Oil Cooler, Anyone install one? Where?

[vwdmc16]

Ive noticed in these summer months after a 30 minute cruise on the interstate my oil pressure goes down half a notch and at a gas station checking the oil its really hot, 215' +

So in the interest of increasing reliability and oil life i want to install an oil cooler. if any of you have installed one where did you mount it? on the frame with a scoop? in the pontoon, other.... im gathering placement ideas. any old articles in Delorean world mags?i have a collection of coolers from 5x23x3" to a 12x6x2

[Bitsyncmaster]

How do you plan to get the oil moving through the cooler? I guess you could just have an orifice to limit the pressure drop from the oil sender and just dump it back into the oil pan.

It's a lot of work to plumb and install a cooler. I did it for the fuel tank.

[DMCMW Dave]

Typically an oil cooler is a large spacer between the oil filter and the block. I've never seen one on a DeLorean.

The factory sort of made an accomodation for this application by increasing the capacity to 7 quarts and putting fins all over the oil pan, in the Volvo app the capacity is 5 quarts and the pan is stamped steel.

[content22207]

Actually Volvo's PRV oil capacity is 7 quarts as well:
VolvoOilCapacity.jpg
You are correct that the oil pan and lower block casting are shaped differently.

Bill Robertson
#5939

[DMCMW Dave]

I was basing it on the fact that I had one in here and it took 5 quarts, so there may have been other applications. The pan was notably shallower. It's also very apparent that the DMC oil pickup has an added-on spacer to drop the pickup about an inch from whatever it was originally designed for.

[content22207]

Perhaps the engine you worked on wasn't North American spec?

That scan was from a 1983 B28F manual. This is from a 1978 B27F manual:
B27F_OilCapacity.jpg
Unless Volvo changed oil pans in the interim, it seems reasonable to assume that North American oil capacity remained constant.

BTW: Did you notice the reduction in viscosity specs? Volvo eventually concluded that the 20W50 was too thick and caused oil delivery problems.

Bill Robertson
#5939

[DMCMW Dave]

Perhaps the engine you worked on wasn't North American spec?

I have no idea. It was certainly here in North America, installed in a DeLorean. But neither I nor the owner knew where it came from. But I doubt some DPO imported an engine to save a few bucks.

[content22207]

Are you sure the engine was Volvo? When I bought #5939 it had been re-engined with a Euro-spec Renault block (Z7V). Some fellow in Ohio was importing them in the 1990's and marketing them to DeLorean owners with melted OEM blocks. He advertised in the back of DeLorean World magazine.

(#5939's Renault block had a DeLorean lower casting and oil pan transferred to it, so I don't know from first hand experience what the Z7V oil capacity is).

Bill Robertson
#5939

[vwdmc16]

back to the discussion, where to mount the heat exchanger

[Dangermouse]

When nullset did his frame off on 2930 (see the Freeside threads in the SEDOC group area for pictures) he found an oil cooler attached to the front of the AC condenser, which is in turn mounted to the radiator.

However it was felt that this was too far away from the engine to be very effective. It is an AT btw.