Oil Cooler, Version 2.0

[haskett]

Now that I have an open road race under my belt, I feel comfortable reporting success on my second iteration of an oil cooler.

Parts list:

• MOC-25210: Mocal 25 Row, 235 Matrix Oil Cooler - Mocal 25 Row, 235 Matrix Oil Cooler with -10AN Fittings (Note: this cooler might be too large!)
• PRM-61791: Perma-Cool 61791 Oil Filter Mount, Single Filter, -10 AN O-ring Inlet/Outlet, 3/4 in.-16 Thread Filter, Anodized Finish
• M-6881-C: 1996-04 Mustang Water Inlet/Remote Filter Adapter
• 90-degree radiator hose (cut to fit)
• Exhaust reducer (to adapt 2" hose from adapter to stock hose prior to tstat)
• FRA-710010: Hose, Series 3000, Braided Stainless Steel, -10 AN, 10 ft. Length
• Qty 3: FRA-109010: Fitting, Hose End, Reusable, 90 Degree, -10 AN Hose to Female -10 AN, Aluminum, Red/Blue Anodized
• FRA-100110: Fitting, Hose End, Reusable, Straight, -10 AN Hose to Female -10 AN, Aluminum, Red/Blue Anodized
• FRA-104510: Fitting, Hose End, Reusable, 45 Degree, -10 AN Hose to Female -10 AN, Aluminum, Red/Blue Anodized
• FRA-180110: Fitting, Hose End, Reusable, Straight, -10 AN Hose to Male -10 AN, Aluminum, Red/Blue Anodized
• Qty 2: FRA-481510: Fitting, Coupler, Straight, Male -10 AN to Male -10 AN, Aluminum, Blue Anodized
• Qty 2: SUM-220164: -10 O-RING TO-10 FLARE FITTING

I did not install a fan. At the high-speed open road race, it was completely unnecessary with the fog light removed. I did not install an oil thermostat. That will lengthen the life of the engine, but will require more hose fitting and more fabrication. I might do that later.

Top bracket fabricated for the cooler. Note that this picture is from my first cooler, not the second, so it got modified a bit compared to this pic.

The top bracket mounts beneath the battery at the red holes. I also had to move the horn to the blue holes.

Here is the block adapter wired up with Aeroforce analog sensors for temp and pressure

Here's the adapter fully plumbed with -10an lines. The inbound end is a 30-degree bend and the outbound end is straight. Because of tension on the hoses, I later replaced the 30-degree bend with a 45 instead. It's pretty tight. You have to work a compromise between getting the oil lines away from the radiator hose while at the same time not pointing them too far away from where they are going.

Here's the routing of the radiator hose. You can see the tstat housing on the right, the block adapter on the left. The stock hose is shortened and connects the tstat housing to the exhaust reducer. The generic 90-degree bend rad hose connects the reducer to the block adapter.

Here is the remote filter adapter, filter, lower cooler bracket, and the original oil cooler. Note that this oil cooler is wrong, it is not the Mocal but a much smaller one!

Here is a shot of the correct Mocal oil cooler in front of the driver tire, with the front fascia back on

 

[DevilSun]

I feel like I'm following you around and copying you...before you post, haha. Nice, I have that same exact cooler from Setrab (black Mocal, or vice versa) up front mounted to the back of the bumper between the heat exchanger and the a/c & radiator but I will be running an oil thermostat, and an Accusump (talk about complex plumbing and placement holy crap). To some degree, I wish I went simpler...oh well. Since you've used this once already on a track, what kind of temps did you see out of curiosity?

Question for ya, since you're not using the stock oil pressure sender, does that cause any problems at all short of the oil pressure on the cluster not displaying - i.e. any CELs, warning lights, or anything?

 

[invisiblefrisbe]

Do you put the inner splash guard back on inside the fender, or just leave the radiator open to the wheel?

If open, do you / will you have problems with rocks from the tire being thrown into the radiator. If not open...then based on your post I assume there was enough air flow to keep the car cool.

 

[haskett]

I feel like I'm following you around and copying you...before you post, haha. Nice, I have that same exact cooler from Setrab (black Mocal, or vice versa) up front mounted to the back of the bumper between the heat exchanger and the a/c & radiator but I will be running an oil thermostat, and an Accusump (talk about complex plumbing and placement holy crap). To some degree, I wish I went simpler...oh well.

ha! That's cool. The main purpose of mine was to get heat out of the engine bay, so that's why I put I in from of the tire.

