Date:         Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:58:40 -0500
Reply-To:     Jonathan Poole <jfpoolio@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jonathan Poole <jfpoolio@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Oil temp musings and hairbrained ideas
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

I have an oil-cooler on my air-cooled van.

You'll hear a opinions on both sides with this question and I typically
agree with both.  One school of thought against an external oil cooler goes
something like:  if it is in proper tune and running order then you don't
need the external cooler.

Also if you install one incorrectly then you may introduce many more
problems than you solve from oil leaks to never letting the oil get up to
temp.

I weighed all of the options and discussed this topic a lot with Boston Bob
who was building my engine and thought that I should give my new engine
every advantage in life so I went with the biggest plate style cooler kit
from bus-boys.com

http://www.bus-boys.com/oilcoolingremote.html

I set this up with the thermostat and installed the cooler above the
transmission just inside of the driver rear tire.  I also put an automotive
fan on the cooler once I saw that my oil still get's hot every now and then
in-spite of all my best efforts.  The fan is very effective at dropping the
temp down to the level that I want to see.

On the same subject I run a full set of gauges so that I don't drop the oil
temp and then fry the heads or anything.  I also run a wide-band 02 sensor
based fuel-air ratio guage that has been really handy in getting my fuel
injection system set up just right.  Cylinder head temps are more quick to
react to temp spikes and I really like to see how they respond even though
the vdo cht unit isn't precise.

Jonathan Poole
'83 ac westy

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