Oil Cooler - under engine lid? Options

[kenpolives]

Anyone have any good pics (and advice) on an aux. oil cooler (not in the front of the car) but either near the tranny or near the engine lid grill? My battery was relocated to the front so I have room.

[AndrewBlyholder]

I think your answer depends a lot on what type of motor you're running and how much extra cooling you need.

15 years ago, I ran a stock 1.7 at PCA time trails with a cooler bolted to the underside of the engine lid. Also had a temperature gauge in the car, and while I don't remember what temps it ran now, it wasn't a problem.

I now run a stock 2.0 in my street car with the same cooler mounted to the underside of the trunk on the right side, just behind the axle. Fabricated a bracket to hold it at a +/-60 deg. angle so as to better catch the air swirling around below the engine. That setup has worked great for summer highway cruising, including stop and go traffic. Oil temp gauge in the car is the un-numbered kind, so don't know exact temps, but generally never goes past vertical. Give great pease of mind for summer driving. (Anyone know what the actual temperatures are for those un-numbered guages?)

But this is all with stock motors. Something wilder will take more serious cooling.

As a racer, I've never liked the idea of front mounted coolers. Most don't appreciate that they are big drag components. A fundamental of Nascar and F1 speed these days is minimizing their coolder areas to minimize their drag. I'd much rather put a larger cooler in the back beside the tranny. It will only be cooled by the turbulent and warm air coming around and under the engine, so it will be less efficient and therefore larger, but drag effects should be negligent. Extra weight doesn't increase with the square of your speed like drag does.

My 2 cents.

Andrew