relocating oil cooler to front of car

My beck has a rear mounted oil cooler, mounted rear of the transaxle.

If I found a spot up in front , perhaps behind one of the nose vents, would I get better cooling at speed?
My car has a rear belly pan, I suspect, at speed, the air in the engine compartment is not moving much, and having the oil cooler in there seems anti productive.

Will this extra 12 feet of oil line kill my oil pump?

I guess the first question that must be answered is: Are you currently experiencing overheated oil? If so, what about a thermostatically controlled electric fan for your current setup??

If you're not having oil temp problems, why change.

According to many experts, 225 degrees F, is the "bottom" figure for hot oil in a VW engine.

Relocation to the front is probably not necessary. It also adds to the volume of oil and creates additional vulnerability to any trash you might run over in the road.

If your oil temperatures are unacceptable it should be fairly simple to correct via a larger cooler, or an auxilliary cooler with fan, or both. Don't overlook the possibilty of ducting or heat-shielding to help an oil cooler do its job.

thanks,
all good info

So hasn't anyone mounted the oil cooler in the front? Is'nt that what the nose vent is for? Maybe you don't need it in cooler parts of the country, but southern states in the U.S.A get much hotter than Germany where the air cooled VW engine was designed. Survey question for all you guys: What would cool better,an oil cooler in the nose with out a fan or an oil cooler in the rear with a fan? Thanks in advance for your input.

Generally people have used an RX 7 cooler in the front of Spyders. Several have done it. While I hear it was effective it seems like a serious complication unless you have no other choice.

I think Jason at members.cox.net/kevinyoung2/jason/spypage
put his cooler up front as a result of high enginer compartment temps from his turbo and its associated exhaust plumbing...

I would use a MOCAL thermostat on the oil filter adapter and plumb in a Setrab oil cooler with fan at the rear. Some people use thermostatic fan switches and some use toggle switches for the cooler's fan.
(Message Edited 10/2/2003 2:39:23 PM)

Everyone,
I am locating an RX7 oil cooler in the front of the car, mainly for authenticity and should I say....the "coolness" factor ('had to say it). Anyway, I live in the desert SW, where it can get quite hot. I'm not sure if my motor will need the extra cooling - 2165cc with a larger type 2 oil cooler - but, either way, I took the opportunity to get Dario's grill, and build a custom sheet aluminum air box for it. I've ducted the air out into the area at the front beam, and having Dario's grill there with an oil cooler behind just adds to those details of the car. After all, most of us here get a real kick out of project details and this kind of stuff gets us going. One precaution/consideration involved with the installation of the RX7 cooler is that you must install a "T" in the lines that bridges the from-motor line to the return-to-motor line so that when combined with the thermostat in the RX7 cooler, it will allow the oil to bypass the cooler altogether when the thermostat is closed. This condition will exist when the oil is below the temp required to open it (I think its around 220' to 250' - not sure need to check) and the oil won't even be reaching the cooler. We'll see how it all turns out, but at this point, this is where I'm at with it.

Nathan

As it turns out in my car,(after replacing the cyl head temp sender), my oil temp is cool, even on hot days in LA traffic.

As of now I have the stock doghouse cooler and a small outboard oil cooler mounted rear of the trans axel. The electric fan that was on this cooler was non functioning when I bought the car. I removed it and bought a bigger 10 inch fan. I havent put it in because my oil temp seems fine.

My head temp is on the hot side, but very consistent. It seems to run at the 300 degree mark and sit there without much fluctuation. Sometimes on a hot hot day in stop and go traffic it may go up just a sliver, then back down when the car is moving. I have the vdo cyl head temp gauge with 350 at the stright up mark. The sender is on plug #3. I've never hit 350,, hope I dont ever.

I do worry that I am trusting the stock oil temp sender and fuel/temp/idiot window gauge.
Has anyone mounted a second oil temp gauge sender near the remote filter before? Can you connect more than one sender to the gauge? I have a cute 2 gauge mount with my oil pres and cyl head temp right of the pass knee on the floor. I'd rather not add any more gauges.
(Message Edited 10/8/2003 4:04:07 PM)