Oil cooler thermostat?
 

Since I don't have room for Canton's huge (physically large) oil cooler thermostat I'm looking for a "quality" sandwich style oil cooler thermostat. It should simply replace my old sandwich style oil cooler adapter that I'm currently using. Earls makes a "billet" offering and it appears to be better made that other "pot metal" based units.

http://www.holley.com/data/products/...umSANTHER1.jpg

http://www.holley.com/502ERL.asp

Does anyone have good or bad experiences with these?

Looks like a nice simple piece--KISS

On my setup I'm using a drysump oil system plumbed thru an heat exchanger in a Nascar type C&R radiator----radiator is a cross flow that gets rid of coolant heat on the first pass across the rad, goes over the oil heat exchanger in the left side tank and then the coolant flows back to the right side with heat from oil being removed before coolant returns to engine--in this deal the oil temp is controlled much more precisely than a air to oil cooler

Thats the one I use. No issues at all. Good consistent temp control.

Brad W.

From what I have read over the years, unless you are road racing the car, you do not need an oil cooler.


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While that's more than likely true, my cooler's already installed and plumbed in (11 years ago).

Another thing a lot of people don't realize is that also provides another means of heat rejection for an "over stressed" FE/Cobra cooling system. It's just another way to dump some more BTUs...

Hi Dave,

Anything here help you?

Later Gator,
Byron


http://www.batinc.net/mocal.htm

But if you have one it's best to have a thermostat isn't it? Otherwise oil won't warm up properly I heard

Mark

Check out www.beaumontmetalworks.com. I don't think you need a cooler unless your racing but if your building a Cobra it sure looks right. With this thermostat you can allow a small amount of warm oil to circulate,this will keep the cooler clean.

I had one on my car for a couple of years. Excellent product, works exactly as advertised. Much better than the cast aluminum one it replaced. Looks better, too. I think it's well worth the money. After I took it off, I sold it for almost what I paid for it.

That's essentially true. Oil is heated by rpm's. And I mean consistantly high rpm's; not stop light to stop light.

Oil has an operating temp range. Max temps is pretty easy to find. But minimum temps are harder to come by. As best as I could tell, 180* is about the minimum. On a cold morning, it can be real tough to get the oil that hot, even with a thermostat.

I took a good look at this piece, and it's pretty impressive. I like the idea that you can shut it off completly for the winter. Or only turn it on a little when it's needed. BUT... it's a manual valve, so you have to understand how it works, and how to properly use it. It's not idiot proof.

With an automatic thermostat like Earls, when the oil is cold and the valve is closed, about 10% of the oil still moves through the cooler. That allows all of the oil to warm up at the same time. You wouldn't want a cold slug of oil to suddenly hit your oil galley.

That means that when it's cold out, the cooler will keep the oil from reaching operating temp; even with a thermostat. I have left my house (or hotel room) with temps in the 30's. Not an uncommon occurance here in CO. Even duct tape over the cooler doesn't help as much as you'de think it would.

If you use a manual valve, you have to plan in advance. At least have it open a little bit if you think you might need it. Then if the heat starts to build up you can gradually open it up. If it's a cool day and you're not racing, keep it closed all the way and just use the oil in the pan.

If the valve is closed all the way, and the oil is getting hot, you cannot open it and drive away. It would have to be real gradual with the engine at an idle.

I think the valve from Beaumont is an excellent piece. If I was looking for a control valve, that would be it.