R33: Oil Cooler Installation

[Col-GTSX]

One of the best articles i have seen in here...

Great job... Will consider doing one myself...

Although i dont use the car round the track just down the 1/4 and street so i have not needed one but im tinkering with it now for a qQLD track day as i think circuit racing is gonna be more fun....

[Memph]

When you don't have a thermostat your oil cooler always has oil going through it. When it's cold and you're trying to warm your engine up, or when it's just really cold your oil is always getting cooled.

You don't want this because your oil can actually be too cold.

How much would an oil thermostat setup cost? is it easy to intergrate that into one of these oil coolers that seem to be going round at the moment for the 350 - 400 mark?

V.Interested as i am thinking about donig some track work with my car and i think that this would be a good thing to do to add a little reliability to the motor

Cheeeeeeers

[Nightcrawler]

Great article - and great in theory, but I have just put a Trust copy aluminium sump on my S15 and it has reduced normal oil running temp from 180 degrees fahrenheit, to under 150 degrees fahrenheit. I have not track raced it yet with the new sump, but am positive it would even help here too.

It was a 5 minute job to install, and you don't run the risk of ever popping a fitting or hose, and lunching your engine. For non-track cars, I think the higher capacity sump is the way to go! It has fins (like a heatsink) for cooling, is internally gated to stop oil surge, and carries 1 litre more of oil. Can't go wrong! That said, oil coolers are great too, just thought I'd point out the benefit of my new acquisition, and how suprisingly well it works at cooling.

[Blk33]

Great article - and great in theory, but I have just put a Trust copy aluminium sump on my S15 and it has reduced normal oil running temp from 180 degrees fahrenheit, to under 150 degrees fahrenheit. I have not track raced it yet with the new sump, but am positive it would even help here too.

It was a 5 minute job to install, and you don't run the risk of ever popping a fitting or hose, and lunching your engine. For non-track cars, I think the higher capacity sump is the way to go! It has fins (like a heatsink) for cooling, is internally gated to stop oil surge, and carries 1 litre more of oil. Can't go wrong! That said, oil coolers are great too, just thought I'd point out the benefit of my new acquisition, and how suprisingly well it works at cooling.

For road use and the occasional blast the standard oil cooler attached between the sump and the filter on the RB engines (don't know about the S15) is quite satisfactory. For track use though, you will need an oil cooler as your oil temperature would be exceeding 130 degrees C (260 degrees F) after a couple of laps.

Sounds like an easy job to replace the sump on the S15, I know the VL with the RB motor is a B...... job to change the sump.

Cheers

[PHT33]

Does anyone know if your oil pump needs to be upgraded when installing an oil cooler as to maintain sufficient oil flow?

[Blk33]

Does anyone know if your oil pump needs to be upgraded when installing an oil cooler as to maintain sufficient oil flow?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Standard pump works quite OK.

[PHT33]

Cool, pardon the pun, thanks for that Blk33. Nice wheels by the way. How long have you had that?

[JimX]

Sorry to dig up such an old thread but I think it's worthwhile. Has anyone run the lines directly from the cooler to the turbo? Is that a bad idea? My reasoning being I am about to go with a high mount setup, and if I could use the cooler lines as the "link" from engine to turbo it would save me on buying extra hoses.

[Blk33]

Sorry to dig up such an old thread but I think it's worthwhile. Has anyone run the lines directly from the cooler to the turbo? Is that a bad idea? My reasoning being I am about to go with a high mount setup, and if I could use the cooler lines as the "link" from engine to turbo it would save me on buying extra hoses.

Hi JimX

I wouldn't suggest using the Olil Cooler setup to feed the turbo with oil!

If you do, remember the oil pickup for the turbo on the engine block has a very small hole in it. This is to meter the correct amount of oil fed to the turbo bearings. You will have to fabricate a fitting.

Cheers

[JimX]

Hi JimX

I wouldn't suggest using the Olil Cooler setup to feed the turbo with oil!

If you do, remember the oil pickup for the turbo on the engine block has a very small hole in it. This is to meter the correct amount of oil fed to the turbo bearings. You will have to fabricate a fitting.