Since you've used this once already on a track, what kind of temps did you see out of curiosity?

Well.... I pulled the pigtail out of the temp sensor right before going to the event, so I don't have any good data. I was seeing around 180 when driving around town and spiking at 200 when sitting in traffic in the heat. I do know that that tire was 10 degrees hotter that the others after four practice runs.

Question for ya, since you're not using the stock oil pressure sender, does that cause any problems at all short of the oil pressure on the cluster not displaying - i.e. any CELs, warning lights, or anything?

No issues removing the stock sensor.

 

[haskett]

Do you put the inner splash guard back on inside the fender, or just leave the radiator open to the wheel?

If open, do you / will you have problems with rocks from the tire being thrown into the radiator. If not open...then based on your post I assume there was enough air flow to keep the car cool.

I ran out of time to get the inner fender modified and installed. I trashed my first one at the track and want to ensure that my second is much stronger and secure.

I drove 500 miles on the street without a inner fender with zero issues. Also drove 4-1/2 practice runs at open road race plus 118 miles of high speed at open road race. Zero issues. I did zip-tie the stuff in there to ensure everything stayed tight. My main concern is rain getting into the electricals, but that's one thing we don't have to worry about right now with drought.

 

[DevilSun]

Here's a taste of how mine is coming along ... without the Accusump for now

And a few others...

 

[haskett]

That's a nice, clean installation. I like the fact that you have the lines up high. Where does the oil filter mount?

 

[DevilSun]

Thanks, I'm very pleased with it after all the trial and error of placement/product combo. That's it where the battery used to be, it's anodized blue and not standing straight up in the large photo (not fully mounted yet); it's almost same size as the oil thermostat, but stands up. The top comes off and you replace the filter through the top...oil filter changes from the engine bay

 

[mpm]

I'm going to bring this back from the dead as I just installed a similar setup. I used the Ford Racing oil/coolant adapter on the block, 10AN lines to a GReddy remote oil filter and thermostat block attached to the back of the bumper bar, then finally 10AN lines to a Tru Cool 11"x6" oil cooler temporarily mounted in front of the radiator.

Did anyone have any issues getting oil pressure to build on initial cranking of the engine? I moved the stock oil pressure sensor to the bottom oil passage on the block adapter (oil out), and put an autometer sensor/gauge in the top oil passage on the adapter (oil in). Oddly enough, without the engine running the stock gauge reads pressure, then with the engine running the autometer doesn't leave 0.

I'm pretty sure of my hose routing: oil leaves the bottom passage at the block, goes into the top right passage on the GReddy block, then out the bottom left passage on the GReddy block, and finally back to the top passage on the block adapter. (upon closer inspection I found that I had my hoses crossed after one of the 37 different mock fittings; once fixed I posted the results below)

 

[mpm]

I pulled the fuel pump fuse and turned over the engine a few times. Upon crank, it only took a few seconds for everything to pressurize and be back to normal.

Oh, and I figured out the stock sensor reading pressure without the engine running. During one of the line swaps that I made getting everything connected and clear of obstruction, I managed to cross the lines. I found this when making a 47th final check of everything. Swapped the lines back to the proper routing and all gauges were showing proper pressure.

 

[Swervedriver]

I've worked on a few road race cars. Porsche GT3s & Cup cars have radiators in front of each front tire. The Cup cars wheel liner had vents to let air exit while a street car converted to track car had 3 layers of 1/4" mesh screen. The radiators end up getting replaced quite often! (which sucks when having to reach arms into jagged edged screen).

Without the screen on the converted car the tire would pick up rocks and tire chunks and fling them completely through the radiator. Every time I did a radiator on that car I was picking chunks of rubber out of the mesh.

Even if you don't go off course, others will and they will drag crap back up onto the track.

 

[mpm]

Either the casting went to crap in the later production runs, or I was supposed to clearance the coolant/oil adapter, because I couldn't get the factory screws to fit. The flange under the head of the screw would make contact with the adapter, making it near impossible to tighten. I resolved that issue by using M8-1.25x16MM flange bolts. With the use of a long hex drive socket I was able to install quickly with the help of my smaller electric impact wrench.

To provide more detail to the original parts list, the exhaust reducer that found the most useful was 2"x1.5".

And don't forget to fill the engine via the small opening next to the blower in the crossover pipe. It's silly, but many people miss this and attempt to fill via the overflow tank.