Intercooler as Oil cooler

[ed]

Is it possible to use an intercooler (stock off S13 or so?)

as an oil cooler?

with the ends closed off and have fittings taped into the ends?

Would it be too big? wouldn't be efficient?

Just a pass thought

[Silver-Arrowz]

That's a sh*t load of oil in there. You'd be looking at 6 or maybe 7 litres every change.

[ed]

so it would work? yeah that was the other concern, oil usage

[Silver-Arrowz]

I can't see why not as the design and concepts are the same, only you are wanting to get rid of heat in oil not air.

[ed]

would a bigger oil capacity mean lower oil temps?

any problems with bigger oil capacity? upgrade the oil pump?

[Squizz]

An intersting suggestion, let us know what you find out.

[NISMO]

not an expert on these things, but the first thing that comes to mind, is with intercooler cores being so thick, would you be able to fit a pump that will drag the oil through efficiently enough. Remember air will flow alot easier than oil. Oil coolers are way thinner. Also although the design might be the same, I would suspect that the oil coolers have smaller tracks running through the core in which the oil passes.

but who know's, just speculating here

[OZ GTR35]

No Go with that one, the intercooler is not designed to handle Oil pressure. Too big in volume, too big in connection size. no chance. Spend $300 on a good one its not worth driving along and running out of oil.

[MrMayhem]

OZ is right

intercooler 40 psi ?

oil cooler 80psi....

could get messy and considering its your engine that will pay teh price id go a proper oil cooler

[Brody]

300 on a decent oil cooler? wheres this from?

[Guest Nismo_Freak]

RX7 Oil Coolers... I picked one off a car here in the US for 25 bucks US. Not installed yet but its a rather decent size core for a whole 25 bucks!

Apart from pressure you dont want to cool the oil that much. You need to stay in the oil's specific heat range to keep it in the ideal weight.

[Clint32]

dont bother, you can find second hand oil coolers for well under $100, and can get davies craig ones new for $150 or so. PWR also make some decent well priced ones i think.

[OZ GTR35]

I bought a new 19 row oil cooler from a place in Seven Hill's just off the end of the M2 in Sydney. 02 9838 7272. It was $300, about 30cm long, 19 rows wide say 20cm and about 3-4 cm thick. It fitted nicely where the Aircon Fan used to sit.

They also sell anodised aluminium screw fittings, sandwich plates and braided oil lines. I think I spent about $600 for everything. It was not cheap but looked good and keeps the car below 110 Deg Cel in the middle of summer tearing around the creek.

My advise done be cheap, oil leaks are a messy and a pain in the ass, and no oil is kind of a bother as well.

[ed]

ok thanks guys. I got an oil cooler here...but I think it might be too small...dimension off memory are 25cm x 9cm...too small?

[OZ GTR35]

If it gets a solid feed of air, i.e it replaces the spot where your standard intercooler was (Assuming you have a front mount) I think it should be fine.

I have a theory though, for track work the bigger the better.

The place at Seven Hills also has t-piece taps, which allow you to redirect oil away from the cooler, if the car is a streetcar. This gets over the issue of cooling your oil too much. I may do this if my oil temps drop too low in winter.