Cheers

Thanks for the info. I had another look over the pics of the cooler setup and realised that even if it was possible, it'd be overly complicated for no real benefit other than saving a bit of hose and space, because I'd have to do something with the factory oil filter outlet, or just run 2 oil filters. Both of which are going to be more of a headache than it's worth. Also it'd be nigh on impossible to quickly remove the cooler for whatever reason and keep the car drivable, since the fittings will be all wrong and hoses may not reach anymore. I just had some crazy idea in my head without checking reality. Sorry about that!

[Blk33]

Updated thumbnails into article.

Looks like the old images had dissappeared!

Cheers

[cowie165]

Great tutorial, thanks for putting the time in to write it up and update the thumbnails. It has encouraged me to mount my relocator that has been sitting on the bench for nearly a year...

As an aside, can you use any oil cooler? That may sound weird but I've seen a whole lot of R33 auto trans coolers going for $30ish in the for sale section. Are coolers made to suit specific viscosities?

Cheers

[PranK]

Added to members tutorials. Nice work. Pity the GTR has stupid BOVs in that spot... my cooler is under the damn car..

[rsx84]

just a quick question, oil volume, do you add extra oil once you have installed the cooler?

i have a kit sitting here ready to go on (need to find the rubber o rings) but am unsure if i need to add extra oil to engine??

brain says yes, just wanting to confirm...

cheers, Matt

Edited June 22, 2006 by rsx84

[Syphon]

yes

Run the motor for a little bit, check dipstick and add to level.

[Blk33]

just a quick question, oil volume, do you add extra oil once you have installed the cooler?

i have a kit sitting here ready to go on (need to find the rubber o rings) but am unsure if i need to add extra oil to engine??

brain says yes, just wanting to confirm...

cheers, Matt

As Syphon says "yes" is the answer.

Additional oil is required to fill the pipes and the oil cooler.

I have estimated an additional 1/2 litre for this purpose.

Cheers

[700HP-GTR33]

As Syphon says "yes" is the answer.

Additional oil is required to fill the pipes and the oil cooler.

I have estimated an additional 1/2 litre for this purpose.

Cheers

Hello all,

I have a gtr33 and recently purchased a trust oil cooler for it.

I gave it to a reputable place today(near my work in Campbellfield)

After 2 hours of work the mechanic said he cannot fit the thing in the front right panel.

I said "i knew that...the only place i have seen them fitted is the front left panel."

He went on to say the hoses are not long enough for that...

Anyway in my case do i have to run my hoses under the engine?

And please someone give me a place i can go to have this fitted in Melbourne.

I paid $1000 for the unit and unlike your coolers this has a thermo ,and brackets to fix into place.

(Trust thinks of everything except for the dum-wit that installs it)

Thanks

[Godzilla32]

When looking from the front of the car they are usually mounted on the right side (drivers side) as its closer to the oil filters standard location. Also alot of these kits do include thermostats, but from what ive heard they arent necessary in australias climate.

Also nengun sell those trust kits for ~$800

Just realised how old this thread was lol, possibly why the price is different

Edited October 21, 2006 by Godzilla32

[JaiJai]

Thank you for this! just excellent asnwered all my questions

[Lazy-Bastard]

I am having a couple of "issues" after installing one of these kits.

My oil light stays on for about 1 second every time I start the car. I am presuming it takes this long to prime the cooler lines, core and filter. Doess this happen to anyone else?

Originally I used a Z30 oil filter, which is quite large and the oil light would stay on for about 2 seconds, but I switched to a much smaller Z160 and now it's down to ~1 sec.

Second issue, I did an oil change yesterday, but when I drained the oil only 3.5 litres came out. Obviously the rest is still in the cooler core and lines. How does everyone else go about flushing the rest of the oil out. With around 1.5 litres of dirty oil still in there, I'm not feeling the normal warm and fuzzies I do when I do an oil change due to the fact I have simlp diluted all that dirty oil.

Do these things happen to anyone else, or have I done something wrong? I have definately plumbed everything correctly going by this DIY, so I just wanted a bit of reassurance.

Cheers