Hi guys,

I am completing my turbo built with a built 1.6 motor and a g25-550 with a lowmount kraken kit with an external wastegate.

I’ve installed a sandwich plate for the oil cooler and a oil temp and pressure sensor.

im looking into oil coolers (oil to air) and I find them quite bulky, I was wondering if running a oil to water cooler wouldn’t be nicer in terms of packaging, I can just place it wherever I want, and there is no need for a thermostat in that system, and it will help getting the oil up to temp quicker.

i know it will put more strain on the coolant system but I’m running a aftermarket alu radiator with the re-route kit.

the car is mostly street driven with occasional trackdays.

anyway I haven’t seen it yet and I do not deem myself a genius so there has to be a reason why it’s not common practice.

im curious what you guys think

cheers!

 

Look up Laminova. Maruha has a Miata-specific solution using one of their exchangers, and a member here was using one. I also have one at hand to be installed along my new engine at some point.

 

I may be the person Harry is thinking of. Not Maruha though, I used a Laminova from BAT on my racecar. VERY happy with it, as much for the heating as the cooling. Plumbed between the outlet of the rad and the mixing manifold, see photo - excuse the grubby chassis .

My atmo 8000rpm race engine was meant to be coddled until the oil reached 80*c, and on a winter morning that was impossible. After installing the Laminova, the oil temp would rise with the coolant temp, lagging it by maybe 10*, but reaching 80* readily ready to go racing.

The issue with these is that the oil heat is transferred to the coolant, meaning that temperature regulation/heat dissipation is totally dependent on the efficacy of your radiator. Radiator ducting to ensure all air entering nose goes through the radiator is a prerequisite, and more radiator cooling capacity is highly desirable in hot climates. I raced in ~40* temperatures without issues with an ebay alloy radiator, but long races in traffic, especially in hotter temperatures might test the system. I'd go straight to a dual pass crossflow in that situation.

I have a more sophisticated one on the shelf, a twin core short body, but with the turbo packaging is more difficult and I have gone with a traditional oil cooler for the RGM.

In thinking about the placement/plumbing, you need to be cognisant of your oil operating temperature, and for oil cooling (as opposed to heating) you are looking for coolant that is as low temperature as you can conveniently find - this is not the coolant exiting your re-route. Not only will it be less suitable for cooling the oil, any heat transferred to the coolant will push the already very hot coolant even higher. Using post-radiator coolant enhances the cooling capacity, and while it put heat into the coolant the thermostat regulates the post-engine coolant temp to ensure that it does not get too hot. If it can't do that, your radiator has insufficient cooling capacity and needs to be upgraded.

This discussion is for an engine that is tracked, a street car places less demand on oil cooling, and some of the above measures will be unnecessary. I have mentioned them here for completeness.



Laminova heat exchanger MX5 racecar