engine oil cooler question

well friends, tonight I have time but no energy so, instead of working on the car I will cruise the forum instead.

I have been, in the loosest possible way thinking that at some time in the as yet unnamed future I might pull my engine and freshen it some - and maybe even add a little zoom.

Thus I have been reading this forum and others on mods for 1500's. On mod that I see regularly is the suggestion that you add an oil cooler. Has anyone done this? has it helped? it seems like a relatively easy improvement that could add longevity.

Stupid question (maybe) but how and where do you hook up an oil cooler?

I see Moss sells them, but that there are lots on ebay etc as well.

any thoughts?

thanks!

You will need a sandwich plate adapter to go between the filter and block. The two oil hoses exit the sandwich plate and go to the cooler. There are both "regular" and thermostatic sandwich plates. With the thermostatic ones the oil is only diverted through the cooler when the temperature is pretty warm.

On my Spitfire 1500 we added the oil cooler in an effort to improve the idle oil pressure. We had a modest improvement with the cooler. We did not use a kit as I had a low mileage oil cooler at hand. I ordered the sandwich plate adapter and some hose from Summit Racing and re-used the end fittings from an old set of MG hoses.

I raced the old 1500 engine in my Spridget for about 10 seasons without an oil cooler.

When I fitted the 1275 engine, I bought an oil cooler....but it's still sitting in the box. :friendly_wink:

One of these days......

I pulled one out of a B at a junkyard a couple years back with the idea of fitting it eventually. Not a mandatory to-do thing, but it was there begging to go home with me. Took 5 minutes to remove and cost a couple bucks.

Been considering this also since I do a lot of highway driving in my 1500 midget.
Probably should stick on a oil temp gauge to see what temp oil is running at to see if it is really needed.

In the "old" days.....my brit cars would see the oil pressure go done on long highways drives. Not large pressure drops, but 5 or 10 psi after extended highway driving....at 4k rpm or more. I believe that the oils are much better now, and that the need for an oil cooler, like the MGB had as standard equipment, is not as necessary now. If you see the oil pressure go down after extended high RPM driving, then it may help. I'm not a big fan of synthetic oils in my brit cars, but it may help....may also make them leak more too.
Scott in CA

Do they do much for overall cooling of the engine? The only reason I would consider one would be to drop the coolant temp.

Kurt.

Years ago I asked Paul A. about the oil cooler that came in my car. When he rebuilt the engine, he refused to hook it back up. I asked him about it and he said that they are both completely unnecessary, and in fact a detriment. There is no way to change the oil in the cooler when you are changing oil!. So when you put in new oil you are always mixing new with about a quart of old that is in the cooler itself plus the length of the hoses to and from.

Thanks for the various inputs - you have nailed the reason - basically I am concerned with the pressure drop while driving (can get down to 20-25 lbs) and idling (below 10)

I have checked the bearings and they are within tolerances, I plan to install a new oil pump at some point this summer (when I next change the oil) and I use Lucas oil stabilizer.

I don't drive far usually but I worry.

The oil is what mainly cools the bottom of the engine, the coolant is what cools mainly the top of the engine. So if you want to lower the coolant temperature....maybe think about a different fan option. If the oil temperature is to high, what about an aluminum finned sump pan?
Scott in CA

JPSmit said:

Thanks for the various inputs - you have nailed the reason - basically I am concerned with the pressure drop while driving (can get down to 20-25 lbs) and idling (below 10)

Click to expand...

If the crank bearings are in spec and you have low oil pressure you may be looking at the problem I suspect we have in our Spitfire. In the 1500 the cam runs directly in the block without bearings. Over time the bearing bores become "oval" and the clearance allows a pressure drop. The allowable clearance is quite large if all the crank & rod bearings are in spec. I did not check behind the machinist who bored our block and trusted him when he said everything was "in spec". Our oil pressure starts out wonderfully but drops from about 60 PSI cold to about 30 PSI when hot, idling at 1000 RPM... and 50 to 60 degrees air temp outside. I am not pleased.

The old rule of thumb is/was that you need 10 PSI minimum oil pressure and 10 PSI for each additional 1000 RPM up until the point the relief valve opens. I would be concerned about your idle pressure being below 10 PSI. If you determine it is the cam bores that are allowing your pressure drop, you can fit the cam bearings and smaller journal cam from the Triumph 1300 to the 1500 to close that gap up again. Of course, you should also check the rocker gear to make sure you are not loosing too much oil pressure due to rocker shaft wear.

My Midget came with one. When restoring the car I put it back in. Not near enough miles at this point to know if it is good or bad.
But I had a 80 Pontiac Bonneville that came with a diesel and it had an oil cooler. When it reached 175,000 miles I replaced it with an Olds 350 from a 72 car. The 350 was a good runner with close to the same mileage as the diesel and I connected the oil cooler to it. At 450,000 miles the engine was still running strong.