Oil temps in my 8v have always been a tad high and after replacing most of the water system I'm now looking at new oil coolers. As a standard genuine oil cooler is around 70 from the stealership I've been looking at going down the Mocal route. I've found a lot of what I needed to know in this thread (http://www.clubgti.com/forum/showthread.php?t=67780) but am struggling to find a suitable place to mount a small 13 row 235mm cooler in the front of my engine bay. - Where is the most suitable place on a big bumper mk2 to mount the cooler? Do they have to be horizontal or can they be vertical? I have seen some mounted in front of the rad but I worry about airflow to the rad then and some mounted down in the bumper recesses. This looks the most suitable place that I've seen but what is it mounted to? (pics courtesy of stu) - Can brackets be supplied or do you have to make your own? - As the car is a daily I'm planning on getting a thermostat sandwich plate - are these worth the extra 20 quid? - I plan on keeping the original cooler in place as I figure it can't do any harm - does the sandwich plate of the Mocal just screw to the base of this like so? If anyone has any pics of external coolers fitted in mk2 bays that would be superb. Sorry for all the questions and thanks for any help
I'm about to purchase a kit for my 20vt next week. Infront of the rad is probably the best place for air flow. If your oil cooler is getting lots of cool air to cool the oil then it wont matter if the rad is partially blocked. Tip I've been given is sandwhich plate - YES - worth the extra 20 - also allows you to add on sensors for guages in most cases (up to 2) Rubber bumps for mounting to subframes or crossmembers as the cooler is not supposed to vibrate too much.
Cheers for the heads up. Drunkenalan, I don't suppose you have a pic do you? Was rummaging around under the bumper today and seems to be a lot of plastic trim in the way.
Sorry to change the thread slightly but what kit have you got for your car? As I have been looking to buy one for my mk2 20v.
I run the sandwich plate and original cooler, as in the first post. You will need a short filter, ala Polo Mk3 otherwise it'll foul the front subframe The Oil Cooler is mounted to the front panel using threaded rod, allowing height adjustment. It is now placed just behind the lower big bumper vents. One thing to note, I'm using a thermostat, which blocks off the cooler until the oil reaches about 80deg, giving it a chance to warm up the block. Over cooling is bad, too Cheers, Grant
dont run the oil - water oe cooler, they are prone with age to popping and allowing the oil and water to mix, not brill.... they were put on there so the water which warms up faster than oil would help raise the temp of the oil to give better protection but the time it comes up is only marginally quicker,....and provided you are good with your engine ie a min or so to idle before driving them allowing it to warm up slowly and not giveing it death untill the oil temps above 50deg..then the oe cooler when the oil was hotter then the water would use the coolant to cool the oil down to 90deg or so.. just run a stat plate and remove the oe cooler, bridge the 2 water pipes, and put the oil cooler out front.. it wont cause any issues, and if it does then you have another problem to look at ie a blocked rad or failing water pump etc. my 20v runs a massive vr6 rad... but 1/2 of its covered by a inter cooler..and mine still runs cool.. mine hasnt got a oil cooler yet bar the oe oil to water one but thats comimg off soon and the oil cooler will be put behind the grill in 1 corner.
Funny... I was just going to post that in a standard engine, the standard system is fine. If the car is running too hot, check the thermostat and flush the radiator. In over 100k miles of VW driving, I've never had one of the standard coolers fail. It's not really that common. I run a standard one, plus a 13 row Mocal on the track car.
i runa mocal thermostatic snadwich plate and the original oil / water cooler and the original filter, as i had one, it wasnt to dificult to get on, What car did the shorter filters come from? I didnt take any pics sorry
I'm adding the mocal set up as I have discussed rad set up on car with previous owner and only reason VR6 rad was not used on my 20vt is because the intercooler outlet pipe obstructed the larger rad from fitting. As my engine is modified with a bigger turbo I'm worried that it will run hotter than standard, mainly when sat in traffic at idle (waiting to enter shows mainly- as its only a sunny day car). I was thinking of going with a 10 row cooler.
....got mine hung vertically in space to the left (looking from front) of the rad on those rubber cotton reel type cheap halfords exhaust mounts that are threaded........i removed the piece of plastic rad cowling and cut a bit extra out of the blanks between the grille slats.......13 row mocal and loads of room for the hoses too
run a adjustable temp switch for the fan mine clicks in at about 98 deg so no worries of over heating, plus if the oil cooler is just sat out front in traffic it wont really be cooling... BUT look at doing something like "mk2 1.8T" has done, his oil cooler is in the engine bay BUT is in a cold air fed corner and fitted with a small spal fan for forced cooling
That's a blast from the past seeing my old Mk2 oil cooler thread & pics again! I made some brackets to mount that one in the aperture of the big bumper, always worked well with the thermostatic sandwich plate. More recently I fitted one to another Mk2, this time a track car and mounted it higher up as this car didn't have A/C or a particularly large radiator. Again, made my own brackets and it worked well with the ABF engine I'd fitted. Used a non thermostat sandwich plate in this case. Pics below:
This is mine in a 16v (with std 16v rad)... I made a couple of ali plates to guide cool air through, and made some L-shaped brackets out of 2mm steel to mount it on some rubber washers (though these were cheap and squashed so weren't very effective). I'm moving to a 8v AC rad and getting a larger oil cooler so going to have to mount it lower down and horizontally, plan to do that this month so will post pics.... Alistair
Great, cheers for all the detailed pics, much appreciated. Plenty of inspiration. Think I'm going to go for the down in the bumper approach like geeteethree's mk2. Threaded rods are a good idea but are they study enough to hold the cooler? Stu - as you've mounted behind the grille this time are you running single headlamps? I might just be being anal but I'm still not keen on obstructing the front of the rad
No, I kept the twin light grille on that car with all lights fitted, there was still room for the cooler to get plenty of air and the oil temps stayed well within limits even on track. The car may well have a single light grille now though as I've since sold it. I never liked mounting oil coolers in front of the rad either hence why I never have, though you do see it a lot and I believe it's fine.
Sorry to bump this thread up again but I'm still researching these and looking to buy one next pay day. Any help appreciated - Where is the cheapest place to buy? - Is a 10 row 235mm enough or is a 13 row recommended? - What size connection thread is needed for a mk2? - Will a standard filter fit or do I def need a shorter one? - Are the braided lines a worthy investment?
