Oil Cooler on non turbo engine advice needed

Competition engines and ancillaries - general discussion
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unoracer
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Joined: June 23rd, 2006, 9:45 pm
Location: Harrogate

Oil Cooler on non turbo engine advice needed

Post by unoracer »

I am looking at fitting an oil cooler onto my 1500cc normally aspirated sohc Fiat race engine, and have in mind to utilise one which is fitted standard to the uno turbo. Can anyone advise on anything I need to near in mind, or is it likely to bolt straight on using the turbo sandwich plate, pipes etc without any complications? I have also seen plenty of new oil coolers for sale new at reasonable cost, but am unsure how critical it is when looking at number of rows/dimensions of the cooler! I also plan to fit Accusump (will contact you when at that stage Guy!) to keep oil pressure under control, as I amn looking for reliability for the next race season or two! Any advice on cooler fitting would be gratefully received!
SteveNZ

Post by SteveNZ »

The engine builder that built a 1600 SOHC for my friend suggested not to use an Uno oil cooler as the pressure drop accross the system is significant. I'm happy to use one though and would not go out on a circuit without it. Something to think about there.

The Uno system should fit on without trouble. It has a thermostat so you are free to fit another cooler that is adiquate for your cooling needs. I have found the standard one to work adiquate to about 130-140HP. With 170HP it was not adiquate on a circuit for more than about 3 laps. The Uno cooler is 11 row. A 16 row cooler sorted it out. This is a turbo engine so will probably be different to N/A.

Uno cooler has BSP thread which is rare for aftermarket coolers these days. You may need new fittings which can get expensive.
Julian
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Post by Julian »

No such trouble getting BSP fittings like that here in the UK - Think Automotive can provide the right parts (gut feeling says they are a bit pricey but I've never had any problem with quality from them). In fact more modern (generally metric) parts seem harder to obtain...

Uno Turbo sandwich plate is ideal for you application Chris. Personally I would always fit a new oil cooler rather than re-use an old road car cooler - even if the car is carefully looked after they tend to develop leaks a little too easily for my liking (and we all know what happens when race unos leak oil don't we ;)). Aside from the leaks the turbo oil cooler is likely to be overkill as you don't have a turbocharger trying to cook the oil even though you might have comparable power output.

Pressure drop can be significant but is proportional to the length of the pipe so you can keep the issue to a minimum by keeping the pipe run short. Oil pressure was never a problem in my engines (in the X1/9) either in NA form or turbo and both ran oil coolers as an absolute necessity. In the X1/9 application the oil temperature was basically run-away without a decent oil cooler - Bruce Kennedy was seeing quite stupid temperatures when he first developed his 1300 PM car. An uno should prove more manageable with the hugely improved engine bay airflow (by comparison).
Guy Croft
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Post by Guy Croft »

There are not many 'golden rules' with engine building but this is one:

Never use a second-hand oil cooler. Unless it's your own and you know its history. Because - they are very difficult to clean out effectively, I have never succeeded - & thus you never know what is stuck in there.

GC
unoracer
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Joined: June 23rd, 2006, 9:45 pm
Location: Harrogate

Post by unoracer »

Thanks for all of your advice guys. I do 'know' the oil cooler that I had my eye on, but I must admit, I would much prefer buying a new item. I was just a tad unsure of implications of buying a universal one. I happen to have a oil cooler sandwich plate which has apparantly been used on a 128 (poss originally an uno turbo item anyaway!), and so will look at buying a 16 row cooler and fittings to mate up to my sandwich plate which I think is also BSP fitting. Yes J, I'm well aware of oil emerging from places it should't on my engine. Hopefully, those days are gone! I have learnt that reliability/safeguarding against potential disasters is the key!
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