has anybody here used one of the replacement look alike under $100.00 oil coolers that are being sold on ebay right now? These are the coolers that are said to have 30% more cooling and to me look identical to the stock cooler. Same placement of in and outs.
Also anyone use the racing beat oil cooler lines? If yes what adapters are required and how are they?
thanks

 

You need to make sure whichever cooler you get has an internal temperature thermostat or add an external one. If you have a beehive, going FMOC can help. If you already have a FMOS and it isn't broke I'd keep it unless you want to spend the money to get something that suits your needs.

Here is my setup. I made my own lines. Everything all together was around $500.
I used a rotary-work oil cooler and added an Earls external oil temp thermostat

 

Look at RB's site... Adapters needed I think are 3 M16x1.0 and 1 M18x???. The RB website has them listed. I found them on Ebay.

 

i've never used an aftermarket cooler so far, and honestly, i have no intentions to ever do so.

i have used the RB lines though. they are great. no issues. as 350xfire mentioned, you'll need 4 adapters in total.

 

If you do go aftermarket, get a cooler that has -10AN fittings. This way you only need the adapters for the engine (2).

 

I've seen those coolers, and I have concerns:
1. No thermostat (as was already mentioned)
2. Not clear if the cooler tubes have internal turbulators (I think the OEM coolers have those)
3. The OEM cooler has 3 tubes on the upstream path and 4 on the return path. The aftermarket cooler has 3 and 3.

All and all, I think it's better to get a used OEM cooler. If you can't get the cooler made for your car, adapting an FC cooler isn't that hard. I'm going that route right now on my 12A NA car.

 

Good advice. I wouldn't trust a cooler unless it was made with a rotary in mind.

 

agreed.

 

Yep, the rotary does a lot of its cooling through the oil cooler. Be careful what you replace it
with. Make sure it cools and flows to the same specs and as mentioned has the temp thermostat.

The RB lines are well made and work great. Get the lines and the fittings for almost the same
cost as NOS stock lines. Good deal.

 

I used a generic off eBay trans cooler for $20.

-AN lines made in my garage from pieces bought off summit racing about $30 and a $14 nine inch electric fan. Works perfect. Oil temp is never over temp

 

I am looking at one of those to put in our ChumpCar, obviously I won’t need a thermostat but I am wondering how those will hold up. Right now it is pretty much a wash buying one of these or a used second gen cooler since if I buy the second gen I will have to get 2 90° -10 hose ends which will be $50 just for the hose ends.

 

If you get a generic cooler, make sure the volume is the same or for a track car even bigger. Many of these trans coolers are much smaller.

I like to use Red Horse AN fittings. They don't cost as much as the Earls. Just to give you an idea, my complete setup was $500. Most of my fittings are Earl's. Wish I would have know about Red Horse sooner.

 

The coolers we are talking about are not a generic cooler, they are pretty much a Chinese copy of a GSL-SE oil cooler. The big question is how the quality is, having an oil cooler fail on track is not something anybody wants to deal with. I had an Aeroquip pushlock hose blow off the first time we took the car out and the instant it lost oil pressure I spun like a top.