Hey everyone so I am new to all this, yes I have looked through the site to find my answer (Not too user friendly lol). So I am wondering if it is necessary to swap to an Aftermarket Oil cooler or swap to anything other than the beehive? My application will be on a Bridgeported 12a Carbed? After looking through Racing Beats tips and what not. They were saying that OEM oil cooler were good for majority of the work, but had suggestions like baffle plate, and oil pressure regulator. What is your guys thoughts, any info will help.

 

The beehive is a great little cooler. I know many will argue it's junk, but my car never gets above 1/4 no matter how hard I run it in the summer with the AC on.
Maybe a track only car needs more, but a daily driver with some mild abuse will be fine.

I did take mine off and clean it and was surprised at how much crap came out, but works like a champ for 5 years.

 

The earlier front-mount design cools better when the car is moving, but does less when you are stuck in traffic. The later Beehive design cannot shed as much heat, but works better "over all", and is why Mazda switched to it. Many modern cars still use this design. Many will argue for the front mount, but my first RX was a bone-stock all-original '85 w/ 112K miles and I drove the snot out of it, and never ever hinted at overheating. I think the general consensus is that for a street driven car, the beehive works fine. For a track car that spends most of it's time at redline, extra cooling might be needed.

 

The beehive is more about emissions and getting the oil and water up to temp quickly and then keeping both at the optimal temp. The 12a is so small it worked fine in conjunction with a larger radiator as a hold over until Mazda could develop an EFI solution.

For performance builds you should consider any of the OEM coolers (S1, GSLSE, FC) as a way to ensure the oil doesn't get too hot when driving hard for extended periods (track days, canyon runs in hot climates). The beehive can't disperse the oil heat fast enough. You'll survive a 20 minute track session, but not much more.

 

So you guys think it will be fine with a nice clean, bridgeported 12a carbed that is street driven but beatin on?

 

The beehive oil cooler will hold up just fine. I would however, recommend a front mount oil cooler from a 79-83 (early build) or from an 84-85 GSL-SE. They are more efficient at speed, but for now the beehive oil cooler would be ok.

 

Beehives have worked just fine for me for 20 years and counting.

 

Alright thanks everyone!