As Ive mentioned, I tend to lose a bit of oil pressure after my engine gets fully hot. The hotter it is, the worse the oil pressure gets. Its never in danger territory, but I like to see the needle a bit higher. So in addition to running 15w-40 oil, Im adding an oil cooler.

Now, some 3800s wer factory equipped with engine oil coolers, namely the police Impalas. Im sure the more junkyard savvy of us could do this a little cheaper than I am, but I dont feel like doing the junkyard crawl.

So, an oil cooler system typically consists of two main components. First, the sandwich adapter goes between your oil filter and the engine. It contains a thermostat and reroutes between ~5% and all of the flow out to the second component, the heat exchanger. This is simply a radiator for oil and is pretty much identical to most auxilliary transmission coolers. Between the two you obviously nee hoses. Seeing as how this is a pretty important fluid, I didnt feel inclined to cheap out on the hoses.

So If I were a little more resourceful, id probably use a police Impala sandwich adapter, but I opted for a Canton Racing unit. Their 22-547 is $67 at Summit and is made to fit our M18-1.5filter threads. It has 1/2" NPT female connections. Moroso and Derale also make compatable adapters, but as I figured out the plumbing, I realized I can use fewer adapters for a more direct flow path with the 1/2NPT connections. That brings us to the plumbing...

Theres some argument over what an appropriate hose size is, but I havent heard much to dissuade me from going big. 1/2NPT is pretty close to -10AN, so thats what Im using. A -10AN hose has a roughly .500" ID and nearly .750" OD. Its a huge hose. This may prove tricky to plumb, but well find out. For hose ends, part of the decision to go with the canton adapter was that Summit also sells -AN-NPT hose ends, so I need no adapters.

Most of the heat exchangers youd use for this have either NPT or -AN fittings, so its basically a matter of picking your style (bar&plate vs tube and fin), size and connection preference. I picked out a copper and aluminum job from flex a lite with 1/2NPT female connections. Its 7X15" and 1.5" thick. Hopefully this shape should allow me to mount it in front of my radiator above the front bumper support. I didnt get terribly in-depth in sizing the heat exchanger. It is possible to go to big though. The thermostat never fully bypasses the cooler, so its not unrealistic to overcool the oil. There are formulae for this, but suffice to say, theres always disagreement. Many choose to block off the airflow to the cooler when heavy use isnt anticipated, or even bypass it entirely with valves and extra plumbing. Time will tell if I chose correctly.

My parts should all arrive by Monday, but Im not sure when Ill start on this. Firstly Ill have to figure out the plumbing because theres a good chance Ill need some elbows and other fittings to make this fit.

I should also note that theres a kit made by canton that contains the sandwich adapter, braided hose(10ft, unknown size) and a pretty nice heat exchanger. The kit runs about $300. I was able to put my setup together foe about $15 less, with 5 feet more hose and fewer adapters.

Here are links to what I bought so far. Hopefully the list doesnt grow too much.
Heat exchanger: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/FLX-45201
Sandwich adapter: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CTR-22-547
Hose ends: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-240104B
Hose: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-230015

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02 SSEi-Turning money into tire smoke, very efficiently.

Are you running the oil pressure kit that puts a little spacer in the plunger spring?

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Andrew - owner/operator of Bonnevilles Unlimited

2004 Bonneville GXP | 60k | White Gold Tricoat | custom built supercharged 3800 hot rod | garage queen
1997 Corvette | 57k | Silver Metallic | Z06 wheels | Date-night Hauler/Parts runner
2014 Town & Country Limited | Cashmere Pearl | 115k | Family Hauler
2002 Ram 1500 Quad Cab Sport | Black| 280k | Official Bonneville Hauler

You know, Im not even sure. Theres a possibility I mixed the springs and buckets up between two engines, the kit I bought, the extra one I got from Marty and the couple times I had it apart. The plan is to pop off the filter adapter and double check when I do the cooler install. I dont think its the wron relief setup though, because its only pressure at idle thats low. it perks right up with engine speed.

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02 SSEi-Turning money into tire smoke, very efficiently.

What temperature is your oil getting to?.
If you have low pressure due to the oil getting too hot then put a cooler in. If your pressure is down due to wear then you need to fix that first.

Roger.

What is your hot idle pressure?

I went with -10AN for my oil cooler setup. Originally I used the 96 L67 sandwich adapter but then had to swap that out for an oil filter relocation kit because of the F40 swap.

I used this heat exchanger and this thermostat.

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95 SLE... a keeper. 241k miles. Low and Slow.
97 BMW 528i
98 Infiniti vq35'd i30: 13.3@104mph, 30MPG Hwy (RIP)
02 Jag X-type
03 BMW M5
05 Chevy Cobalt LS
07 Infiniti G35s 6MT (Sold)
07 Ducati Monster S2R 800 with DS1000 swap
83 Yamaha IT175K
72 Yamaha DS7: '74 RD250 swap, JL chambers

Info on dropping a 92-99: Here.

The oil pressure gets down to the low to mid 20s at idle when hot. It's not wear, the engine has like 3000 miles on it. The problem is probably more to do with the bearing tolerances being slightly too loose but not bad enough to rebuild the rebuild. Still gets up to 70+ at higher rpms.

This issue is covered pretty thoroughly in ly engine build thread.

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02 SSEi-Turning money into tire smoke, very efficiently.

Mike, your setup is similar to what I initially wanted to do but relocating the filter and running twin filters would cost a mint. It would be nice, but dat money tho.

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02 SSEi-Turning money into tire smoke, very efficiently.

