Hey everyone i work at Uhual and i saw we carry and install tranny oil coolers. i own a fd3s and my oil cooler has alot if not most of the fins bent. so my question is can i use these oil coolers for my motor instead of on a tranny in which they were made for. also i only have one oil cooler on my car, i was also wonderin if i can use these if i can dual them and how hard will it be.

 

30% of a rotarys engine cooling is through the oil. If you can't straighten the fins, replace it with an oem one. Tranny coolers will not reject enough of the heat load, nor handle the flow required.

 

I still don't know how 30% of cooling can be achieved with an oil cooler that is a fraction of the size of the radiator...

As for a tranny cooler being suitable, it is hard to tell since there are may sizes and types.

Heat transfer can be achieved with several cooler designs.

Has anyone ever measured the inlet/outlet temps across an oil cooler? Any Idea what the flow rate of the oil through the cooler is?
Q = m x Cp (T1-T2)

 

When I search this forum using 'oil cooler heat' , search finds NOTHING. poor search engine or what???

 

RX-7 oil coolers are one( if not the best) of the best OEM coolers out there. It is not as simple as it seems.Flow carictoristics are designed around the cooler. The best best for you is a FC oil cooler. Is is easy to find at a yard, and they are huge!!!! The FC oil cooler is VERY HARD TO BEAT!!!!! One cooler will be more that enough to be safe. Some Fc/fd's that are highly modded use 2 coolers. The FD R1/R2 models came with 2 from the factory, but if you measure the FD cooler you will see that 1 FC cooler is damn near the same as 2 FD coolers. Hope this helps ya out!!!

 

Aftermarket is awesome. I am going to get one of thes from A-spec and have seen them in person they are a monster. Also the 2nd gen one is big put you would be putting more time and effort into finding the proper fittings then it may be worth.

Also a auto tran cooler will take the pressure. An auto trans has a higher line pressure then any oilling system. Like the aftermarket ones use earls coolers the B&M ones are large as well but same as the 2nd gen cooler you will need to find the right fittings. You dont find alot of mm to an adapters far as I know earls has the most and you will need there book to order the right ones.

 

I learned that oil is prayed onto the inside of the rotors for cooling, and that the front pan on the GSL-SE is important to direct air across the front mount cooler. And that it does provide significantly (30%) to the cooling.

 

oil cooling is more important w the rotary v the piston engine. mazda knew what they were doing when the added a second cooler to the r1/2.

of course cooling in general is more important w the rotary. egts in proper tune pre turbo should run 1640 f at max power v a piston engine at 1320 f.

i am currently in the middle of upgrading to a two cooler setup on my fd.

i came upon a non r1 fd oil cooler and am in the process of adapting it to the passenger side. i will need 4 adapter fittings 2 that will screw into the pass side cooler and one into the driver's side cooler. they will adapt the 21 or 22 mm cooler to dash 8 lines. i will then need 4 (probably) 90 degree dash 8 fittings and some braided hose. i don't think i will use stainless braided as it chafes things. the lines are out of site for you bling peeps... i then need an adapter at the block and maybe a 120 degree fitting.

total cost should be around $150 for the fittings and hose.

the cooler has 3 mounting brackets which will need to be removed and re-indexed to fit the passenger side. interestingly the non r1/2 fd chassis has all the studs and threaded holes to accept the r1 passenger side cooler in place. i will take the cooler to a radiator shop and they will remount the brackets. approx $50

straightening the fins is an easy job, actually good therapy w a pick set.

i will then use some sheet aluminum and modify the driver's side duct to fit.

max cost around $200 not including the oil cooler.

fd oil coolers are around $30 on our classifieds as most people apparently haven't yet connected the dots as to them being easy to be adapted.

a final detail will be stainless steel mesh at the nose so i don't have to restraighten the fins.

howard coleman

 

you can get a LOT better cooler for a LOT cheaper!