Hey…been meaining to post these for a while. I installed an oil cooler a few days before the WCM2K2 in Sac. It turned out great…knocked ~30* off my oil temps. I’ll try to get pics of it when I have the turbo back in too…it fits real snug…It’s a Setrab oil cooler…
dude…it looks good…does look a little snug in there. i know our engine bays are cramped in there especially if you have a turbo setup. would the heat from the turbo and manifold hurt that oil cooler in any way? also how much was the oil cooler kit and how hard was it to install? let me know cause i’m planning to put one in after i replace my head gasket in my car (blown head gasket…sucks!) thanks and you’re car is nasty dude!
dante
oil coolers are a great thing people seem to overlook. the 90 DSMs (my car) has a kick ass oil cooler mounted right in front of the radiator. So if any of you guys are on a budget you might be able to snag one off of a wrecked DSM for cheap. It HAS TO BE A 1990 MODEL THOUGH. The 91+ had a version that ran a coolant/oil heat exchanger. It’s not as good.
Originally posted by Formz TSi
oil coolers are a great thing people seem to overlook.
Yeah no kidding. Most people don’t have oil temp gauges in their Hondas. I’d bet people would be shocked if they learned they were running over 300* oil temps. I’d also bet this is one of the major contributors to engine failures in turbo Hondas…
I pieced all the stuff together myself, I get all my universal parts from www.bakerprecision.com they are in Signal Hill, CA near Long Beach. Great store…great people that really know their stuff…All the steel braided hoses and the cooler cost about $300, I made the brackets to mount it myself out of some aluminum. With the 2 big fans I use heat soak of the cooler isn’t an issue.
looks great, I’m interested in knowing if I could run a cooler in-line between the oil source and the turbo. Or if I should just stick w/the filter adapter. which method would be better and why?
Just thought I’d ask since its topic related and no one has been able to give me a clear answer, so reasons will also help.
Originally posted by Cent
[B]looks great, I’m interested in knowing if I could run a cooler in-line between the oil source and the turbo. Or if I should just stick w/the filter adapter. which method would be better and why? /B]
I dont think you’d see any benefits by puting it right before the turbo as opposed to anywhere else. Oil is circulated pretty fast and so putting it anywhere would do a good job. Plus, putting it before the turbo might cause some fitment/line problems. You can put it anyhwere you want to though, I’m just not sure if there is any benefits by putting it directly before the turbo.
Thanks, it would be easier for me to run a cooler in-line so I’ll just use longer SS lines rather than having to go from the block and then back from the front of the car. I also had the 90 dsm cooler in mind but depending on avalability I might just get one from Fleet Farm for $30:up:
$30 thats a good deal! But remember, if you DO decide to go with a DSM oil cooler, it HAS to be from a 1990 Model. Nothing else will work. Should archive—this thread? Or is not worth it?
believe it or not those factory sandwich oil coolers with that use coolant to cool the oil work pretty well as long as you are not overly-stressing the system by doing things like road-racing. not as well as a true air-cooled system of course, but good enough for most scenarios. but one benefit of the sandwich coolers is that you won’t have any oil-pressure drop.
dave, if your oil cooler controlled by a thermostat, or is it constantly circulating the oil through the cooler?
yea they do work good, but the way that it was setup on the DSMs is if you overtightened the oil filter you could crack the housing and then coolant and oil would be mixing. Not good 
ARCHIVETHIS
Originally posted by Cent
[B]looks great, I’m interested in knowing if I could run a cooler in-line between the oil source and the turbo. Or if I should just stick w/the filter adapter. which method would be better and why?
Just thought I’d ask since its topic related and no one has been able to give me a clear answer, so reasons will also help. [/B]
this wouldn’t be a good idea…you would only be cooling a very tiny amount of oil compared to your total oil capacity.