I'm just running one PF52, that's plenty IMO.

_________________

95 SLE... a keeper. 241k miles. Low and Slow.
97 BMW 528i
98 Infiniti vq35'd i30: 13.3@104mph, 30MPG Hwy (RIP)
02 Jag X-type
03 BMW M5
05 Chevy Cobalt LS
07 Infiniti G35s 6MT (Sold)
07 Ducati Monster S2R 800 with DS1000 swap
83 Yamaha IT175K
72 Yamaha DS7: '74 RD250 swap, JL chambers

Info on dropping a 92-99: Here.

Probably, but Im prone to bouts of overkill. Are you monitoring oil temps? Id be curious to know how much of a drop you saw.

I doubt UPS is going to deliver today with over a foot of snow on top of a couple inches of ice. Im in no huge rush...

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02 SSEi-Turning money into tire smoke, very efficiently.

I haven't monitered the oil temp of stock or before I my CR went up about a full point. But.. I now have an extra pcm temp input from the auto trans I could use to monitor current oil temp.

I hear you on overkill. That's why my oil heat exchanger is that big and my rad is over an inch thicker than stock.

_________________

95 SLE... a keeper. 241k miles. Low and Slow.
97 BMW 528i
98 Infiniti vq35'd i30: 13.3@104mph, 30MPG Hwy (RIP)
02 Jag X-type
03 BMW M5
05 Chevy Cobalt LS
07 Infiniti G35s 6MT (Sold)
07 Ducati Monster S2R 800 with DS1000 swap
83 Yamaha IT175K
72 Yamaha DS7: '74 RD250 swap, JL chambers

Info on dropping a 92-99: Here.

I need all the cooling I can get. High compression, more boost, all that jazz. I put my own radiator together with a GXP core and SSEi endtanks. Definately helped.

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02 SSEi-Turning money into tire smoke, very efficiently.

I have been itching to do a Police Impala Oil cooler install Only problem is that im running out of room. , I also loose some Oil Pressure when its really hot and im beating on it. I see mid 30's when super hot. Lower than I would like to see

With both FMIC's and a Trans cooler stuffed between the AC Condenser and the Rad.....its tight.

I could see doing a cooler exactly like my trans just for the Oil Instead.....ideas, ideas

Yeah space does run at a premium up there. Ive only got the one FMHE for the intercooler and no aux trans cooler (still see no need, my trans temps are always identical to engine coolant). Ill probably have mine where Mikes is basically.

Your oil pressure gets into the 30s when? At hot idle right? When Im mashing on it Ive never seen less than 60 or so, that I can recall.

The Impala adapter has -8 connections IIRC. You ought to lose less pressure with the bigger -10s of a Moroso or 1/2" of the Canton.

Everything but the adapter showed up today. I might venture into the garage to mock some stuff up. Also got the wheel sizing tool, so I kinda want to play with that too.

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02 SSEi-Turning money into tire smoke, very efficiently.

ya its hot idle. I see mid high 60's with RPM's

SO... Monday, I got the cooler adapter drop shipped from canton. Ive been mistaken this whole time thinking most sandwich adapters have thermostats built in. Only a few do and they all have smaller line fittings than Id like to use. I need to figure out a thermostat solution.

Now I have a few ideas on how to proceed. None of them are ideal. First, easiest and most expensive: I could keep all of the stuff I have and buy an external thermostat to add on. The external thermostats are about $50. But Id also need four more hose ends to connect it. At about $10 a piece. So $90 more and problem solved...

But thats a lot of money...

Another thing I can do is return the sandwich adapter I have that was $73 and get a much cheaper one from ebay (I cant see any reason the cheap ones wouldnt work and they actually look like they flow better, plus have 1/8npt ports for pressure or temperature sensors or possible turbo plumbing). That would save me $50 or so.

The last idea I have is that I could get a thermostatic sandwich adapter with the line fittings I want (-10AN or 1/2 NPT) in a different filter style and make my own filter thread adapter. Its well within my abilities to design, program and produce such a part, but its a lot of effort for one piece.

So theres where I am now...

Its too blasted cold to do anything with the car anyway so its not the end of the world. Just really annoying.

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02 SSEi-Turning money into tire smoke, very efficiently.

$90 is cheap in the scheme of things.

_________________
Andrew - owner/operator of Bonnevilles Unlimited

2004 Bonneville GXP | 60k | White Gold Tricoat | custom built supercharged 3800 hot rod | garage queen
1997 Corvette | 57k | Silver Metallic | Z06 wheels | Date-night Hauler/Parts runner
2014 Town & Country Limited | Cashmere Pearl | 115k | Family Hauler
2002 Ram 1500 Quad Cab Sport | Black| 280k | Official Bonneville Hauler

Right... So I'm continually impressed by my ability to do stupid things...

Since I really wanted to limit the part count of this setup, I ordered an earl's 504erl sandwich thermostat, thinking I can just make the threaded post adapter at work. Well I was not prepared for how enormous the thing is. There's no way it'll fit. So now I have the canton sandwich adapter and fittings for it, the Earle adapter with thermostat plus fittings for that... I have a few hundred bucks worth of wrong parts sitting around.

So the new plan: insted of reinventing the wheel, I'm going to return the earls thermostat and see if I can still return the canton one as well. I have an eBay adapter on the way that looks pretty nice and has a much better flowing appearing design. It also has ports for pressure and temperature senders. For the thermostat, I like the pegasus ones that mike linked.

At least its not nice out so I'm not in that big of a rush to get this done.

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02 SSEi-Turning money into tire smoke, very efficiently.