Date: Wed, 5 May 1999 10:22:40 -0400
Reply-To: Bulley <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Bulley <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Subject: Aux oil coolers
Tim & Joseph-
Both of you posted in the past couple of days about auxiliary oil coolers;
one for the air-cooled, and one for the H20 cooled. VERY interesting
subject to me.
I tend to torture my Volkswagens. It would not be uncommon for me to have
four people in our Westy, all of our gear, and to be on the interstate
climbing mountains, during July heat, at full throttle, for 30 to 40
minutes. Just this past weekend, on the way up to DC, we we're fighting 30
mph headwinds much of the way carrying a heavy load, my foot didn't come
off the throttle much for most of the trip. That gets the oil hot.
If you missed it in your post, could you provide some details: brand name,
cost, contact info for where you purchased it, whether you bought it on
solid recommendation or did a heap of research on the subject-then bought
THAT brand (thus we can all feel okay about buying that brand), etc. etc.
Also, please include information about whether or not you're using a
thermostat along with the cooler. I think EMPI, SCAT , or Gene Berg sells
thermostats for auxiliary oil coolers, but I haven't used one. I think all
of us would agree, it only makes good sense to use the thermostat along
with the oil cooler (of course, that doesn't explain why haven't used one).
Having too low an oil temperature can be just as detrimental as too high.
The slow warm up doesn't make anyone happy either.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Answers to your questions>>>>>>>>
As far as Tim's question about adding an extra oil pump, there is no
straightforward way to add an "extra" oil pump. However, Melling does
produce a "High-Capacity" oil pump that bolts right up in place of your
regular oil pump; it pumps 150 percent volume, and pressure. You may also
want to invest in oil pressure increase springs and pistons. I think EMPI
also makes a kit for this, that runs about 10 bucks. Keep in mind, however,
that this pump/pressure increase does increase the nonproductive load on
your motor.
As for the question of where to install: it depends on how much of an
engineer you are, or how much you're willing to spend to have someone else
engineer the fittings for it.
The simplest space, would be in the left rear wheel well, using braided oil
lines, and a simple louvered cover to protect your oil cooler from stones.
If you need an idea of what this should look like, I believe the Porsche
930, and later-model air-cooled 911's have an oil cooler in the left
(front) wheel well covered by just such a louvered cover. It is an
"arch-style trombone" oil cooler, rather than a brick.
This location is good in that it offers a huge amount of rapidly moving
cool airflow, (from the spinning tire). It does not require extensive oil
lines running to the front of the vehicle. The disadvantage comes from the
fact that while idling, the air cooled motor does spill quite a bit of hot
air into the rear wheel wells, and when the vehicle is not moving, there is
very little airflow in this area.
A great place to place the oil cooler, would obviously be up front, in the
radiator space. Lots of airflow, plenty of space. Disadvantage: extremely
long run to the front. I don't know much about hydraulics, and fluid
flows, but I imagine by adding 25 feet of oil line, there is got be some
increase in "drag". Even if you are able to overcome this "drag" by using
a larger oil pump, your motor just has to work all the harder to push that
oil around. My pee-brain says pressure loss isn't an issue if you use
quality lines (or metal)...it is a closed hydraulic circuit, and the
pressure can't vary with length of the run (capacity of the fluid)...am I
right?
All that being said, for our 1982 Westy, I had in mind to use a "cheesy"
eight-pass oil cooler mounted directly underneath the fresh air intake in
front of the van, (radiator area). I have used "Quick-Kool" oil coolers
before, and been pleased with results. I planned using the "spin on"
adapter that mounts were the oil filter normally would be, and moving the
oil filter to another location. I used a similar set up on to other (1976)
Volkswagen buses with good results.
I plan to run half-inch copper plumbing piping either through the fittings
in the body work that would normally be used for the radiator hoses, or
through the central area that currently (also) holds the main heater duct.
This copper piping will not be prone to leaks, and also will serve to help
shed heat on its way up to the front and on its return.
I plan to do much of this work in the coming weeks, and this is why I'm so
interested in your answers.
G. Matthew Bulley
Bulley-Hewlett & Associates
www.bulley-hewlett.com
Cary, NC USA
888.468.4880 tollfree
Tim Wrote:
"I'm adding an oil cooler to my 82 camper. Would you suggest an extra oil
pump, this oil cooler has a fan any suggestions on were to install it?"
-----Original Message-----
From: Joseph Tu [SMTP:joe@greencastle.dynip.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 1999 1:05 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Oil Cooler Upgrade I did...
Hello,
I am just putting in what I did for an add on oil cooler for my van. The
factory oil cooler is great, but I feel that it has too little surface
area and the is too small for sufficient heat transfer when the fluids
pass by. So I opted to add another one. It was an air to oil cooler and
it is made by Setrab. I purchased it through the autotech guys, since
they are located pretty near where I live. Anyways, as for location, I
chose to put the cooler in the area just fore of the transmission, the
angled surface that is the back of the storage space under the rear
bench. Although This isn't the best location for air flow, it presented
the least difficulty in mounting, which was my main goal. <<<snip>>
| 
