My Front Mount Oil Cooler Project - (lots of pics)

[jwasbury]

Following the well trodden pathway here. Like many of us I was getting tired of watching my oil temps climb too high, especially at track days. It was my major winter project to fit a front mount oil cooler, and its finally done.

I did take a road slightly less traveled when it comes to the valance. Here I was unsatisfied with fiberglass offerings from the usual aftermarket suppliers, was unable to locate a RUF polyurethane BTR valance (well, there was one, but the asking price of 2k was pretty steep for a used part). With all this in mind I decided to follow in the footsteps of Miguel, whose "Chocolate Rocket" is probably my favorite 930 on the planet:



Some of you may also remember this car:



First thing was to get the oil cooler fitted and plumbed. The cooler was given to me by fellow pelican "Citrus" as a token of appreciation for hours I spent on his engine build. I can't find any markings that identify the manufacturer, and I think this is a Jerry Woods custom job because that's where it was installed on Citrus' car. Its a beefy unit, core is 3" thick, AN-16 fittings.



Cooler bolts to the bumper


I replaced the carrera style fender cooler and fan with the 28 tube "Jailbird" unit. My feeling is this is a better cooler for this location. Half of the radiator style cooler gets zero airflow behind the headlight bucket which is stupid IMHO


Plumbed:


At this point I drove the car and valance to a race-car fabrication shop to perform the modifications needed on the valance - here it is getting a coat of Wurth Stoneguard




Installation after basecoat and clearcoat.


Finished product

[jwasbury]

You may notice that the valance opening is asymmetrical, as a little more room was required on the passenger side to clear the oil lines. I like the way it came out

[pete3799]

Looks nice but what are you doing in Jack Olsens garage?

[quattrorunner]

Love the Garage, Love the color of your car seriously. I also really appreciate your desire and drive to make the car better.
This is a prime example of form follows function.

[wjfk32]

A well deserved...


Walt

[gsxrken]

Very nice. Although you stated the asymmetry of the grill, I'd submit that a little AN porn peeking out the side would look purposeful and permit a symmetrical grill. The way the cover is separate would allow you to flirt with it in the future.
You and Jimtweet do such nice detailed work. I look forward to your posts.

[slow&rusty]

That looks really great Jacob. I have been wanting to upgrade my oil cooler on my car as well, thanks for the motivation. Interested in seeing pictures of the front of the car when it is back on its feet.

Did you drill three holes in the lower bumper to support the oil cooler?
Regards - Yasin

[citrus]

Looks great Jacob ! Im anxious to hear how well the system works.

[mooney265]

jacob,

just curious if the air [warmer once it passes thru the cooler] will be hitting the A/C condenser?

i ask, because when i did this, it now hits mine and probably has a bit of a negative effect on my a/c efficiency at hwy speeds...

either way, the benefits to the engine surely outweigh the higher pressures in the a/c lines...

[jwasbury]

Yasin: yes, drilled 3 holes in the bumper to mount the cooler.

Mooney: the oil cooler will definitely dump hot air across the a/c condensor. Not much one can do about that. Since my a/c is inoperative I wont notice any difference

[Miguel Antonett]

Awesome!!!

Love the way you kept the OEM rubber lip. With those two oil coolers in series you should be good to go up to 450 horses or so...

What about another drive/track day in the near future?

[jwasbury]

I had the 930 at a trackday yesterday. Sunshine and over 80 degrees ambient temp, my oil temp never even got to 9 o'clock (which is about 210) while lapping. I would have been up somewhere in the 240-250 degree range before. Consider this project an unmitigated success. I am so happy that oil temps are under control at the track now.

Pics from yesterday:

[Les Paul]

Out of curiosity why did you leave 1 headlight washer?

[speednme1]

Wow Jacob, that came out nice.

[jwasbury]

Originally Posted by Les Paul

Out of curiosity why did you leave 1 headlight washer?

One of them broke a few years ago...they are NLA. I have the pieces and I am planning to epoxy it back together one of these days. It will just be for looks. I suppose I could pull the other one and fill the holes too. Either way, this sort of stuff is pretty low on the priority list for me.