Bargain Oil Coolers... Thoughts Guys?

[Antimatter]

Guys I have GOT an EBAY special oil cooler - remote filter boss etc. It looks to be of reasonable quality - look like one of theses:

"Unknown"

SKR

Performance Wise

And last but not leaset - The Mighty JJR

My question is - they all look to be roughly the same design... Mostly I am interested in the remote filter thing, not SUPER concerned about the efficiancy of the oil cooler as the car wont see that much track work at all.

But my concern is - would you guys put a $200 ~ $300 oil cooler kit on an RB26? is there any chance I am going to hurt it? anybody else used these coolers... good / bad experiences?

Love to hear some feedback.

[Adz2332]

Whats the price for each of them?

[Beer Baron]

personally I wouldn't.

[Antimatter]

personally I wouldn't.

I am inclined to aggree with you richard - my concern is with any restriction to flow they might cause. However there must be TONS of these out there though as they are so cheap... would be interesting to hear from people who may have used them though....

Anybody killed there motor with a cheap oil cooler?

The other side on the coin is running the oil too cold... some of the dearer JDM kits have a theromstat that doesnt open until the oil is sufficiantly hot.

[Beer Baron]

I can't speak for any of the above brands specifically so take what I say with a grain of salt.

but a few people I know who have bought various types of chinese oil cooler kits have had problems like: hoses too long for application, leaks from fittings, leaks from block take off plate, snapped the fitting brazed to the core when trying to tighten the hose fittings, small pieces of swarf flushed out from the core.

i haven't looked into them in a while now so most likely the current gen of chinese copy coolers has eliminated these faults. but personally I have always used japanese kits. they fit nicely, they are finished nicely, and i've never had a drama. on the downside the good ones cost about tripple a cheap chinese one. but when you are running an engine that realistically costs $12,000 to replace if you bugger it then it may well be worth it.

[GeeTR]

Depending on what type of fittings they use, I "might" use on my car, and keep a close eye for leaks, and be more careful then normal making sure theres no load on the lines, fittings...

But i would never recommend someone else fits one for fear of a lost engine on my conscious

I guess, not much could go wrong with block adapter and filter head though...

[sewid]

I took a chinese one off and fitted a Trust one. The difference is mainly in the fittings (earls fittings in trust kits) and lines. The lines are the correct length for the application and are supplied with wrapping so they don't saw through your panels.

The brackets are also obviously designed to be bolt on.

The core itself it probably from the same manufacturer in china.

[bnr#@]

The trust kits come with a nice air guide plate to...

[Pezhead]

I just got done fitting one of these to my GTR (See Fabrication thread). I found that the lines were too long but I cut them to length and fit them custom. It was a real pain as the steel braiding is hard to work and did scratch me to high hell. But the end result was well worth it. I bought my kit from UAS but it is just like the Performance Wise kit.

Make sure to buy one with Earls fittings or ones that you can cut to length. Be prepared for a bear of a job when you cut the stuff as I had to use a cut off wheel to grind through the stainless for a clean enough cut for the fittings to go back on. When you are cutting it, it will throw tiny little red hot splinters at you so watch out. Then when you are trying to put the aluminum fitting back on the ends of the braid are so sharp they are like razors! At one point 3 of my finger tips were bleeding. What a job!

My oil pressure unit is plumbed in after the cooler and I don't see much drop in oil pressure - my line sits between 1.6-2.1 bar warm on idle and easily hits 6.5 Bar when rev'n.

However, I do agree with folks here that if you go too cheap you will end up paying for it. All it takes is oil fitting to break or a crack in the cooler unit and bye bye oil... bye bye motor.

[c0ris]

this is what i did, bought the 2 blocks, then bought my own earls fittings and braided hose (could even buy mine? *shameless plug *)

those generic kits look like the lines are too long for RB26 and as PezHead mentioned cutting and shutting lines is a pain in the arse...

i only did a remote fitler setup, not a oil cooler though...

[Grunter]

Mate I have a just jap one fitted to my R32GTS and yes some of

the hoses are a bit long which isn't much of a drama.The main

problem with the kit that I got is on the sandwich plates the fittings

that connect the hoses to the sandwich plates use O'rings which when

you tighten them up they split and then leak.I'm in the process of

getting either copper washers with a hydraulic sealent or colapsable

washers fitted.Apart from that I think there not that bad a lot cheaper

than $1000 trust item

[GeeTR]

this is what i did, bought the 2 blocks, then bought my own earls fittings and braided hose (could even buy mine? *shameless plug *)

The most sensible option

Sound like a broken record i know, but by the time you "customise" your China solution, you might as well piece together something yourself.

Earls billet block and head adaptor, race fittings and any core your heart desires and some time, and you have a solution that completely fulfils your needs and uses world industry standard fittings.

Hearing others that are using China setups and are "ok" so far, is like that simpsons ep where Homer wears a bear repelling hat... that works cus "hell, i dont see any bears, do you?"

Custom or brand name Jap setup is really the only thing you should be considering if your serious about your pride and joy.

My cents.

[made_guy]

if there isn't enough opinion to say avoid the chinese 'lines' at least, i've also heard that they use cheaper rubber in the lines causing them to break down and eventually block the oil flow...

[Antimatter]

if there isn't enough opinion to say avoid the chinese 'lines' at least, i've also heard that they use cheaper rubber in the lines causing them to break down and eventually block the oil flow...

now thats an interesting take....

[tacker]

If you use a -10an size hose and fittings as a minimum then you will not have any restrictions in the oil system. I have removed the standard water to oil cooler mounted on the engine block and mounted a remote filter system in its place. And from what i can see the filter itself was the restrictive part in the whole stock system. The coupling that the factory oil / water cooler connects to on the engine block has the same id as a -10an fitting.

Also recommend that you go for a kit that has the reusable hose fittings, so much neater if you can cut the hose to the perfect length.

Not sure about the oil coolers them selves but if they are -10an fittings shouldnt be much of an issue for restriction. Leaks and quality i cant say as i modded an M3 cooler to fit accross the front of my car. You could alway pressure test them before fitting for peace of mind.

[GKTECH]

I'm using a Grex block adapter, Chinese oil cooler (paid bugger all for it on eBay), Earls fittings and braided lines. Should cost me around $250 MAX all up for this setup and will suit my RB26 S13 nicely as there was no off the shelf item.

I wanted a thermostat in my kit, thus I went with the Grex block adapter with the thermostat built in (around $130 from Hi Octane Racing)

Greg

[frozenwaffles]

well i put a JJR one on my r33 gtst and its great. sure the hoses are a little long but they allowed me to do some creative fitting of the cooler...the slack i just tucked back towards the firewall. i really needed a cooler as on the track i would see temps of 130deg for the oil and my water would get up to 95-100...

now with the cooler fitted...well i dont know what the oil temp is but im pretty sure it should be cooler (as i have an oil cooler duh) and my water temp never goes higher than 90-95deg....

happy days...

i did have some small leaks at first but that was just some sections not being fully done up... all 100% now!

[giant]

yep , in one instance i heard of the rubber the lines breaking down and blocking turbo oil feed = blown turbo, then blown engine!

[GTRgeoff]

I had the tank on one of the ones listed in the first post blow out starting up on a cool morning in Melb. I won't use a cheap cooler again. No damage but plenty of oil lost. The rest of the kit was fine.

[ArBe20]

I have a genuine trust sandwich plate, thats really about all you need.

The actual coolers them selfs are all the same really.

Cant speak for the hoses as i didnt use them either (just incase they were crap)