356 oil cooler

[gimmesomeshelter]

Hello-

If you're interested in 356 oil coolers, you may want to follow this thread: http://porsche356registry.org/356talk/1/24802.html?p=112130#p112130

Tom is testing several oil coolers, and hopefully, will be posting the results on a month or so. I believe he'll be testing a stock VW cooler, an aluminum cooler from NLA Parts, an aluminum cooler from CSP, and a stock late model Porsche cooler.

Here's some sales data from the people who market their cooler through CSP.

Thanks,

Paul
_________________
"I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned."

Richard Feynman

[Snort]

I'm just thinking out loud on this one, I have literally zero experience in mechanical engineering, metallurgy or any of the sciences needed to design engine components, so don't take this as any kind of authoritative challenge to what's been posted already.

I read the CSP blurb about heavy oil coolers cracking cases; maybe that's a problem with Porsche, but I've never heard about it being a problem with VW. Perhaps with an off-road motor it might be an issue but I can't imagine a steel vs. aluminum oil cooler filled with oil would be significantly different in their case cracking abilities. Is this really a problem?

And that chart looks nice and all, but consider the source, they are trying to sell a $529 oil cooler which I am sure works just fine, but without seeing their testing method used by an independent source, I would be hesitant to use that data to choose something other than a stock oil cooler. And they're testing it for 356 motors with 356 fan shrouds, right?

CSP also talks about the best airflow possible, better than stock. It looks like they are using a six row aluminum design with fins between the tubes to increase the surface area. VW in-shroud oil coolers have eight rows by four rows of steel tubes with no extra fins. I can see how CSP design might give you less oil pressure drop with similar or better airflow and heat rejection, but when VW changed to this type of 'radiator' design, they also redesigned the fan shroud and made it an out-house. I wonder how installing this type of oil cooler into a 36hp fan shroud will change the airflow characteristics. Have you read discussion on the other forums about DTM fan shrouds and reproducing Thing fan shrouds, and internal deflector designs and people trying to improve or even equal the factory design to fan shrouds? Highly speculative to say the least, and again where is the independent testing?

Paul, thanks for the link to the 356 site, I knew it was out there but until now I never had any inspiration to really read through it and learn something relevant to my Bug.

[gimmesomeshelter]

Hello-

Keep in mind that the late model 356 cooler was a real beast; I think it weighed over 2 lbs.

As for the whole issue of independent testing, Tom Perazzo is testing some coolers, and I hope to see his results in the next month or so. Will Mittelbach sent me a spreadsheet with some data he he collected. If I'm reading it correctly, it confirms he sales data from the cooler maker.

I'm interested in the CSP cooler because they make reference to better air flow to cylinders 3 and 4. They way I drive, I don't think I'll ever have problems with oil temps, but it would be nice if I could find an oil cooler (on eBay ) that would even out my head temps.

Paul
_________________
"I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned."

Richard Feynman

[Louis]

i use a oil cooler typer berh on my last Okrasa and i had to bang the thin in the shroud to make it fit.
was easy and worked well.
some people say they its not good to use them because you should have some flow on the top of the filter but when you look at a picture of a stock one. they are pretty snug.

they worked well and cooled well.

cheers!

Louis

[Thomas Pedigo]

How can a 2lb+ oil cooler crack a case? I cannot even wrap my brain around that logic.
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Defying conventional wisdom since 1970

[AlteWagen]

I think if the cooler does touch the shroud the vibration would be transmitted to the oil cooler mounting areas. Vibration will fatigue the mounts quickly.

Does the 356 cooler hit the shroud on any of the applications?

[Wolfgang1]

Hi,

please note, if you decline oil temperatures with a better internal oil cooler, you raise head/cylinder temperatures for 3rd and 4th cylinder....

Wolfgang
_________________
Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car. Oversteer is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall. Torque is how far you take the wall with you.

[Cosmoschmogul]

[finster]

[Cosmoschmogul]