As per title, What oil cooler size should i go for ? What sandwhich plates do people use? Was thinking of trying to find one with a thermostat & whcich re-circulates the oil in the engine in case the thermostat sticks. Any one has any idea? As some of you know by my previous psts im building a sunday/trackday 1.8T mk3 hence the ques above. thanks.
same take off plates as listed for mk1/2/3 golfs as it has the same spin off filter set up. From my own set up I have ran the OEM heat exchanger & take off plate, and got high temps, fitted a stat in there got hotter quicker! fitted just the take off plate & deleted the heat exchanged with the stat really went over 120' ( it was a 110 or 120' stat) all my stuff was mocal, apart from the 13 row rad but for a 1.8T slighty bigger might be better - I'd go as large as possible for the space you have to fit
When i was searching for info on this matter i found a ebay item with quite a a little bit of knowladge... Rough guide: a 13 row cooler should be adequate to cool most naturally aspirated engines up to around 150bhp (FOR TRACK USE) given an installation with good airflow, after this a larger cooler will be required - please ask. For road use a 13 row cooler is usually fine for up to approx 200bhp in all but extreme conditions. After this a larger cooler will be required. Exact cooler size required depends upon: the type of use, ambient temperature, spec of the engine (rev range, power, internal friction etc), airflow through the cooler and over the sump. If you are using your car for any form of track, competition or high performance use then the engine oil will need cooling. The most common cause of competition / high performance engine failure is loss of oil pressure, as the oil heats up it becomes thinner. This lowers the pressure produced by the pump and increases the oil escape from the bearings lowering the overall pressure further still. Roughly speaking you need about 10psi of oil pressure per 1000rpm. e.g. 7000rpm requires 70psi oil pressure If the pump cannot meet this demand when the oil is hot/thin engine failure will result - usually in the form of running a crank bearing (death rattle) or throwing a rod through the side of the block! This is especially important on part worn engines - a cooler/thicker oil will give the oil pump a fighting good chance of meeting the demand. On a new or part worn engine if the oil pressure is maintained, the engine isnt over revved or over heated there is no reason for failure. For track, competition or high preformance use a rough target temperature for the oil is around 100degrees C. Over 100C the oil thins out rapidly and therefore drops the pressure. TURBO SYSTEMS WILL ROCKET THE OIL TEMPERATURE. As Crispy says mocal is the brand to look out for... i got one of there sandwich plates with a thermostat built in and plumped it to a small 9 row just to give my water jacket a helping hand when driven hard...
I bought a 19 row Mocal cooler for my 1.8t installation and it was the best thing I did to keep temps under control. The sandwich plate has a temp sensor that opens the valve to flow through the cooler when the oil is hot enough (can't remember the exact temp that it switches). I bought the kit from Burton power and think it was about 120-150 in total.
Thanks for the response, I think i can mange to find space to fit a 19 row cooler as here the climate is much more hotter & engine will be running around 300-350bhp. Looking an the mocal plate i noticed there are no extra feeds for the installation of oil temp & pressure gauge senders how disd you go round this? In case the stat gets stuck, do these plates let the oil in the engine/sump to continue circulating? As i was warned that there are certain plates that in case the stat gets stuck the oil will be blocked leaving the engine runing with no oil.
You can fit a T-piece into one of the positions the oil pressure switches go and an oil pressure sender connects onto that. If the mk3 has an MFA you can Re use sensors I think. Not a 1.8T but will give you an idea.
Not that it helps you much but here's mine on my 20v T4. I still need to tidy up the bumper with some paint and a mesh I think. 19 row oil cooler on the right hand side through the fog light aperture.
If its a mk4 you will have plenty of space for a sandwich plate and make sure it runs a thermostat as my mates greeny has a 19 row and its a 200bhp beat on ITB's and he went cheap and never got the thermostat version and some times struggles to get above 75 unless he is driving it hard so best to get thermostat version that opens at 92 deg. If its a mk2 you wont have the space due to front cross member i would say. I had to fit a remote setup just to enable me to change the filter!!! but i can now run a T4 huge Mahle OC105 filter that nearly holds a ltr and really helps keep temps down with all that extra oil. Sits perfect cruising at 92 most of the time and hits 102 on lots of boost.
And yes it only lets oil flow through cooler when abouve 92 otherwise just flows through filter as normal
You'll have room, the sandwich plate fits fine on my mk2, and I have around 2-3cm gap between the bottom of the oil filter and the front cross member. Unless your car is massively bent / f****d
Thanks for the help , I think all of you went for a mocal sandwich thermo plate? Ill go that route, thermo plate & 19 row cooler as somewhere around 350bhp plus our climate here temps get up very fast. Re; gauge senders i forgot i allready went round that route & they're allready installed like that. (been almost another year sitting appart in the garage, hopefully will be runnig by xmas) Its for a golf mk3.
