I recently decided to give my oil cooler a nice cleaning. the previous owner had a "premium" maaco paint job on the car and they decided not to cover up the oil cooler. Needless to say, more than half the oil cooler was covered with primer, base, and clear. In addition to that, half of the fin on the oil cooler was bend in to the point with no air passage. I went with some paint stripper to remove all the paint on the surface of the oil cooler and manually straightened all the fins with a nail file. My question now is if it is necessary to paint the oil cooler black again. i've seen products like "radiator black paint" is this necessary. thanks in advance!

 

I'm a no picture no care type of person so.. here we go..

 

I'd get rid of the single oil-cooler and upgrade to a dual oil cooler setup.

 

would love to, but not possible with my funds right now. i just want to increase the cooling capacity of the current oil cooler. any suggestions? leave it bare aluminum or do a light coat of black? i only ask because i read black paint helps dissipate the heat better.

Currently i have a oem metal type radiator, RE-A SMIC, VIS MS style vented hood and modified stock intake.

 

There is a shop in Arlington (Dallas) that refurbishes them. It's an aviation shop so you know that there stuff is legit. Not sure of the name, you could do a search here on the forum. Hope that that helps.

 

While there have been some tests to back that up, with such a small unit the heat dissipation difference is not going to be that great. I would paint it, but mainly to help protect the surface.

 

the difference is minimal with the correct paint yes, but it is more noticable with the incorrect paint. most tests were done with high heat conductive paint, ie radiator paint which is extremely thin.

if it were me i'd leave it bare, since it is a single cooler it needs all the help it can get.

for those who aren't looking to break the bank with dual coolers just look up Howard's writeup for stock dual cooler setup which can be done for less than $300. but that is only necessary for track cars or large single setups.

 

Nice DINAN badge btw.

 

Thanks for the responses fellas! i'll leave the oil cooler bare. I skimmed over the thread about two oem oil coolers but my car doesn't see track duty. Just wanted to know if there were more to it about the black paint. I wanted to help keep the heat down since I live in Texas. Car has been seeing higher than normal water temps but I'm hoping straightening the fins and taking of the paint will help with the oil temps/water temps.


I've already flushed the coolant system and have around a 80:20:: distilled:coolant ratio and 1 bottle of redline water wetter. I guess since I have the bumper off i'll do some ducting work. I've noticed that when driving around 70-80mph my PFC indicates my water temp going higher, then when i get down to 40-50 mph my water temp lowers. Chucks already dealt with some tuning for me and dialed the fan to start spinning at 85. Freaking Houston heat!

Thanks theorie, that's my other F.D. (financial diaster) 2001 M5 Dinan stage 1 suspension, exhaust, intake, and tune. Basically, the family car, (at least the reason I told my wife why I wanted the car) Once I'm done tickering with the RX7 I'll be saving up for a S/C for my M5

old picture, I have a new CF powerdome hood on it now

 

I agree, with other poster to send to the fort worth oil cooler repair center. I forget the name but you should be able to find under my name. The retore fins, clean internals, pressure test and paint with thermal dispersing paint ... They look better than new for a good price and with quick turn around.

 

^ Is this the same one? American Cooler.com I have seen their work and the results are awesome.

 

Yeah, that name sounds right! Great work and reasonable prices