In the continued preperation for up coming track days, I decided to install an oil cooler. I figured an oil cooler would be cheap insurance at extending engine life. I looked at all the oil coolers that were available and decided to put my own setup together. The problem I found with the ones that came ready for the 350Z were that they were small, expensive, and with the intercooler, they were hard to mount in an area in the grill that would receive air flow. Here are the parts:

1. Earls 16 Row oil Cooler-#21610ERL
2. Mocal Thermostatically controlled sandwhich plate-#SP1FT
3. 10' of -10an Aeroquip Socketless Hose-#FCV1010
4. -10an to 1/2" fitting x2-#220047 (These are the blue fittings in the Sandwhich plate.)
5. 90 degree -10an socketless fitting x4-FBM1534 (2 on the oil cooler, 2 connected to the fittings on the sandwhich plate)
6. Teflon tape at all connections.
I bought all of this from Summit Racing except for the sandwhich plate. I found it at Racer Parts Wholesale.

Here's a picture of where I mounted the oil cooler. I wasn't able to mount it the way I wanted to, so here was my second choice. Working around the intercooler makes options tough. It is mounted at an angle to hopefully catch air coming in through our small grill and direct it over the majority of the cooler.


Here's a picture of the Mocal sandwich plate with the necessary fittings.

The finished product. 90% of the oil cooler gets direct airflow through the grill. Earls oil cooler installed using (2) 90 degree fittings. -10an Aeroquip hose connected. Although you don't have to use hose clamps on socketless hose, I did anyways since I had them laying around. Call it peace of mind.


Mocal sandwhich plate with hose connected. Once again I added hose clamps. I routed both hoses through the plastic shield near the winshield wiper fluid container.




Before this install took place, a friend and I getto rigged an oil temperature gauge to my car. We went for some VERY spirited driving and noted oil temperatures of 230 degrees. This was last weekend when the temperatures outside were 90 degrees. 10w-40 Synthetic oil used.

After install, same getto rigged oil temperature gauge installed, we took the car for the same drive. Outside temperature were about 95 today. New 10w-40 synthetic oil. Oil temperatures were in the 200-205 range, max. Seems like the oil cooler works well. I did have to add an extra 1/2 quart of oil and will check it again later. More may be needed. I'll just have to watch and see.

I wish I could take credit for an original idea, but I had a lot of help from 350Zteve. I PM'd him numerous times in regards to the install. He was extremely helpful. You can find his post here:
http://www.my350z.com/forum/showthre...cooler+install

 

Nice work!
How much did all those parts run you?

 

Less than $300 and it seems to work extremely well. You can even do it cheaper than that if you were to use a non-thermostatically controlled sandwhich plate such as an Earls and regular 5/8" hose. I think that part number is 517.

 

Setup looks good. What bumper and turbo kit are you running with?

 

Stock bumper, Procharger SC.

 

looks nice

 

I like it. But it was my understanding that with all fluid coolers you want the fittings facing up or to the side to prevent air from getting trapped in the cooler.

 

I've heard this as well, and that it doesn't matter. I'm no expert so I really can't say. With the limited space thats available, my options were limited. Could air be trapped in there? Yes. But if there is, it can't be much because it worked like a champ.

 

Nice work, and cant argue with results