I have a vortech and wanted to add an oil cooler. I planned on mounting it near the washer fluid reservoir to the bottom of my bumper so that it isn't in front of my intercooler. Since most of the cooler will be covered I went a little larger with a 11x7x2 25 row core. This kit does not include a thermostatic sandwich plate. I live in Ohio and only drive this car during the summer (70-100 degree temps).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/251481936103...84.m1439.l2649

I understand this is an ebay kit and many will say that if it's not name brand that it will be complete crap. I have had luck with "cheap" ebay parts with my Megan Racing down pipes that have lasted for years with no issues and my HKS replica exhaust that had no fitment issues and has also lasted for years. I put my money into quality gauges, meth injection, fuel injectors, EMS, a tune by Forged Performance etc. I mainly wanted to just add this to keep the temps down as I feel my supercharger adds a bit of heat and my oil pan spacer may not be enough. The sandwich plate also added a port that I can use as an oil feed line to my Vortech as I am not a fan of the T- Fitting off the oil pressure sending unit that Vortech uses, it seems fragile and I was always worried about something hitting it and breaking it off. So am I being a complete dumbass here by going with this kit or has anyone else had a good experience with a similar "off brand ebay" kit? Any input on the size pertaining to pressure drop would be much appreciated too. From the research I have done on this it always seems like everything ends up being inconclusive.

 

I bought a cheap sandwich plate off ebay. I used o-ring from injectors to seal the extra ports that were not being used.

I would say ebay cooler is fine, but get a better plate(this is coming from the guy who turboed his car for less than $2000) so I'm cheap

 

i run a cxracing core and its just fine.

just use decent lines and fittings as thats where the problems usually arise with leaks

 

Do you have an oil temp gauge? I didn't have one yet before I put my oil cooled on and was curious of what the temps w/out the cooler was at if anyone knew. Supposedly reduces temps 20-30+ degrees or so...

 

Thanks deadeye and str8dum for the input, I will check out the sandwich plate and lines to see if they look solid and replace if necessary. Taywan, I don't have an oil temp gauge currently. I just figure with a supercharger it is a good idea and I needed a better source for my oil feed line. If I was n/a I think it would be overkill and may actually run too cool. I see you are FI too so I'm sure you did the right thing by adding one. 20-25 deg temp drops is what I have heard too.

 

I would not trust off-brand AN fittings and hoses, as stated earlier they are the first to leak... Or no-name sandwich adapters. My best advice would be to piece together your own kit... Mocal/Greddy sandwich plate, Russel/Earl's fittings/hoses, Setrab oil cooler core, and make your own mounts out of aluminum stock... You pay for quality. Just my .02

 

Like has been said I would upgrade the fittings. I built my own oil cooler setup following the DIY that is on this site. Except I used the cheaper fittings. They leaked and I spent more for fittings from Russel.

 

http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/product/10989/OilCoolerKits they have good kits and you can choose thermastic plate and not break the bank

 

oil coolers add a bit of oil capacity, albeit not much
i run a shrouded fan on mine.. a jegs thermostatic controller for the fan.. unit is a mishimoto.
Im buying a reasonable ebay cooler for my daily when we boost it this winter.. no problem. No reason not to put one on any car that gets driven decently hard.

 

I had an oil temp gauge on mine before and after my oil cooler and I saw an average of 20 degree difference in temp. I could see it cooling down even more depending on the right placement and how much air flow going through it.

 

Did you end up buying this?

 

Ya of course I'm sure the placement on vehicle for air flow would make the difference. Cool and thanks. What are your temps now and what kind of weather do you have at your location??

 

I live in south mississippi so temps are pretty hot and humid all the time. Normal operating temp and cruising temp is 180, which is what my sandwich plate is set at to circulate. In bumper to bumper traffic I see about 195-205 and hard driving like tracking and drifting I see up to 220