Oil thermostats Mocal vs Earls vs Perma-Cool?
 

Well I need a oil cooler thermostat for one of my projects and as always I turn to pro's here for advice. :D
Most folks on here use the Mocal with great success. However I've known of a couple that have failed and it's the most costly of the bunch.

The Earl's is cheaper, but requires fittings to AN adapters which add to the cost.

The Perma-Cool is the cheapest and can be found at Summit but also requires adapters and I'm unsure of the quality as I've never known anyone to use it.

Mocal

Earl's

Perma-Cool

Thoughts? I think anyone of them would probably wouldl do the job just fine, but I wanted to feedback before purchasing.

I would go with the Mocal unit....mine has worked great for 2 years. You won't have to mess with fittings either. And the Permacool's openings are way too small.

I think Max, and one other forum member (Trevor maybe) had Mocal failures. That shouldn't be happening with a $100 thermostat.
Perma-Cool also makes a -10 AN version.
http://www.perma-cool.com/Catalog/Cat_page14.html
I think 1/2" NPT is a little small, but don't think it would be much of a problem.

Me? Since I'm going with a Mocal oil cooler, I'm also going to use their thermostat. No real reason aside from the place I bought them from only had Mocal t-stats.

What fittings are the oil cooler you are going to use? IMO, I would try to get a t-stat with similar fittings as it usually cost a little more for the fittings that have to convert sizes/types.

I don't really think any of those are going to be better or worse. I would just make sure you can get easy to deal with fittings.

I'm going to be using a Setrab or Earls oil cooler with -10 AN fittings. I'm trying to find a place that sells the -10 AN Perma-Cool thermostat and get a price quote. I'll probably end going with the Mocal, becuase that's what I had in mind and that seems the be the stat of choice. (Still concerned about the few failures I've read about on the forum)
Even though 1/2" NPT is smaller than what I want, if I went with that setup and purchased NPT-AN fittings, I would still be saving over $40 vs purchasing the Mocal!
:squint:

1/2" is too small for oil passages IMO. I would not use the 1/2" NPT version.

Okay it looks like the Perma-Cool -10 AN version doens't really exist. Mocal it is. So who's got the best price and service?

The place you linked, Racer Parts Wholesale, is pretty good on both counts.

I think I got my replacement from RPW.

My failure may have really been an installation issue. It could have been that it was plumbed wrong -- it is easy to get it mixed up. But I wasn't smart enough to pay attention to how it was plumbed when I removed the old unit, so I am not sure if it was plumbed correctly or not. I am certain that my oil was too hot before the replacement was installed, and nice and cool afterward. I've had a Mocal thermostat in the car for 6+ years. I don't worry about it failing (it would be easy to see on the oil temp gauge).

-Max

I've had a Mocal for almost 3 years and it sticks randomly, usually in cold weather.

Only time in hot weather, the damn thing stuck when trying to evacuate during the hurricane Katrina. First time I got in traffic, oil temp kept climbing. At 215-F, I turned around and drove for a couple of miles and it cleared up. For the remaning 11 hours of the ride to Mobile (usually a 2-1/2 hr. drive) oil and evans coolant stayed between 175 and 185-F.

I recommend an oil temp gauge to those installing aftermarket set-ups. I've got a replacement Mocal but have been too busy and lazy to change it. When I looked at the other readily available thermostats, they looked the same as the Mocal. Many of the coolers from different manufacturers, look identical.

Jack

I've had good service many times from Racer Parts Wholesale and that's where I bought he replacement.

Is anyone running dual 34 row mocal oil coolers? The same ones sold by RPW

There is a guy on here, username is Trevor, that is running the dual 34-row Earls coolers from Rotary Extreme. He races and drives the car in 110F+ heat. In more moderate temps, there is ZERO reason for installing coolers that big. You are just spending more money and hanging more unnecessary weight off the front end for 99% of conditions. The dual 25-row is adequate for even road racing up to 100-105F heat.

Sure. But why would you want to overkill something so much?
Just do a search on "Rotary Extreme Oil Cooler kit" and see what comes up.