Me and Andy (another fd owner) decided to get our oil coolers fixed up and cleaned buy a company that Carlos Iglesias suggested many years ago. That original info can be found here: http://www.scuderiaciriani.com/rx7/o..._cleaning.html

The companies info:
American Cooler Service, Inc
921 W. Mayfield RD. Suite 136
Arlington, TX 76015
817.419.8008
http://www.airsport.com/mrknklrv.htm

So we sent over our oil coolers and I was really looking forward to getting them fixed up since mine were totally beaten up (track car) and all the fins on the front were bent up.

We got them back to day and they look fantastic, .... i mean like new. All the fins are straight (dunno how the hell they did that on mine) and they are coated with some nice thermal-transfer-whatever stuff. Eveything about this deal was very professional. The return packaging was very good, each cooler was wrapped in plastic bags, then wrapped in this foam, then floated in a wall of foam peanuts.

Each cooler came with a detailed information sheet on what was done, the tech who did it, what was found during the cleaning flushing (if there was debris found in the coolers during the flush, et, et), any damaged fins, ....it was very impressive.

It was $125 per cooler to have them fix the fins, flush the cooler, check the thermostat, coat them with their magic coating and do whatever else they do in between all those steps (hehehe). And each one is like art work now.

Note: I am not inito coating cooling cores (ic, oil, radiator, et) becaue I dont want somthign that would inhibit thermal transfer, however, the coating they use supposedly good for this and heck, if the airplanes use it, then its good enough for my car (heheheh)

Now for the pics:

Here is the set of 4 coolers we sent them, notice each comes with its own data sheet:


a close up of cooler with a 'zoom' in on fins:


another of the cooler


hey man, this shizzy is now FAA approved!!!



here is a bad pic of the cooler before it went off to get fixed up:

 

Wow...an interesting option for someone that has the cash to do it!

 

..or rather and interesting option for someone who does NOT have the cash to get new ones ;-)

(just a different perspective for you...hehehe)

 

Just FYI, if I remember correctly the alodyne coating was $50 extra, so if you just want the coolers cleaned/straighted/painted with the thermal paint it would be significantly cheaper.

 

Wow, I am very impressed with how well they came out.

Not doing it might cost you a lot more cash if your car sees extreme conditions (track). It costs less than replacing the stock coolers or doing a custom oil cooler setup, which are the other alternatives.

-Max

 

exaclty what max said was what i was thinking :-)

 

So how long did it take??

 

That looks fabulous! Looks professional indeed.

In fact, looking at the before and after pics... it's almost magic.

Thanks for sharing that with all of us.

David

 

Damain,


How long did it take from when you sent them off til you got them returned? BTW, they look fantastic!

Thanks.

 

a few weeks maybe? ask GooRoo, he remembers things like that better than me :-)


oops, Andy just told me, Dec 22 we sent them out... so that pretty dam good conidering they were done over the holidays!!!

 

Thanks!

 

nice man

 

Good to see some of the old "corporate knowledge" is still around and being used!

BTW, that's an even nicer job than what I got originally. They were professional back then, and obviously continue to inprove their service. Do you know if they still offer the X-Ray service as an option?

 

What goes into pulling the coolers? I don't think it could hurt to do the same while my injectors are being cleaned.

Edit=My bad, cooler. Not coolers for me.

 

Carlos, I didn't ask about the X-Ray service. Thanks for the original information.

 

i am not sure on if you need to take the nose off or not, you may be able to get to it from under the car, I took mine off when the nose was already off so i cant say for sure. other than that its pretty easy, just a few bolts hold it to a mounting bracket, then disconnect the oil lines to it, they are held on by a spring clip

 

yeah Carlos, thanks for finding this cooler cleanign place way back in the day.

 

I think you can reach it from the fenderwell if you pull the wheel well liner off. Problem is you'll probably break a clip or two doing so.

 

Damn, I'm sending mine off right now. I just bought a set of r1 coolers in rough shape. We'll see if they can work their magic on these, which look a bit rougher than damian's.

I just got off the phone with the tech there, he seems very nice and knowledgeable.

 

As an update, I got my coolers back from service from this same company. I bought the set from a forum member off a lightly wrecked car...however they arrived to me in rough condition, with 60% of the fins on each cooler bent in such a way that no air could flow through, and some of the tanks were even bent significantly. Here's what I had to deal with.









I paid the aforementioned $125 per cooler plus shipping for their service as described above. THey actually repaired the fins and the cooler tanks well beyond what I expected in my wildest dreams. You can't tell they're not new without a thorough inspection...they are still slightly bent, but perfectly useable now, whereas I wouldnt have used them on a corolla beforehand.

 

they look great....

 

i need to do this to my coolers....... they look great.

 

this is such a cool thread I thought I'd bring it back from the grave

 

wow I have a set of R1 coolers alos for my touring... I'm sending them before installing them!

 

how much did you pay for your R1 oil coolers, if you don't mind me asking? I'm looking for a set