Rotary Car Club - View Single Post - ?'s about TII coolant flow & oil cooler flow/relocation...

nitronatefc · 07-04-2008, 10:51 AM

After a little more research, and due to lack of response, I am going to experiment a little bit. I am going to slightly lower my oil cooler and mount it upside down. I will be reversing the oil cooler lines as well to maintain stockish oil flow path through the unit. The "Why?" behind all this is to facilitate installation of my aftermarket radiator. Flipping the cooler will create a flat upward facing edge so that the radiator can sit virtually right on top of it. Due to the original location of the oil inlet, there would have been a near 2in gap due to the 90 degree fitting. This would have forced the oil cooler to be mounted that much lower as well, which is not acceptable.

On a side note, one of my mechanic buddies was surprised that the original flow path through the oil cooler went top to bottom. He said most other applications he has seen runs the oil through from bottom to top. He cited something about oil staying in the cooler a little longer, and so the system can work out any air that gets introduced. Was he rockin' the ganja, or does he have a point? I only ask, because I am curious if I NEED to swap the lines going to the cooler once it's flipped.

My 2nd potential experiment involves the heater core coolant return line. The radiator I am using doesn't have a nipple on the outlet for the coolant return from the heater. I could fab a nipple off of a short piece of pipe to jumper into this location. I have another idea however...

I am going to "T" the line coming out of the heater core and split the coolant return. One will go to the nipple on the back of the waterpump housing (currently blocked due to no emissions/ TB mod). The other will go to the nipple for the stock turbo's coolant return (swapping to oil-only turbocharger). I feel two lines are necessary due to the reduction in size from the heater outlet to these two inlets. My only concern is that the combined area of these two return ports is still less than the area of the original heater return line. Unless this creates some sort of excess pressure in the core, or detrimentally slows coolant flow, I see no problems going this route.

07-04-2008, 10:51 AM	#2
nitronatefc less roof, more turbo... Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Stevens Point, WI Posts: 25 Rep Power: 0	After a little more research, and due to lack of response, I am going to experiment a little bit. I am going to slightly lower my oil cooler and mount it upside down. I will be reversing the oil cooler lines as well to maintain stockish oil flow path through the unit. The "Why?" behind all this is to facilitate installation of my aftermarket radiator. Flipping the cooler will create a flat upward facing edge so that the radiator can sit virtually right on top of it. Due to the original location of the oil inlet, there would have been a near 2in gap due to the 90 degree fitting. This would have forced the oil cooler to be mounted that much lower as well, which is not acceptable. On a side note, one of my mechanic buddies was surprised that the original flow path through the oil cooler went top to bottom. He said most other applications he has seen runs the oil through from bottom to top. He cited something about oil staying in the cooler a little longer, and so the system can work out any air that gets introduced. Was he rockin' the ganja, or does he have a point? I only ask, because I am curious if I NEED to swap the lines going to the cooler once it's flipped. My 2nd potential experiment involves the heater core coolant return line. The radiator I am using doesn't have a nipple on the outlet for the coolant return from the heater. I could fab a nipple off of a short piece of pipe to jumper into this location. I have another idea however... I am going to "T" the line coming out of the heater core and split the coolant return. One will go to the nipple on the back of the waterpump housing (currently blocked due to no emissions/ TB mod). The other will go to the nipple for the stock turbo's coolant return (swapping to oil-only turbocharger). I feel two lines are necessary due to the reduction in size from the heater outlet to these two inlets. My only concern is that the combined area of these two return ports is still less than the area of the original heater return line. Unless this creates some sort of excess pressure in the core, or detrimentally slows coolant flow, I see no problems going this route.