To run a stock oil cooler or aftermarket with a fan?

[craigman]

Fellas,
Putting together a type 3 engine and getting ready to mount the stock oil cooler, and was looking and it sure seems like the cooler would reduce a lot of the airflow to cylinder 3.
What are your opinions on eliminating it and running a external cooler with a fan and thermostat? Something i should mention is i live in Northern California and we regularly see temps of 115* in the summer so that is a major concern. (Reason for thinking about removing the stock cooler)
Anyways I always appreciate others opinions!

[Cusser]

I don't have a Type 3, but I'm in Phoenix so we see plenty of 115F. If your engine is stock, I'd say your stock oil cooler will do the job.

If you have a larger, more powerful engine, consider using both stock and a thermostat-controlled external oil cooler.
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1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297

[Dusty1]

VW's Type 3 engines were the first to get "high performance" parts. They got dual carbs back when they were single ports. They got dual ports in '67, years before Type 1 got dual ports. And... they got the big oil cooler years before the same oil cooler showed up on Type 1 on an "adapter". That's right, the "doghouse" style cooler was originally a Type 3 part.

It worked properly then so it should work properly now.

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"May you live an interesting life."

[94touring]

I'm not a type 3 guy but that's what I do on a type 1, it's far from stock though fwiw.

[petrol punk]

I live in Vegas and commute in my air cooleds year around. My 36hp only has a stock oil cooler and it has never ran hot. I added an external cooler to my dual carb 1835cc because oil temps broke 220*. For my new 1835cc I'm building it's going to be much closer to stock, and so I will be opting for no auxiliary oil cooler. I think it will be fine, I imagine you should be fine as well if you have a mild engine and all the tin is in place.
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36hp '56 European DeLuxe oval
'70 bug 1835cc

[94touring]

Unless any of you run a CHT under #3 you're just guessing at what hot is. On my type 1 #3 runs the hottest even with the stock cooler removed and with the latest and greatest shrouds that are supposed to deliver pretty equal air distribution. While running it stock probably does work just fine, if you're looking to have less wear and tear from heat on the 3-4 side and are inclined to go external cooler, I see no downside to it. Maybe it saves the engine on a 120 degree day under some unusual load scenario or gets you another 10k miles on that cylinder head over the life of the engine.