eny one hear of this? http://www.injectedperformance.com/V...ct.aspx?ID=145 its a oil cooler that cools with water. enyone use or know if it works well for high HP rotarys? thanks

 

Why add weight and complexity when dual stock coolers are adequate for any street use, and dual 19 to 25-row aftermarket coolers are adequate for any track use?

 

How are you going to get rid of the heat you transfer to the water? Two little radators where the oil coolers go? It's hard to beat the overall efficiency of an oil to air cooler.

 

well i had never heard of them before so i was wanting to know a little bit about it thats all.

 

Good find.. but I think its not worth the money and definitely not worth replacing current oil coolers for.

 

If the water radiator(s) have the cooling capacity, water-to-oil coolers have a couple of advantages over air-to-oil coolers (mostly in piston engines):

1. When the engine is cold, the water heats warms up more quickly than the oil and brings the oil more quickly to a proper operating temperature.
2. When the oil is hotter than the water, an oil-water cooler maintains a more constant oil temperature, relatively near that of the water.

However, in the FD, (a) the stock cooling system doesn't have enough capacity to also cool the oil, and (b) the oil is heated up rapidly by circulating through the rotors, so oil-to-water cooling is not as advantageous as it is in a piston engine.

I use a "donut" oil-water heat exchanger (mounts between the oil filter and the block) in my Formula Continental.

 

I've never seen one of those.. Do you happen to have a pic?? Did it work and did it have a thermostat of some kind? I guess it doesn't matter since it was on a race car.

 

Here's a picture of one...

It's held to the block by a hollow stud that the filter then screws onto.

The side you see in the pic is where the filter seats. The other side has a gasket arrangement similar to what's on the filter.

The two pipes are the water connections (5/8" heater hose, IIRC).

I don't use a separate thermostat for the oil, nor does the unit contain one. The water temperature IS controlled by a 180F thermostat, and that controls the oil temperature at ~200-230F, depending on the water temperature present.

 

Most sportbikes have been using liquid-cooled oil coolers for some time.

If the cooling system has the capacity and capability to deal with the additional heat, the advantages over air-cooling are numerous, not the least of which every heat exchanger that you expose to the airflow creates aerodynamic drag. Unfortunately, the FD's cooling system cannot afford any additional heat loads...

 

Also, some 1st gens had water to oil coolers. I think they were notoriously problematic, moreso because of a design flaw with the metal pipes running to it. Similar design to what's pictured above.

Good idea, but just not worthwhile on this application.

Dale