are important, otherwise there is the real risk both of unnecessary engine wear and sludge formation.

You definitely won't need one on an inline engine such as ours in standard or even mildly tuned trim, as the bottom and large sides of the sump are adequate for oil cooling. Even on transverse A-type engines where the gearbox and differential share the same engine oil, and only have a marginally greater sump capacity, do not have or need oil coolers. They do have fins on the gearbox, though.

[bmcecosse]

Oh I can assure you - decent Mini engines DO need a good cooler - in summer.The gears churning away add their own bit of heat! In winter - just put duct tape over the cooler - no need for expensive thermostat...