Oil radiator installation. Possible troubleshooting solutions?

[FerrisBFW]

I can get it to 92d for £25, 102d is going to cost £100+, plus new hoses c£100

Mocal Thermostatic Oil Sandwich plate Service Kit from Merlin Motorsport

Mocal oil sandwich plate with integral thermostat service kit. A repair kit for the OTSP1 thermostatic oil sandwich plate.

www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk

 

[FerrisBFW]

I wonder if Redhead will supply a sandwich plate? I will ask.

Options are: 1 buy a Redhead sandwich plate (swp) if possible? 2. Buy a HEL swp rated to 102, and maybe change orientation of pipework?, or 3 just change thermostat in my Mocal swp to a HEL 102?

Pipework currently heads to the left/OS of the engine bay, then drops down and heads to the right/NS. I will look at routing up and then over, then down to the NS as there is a lot more room, but still maintaining access to the filter is key. Maybe one each way is better?

 

[Cog Head]

Mr. Postman has been and dropped off some more goodies

HEL inline thermostat with a 102ºC thermostat fitted (interchangeable if neccessary)
2x M22 - AN-10 fittings, the fittings that come with the cooler are plain alloy, I perfect to keep to one colour... my OCD took over
2x AN-10 pipework couplers to keep things neat and ties back away from the fans as space is a premium with all the Aux heater pipework going on down there.



Now I need to make sure the Forge take off plate actually fits, though at first look it doesn't look promising, so that may have to go back, HEL do one, but again, not sure if that will fit.
The other way is to use the oil filter adapter to convert to a spin off filter, which will allow my to use a sandwich plate, as highlighted above with the 90º outlets, with integrated thermostat, this will keeps thing even tidier with less pipework and less joints (potential point of failure).

What do you think?

 

[Richard T6.1]

I wonder if Redhead will supply a sandwich plate? I will ask.

Hope so but I expect they only sell the complete kit - from their perspective to ensure their products function properly (I would do the same tbo). The last time I had email contact with them they only communicated in German so google translate might be your friend.

 

[FerrisBFW]

Hope so but I expect they only sell the complete kit - from their perspective to ensure their products function properly (I would do the same tbo). The last time I had email contact with them they only communicated in German so google translate might be your friend.

Its is so tight down there I am going to look at all the HEL swp options to work out the best route of pipework first.

 

[FerrisBFW]

Mr. Postman has been and dropped off some more goodies

HEL inline thermostat with a 102ºC thermostat fitted (interchangeable if neccessary)
2x M22 - AN-10 fittings, the fittings that come with the cooler are plain alloy, I perfect to keep to one colour... my OCD took over
2x AN-10 pipework couplers to keep things neat and ties back away from the fans as space is a premium with all the Aux heater pipework going on down there.

View attachment 285843

Now I need to make sure the Forge take off plate actually fits, though at first look it doesn't look promising, so that may have to go back, HEL do one, but again, not sure if that will fit.
The other way is to use the oil filter adapter to convert to a spin off filter, which will allow my to use a sandwich plate, as highlighted above with the 90º outlets, with integrated thermostat, this will keeps thing even tidier with less pipework and less joints (potential point of failure).

What do you think?

any thoughts on the route your pipes will run, Red'thingy send a pipe each way dont they? How thick are your HEL pipes? This will aid my decision

 

[Cog Head]

I've not started the pipework yet, I will be sending one out each way (Left & Right), I think I'll probable fit them to the back of the fan cowering with big black cable ties and ensure nothing can touch any part of the engine to prevent chaffing.

I'm STILL waiting for my new intake manifold from LLL Parts, as soon as I have that, I'll be able to get on with it.
I think I'll whip the factory oil cooler off today to see if the forge part fits or not, I don't think it will, but I need to check, then I'll know if I need to go down the route of oil filter adapters.

the forge and HEL take off plates are pretty much identical

 

[Cog Head]

I wonder if Redhead will supply a sandwich plate? I will ask.

You can buy the take off plate only from wagner & Bar-Tec

Bar-Tec take off plate
Wagner Tuning take off plate

 

[Cog Head]

I can confirm the forge take off plate does not fit



Back to the drawing board

Looks like the take off plate and thermostat will be going back, with the recovered costs, I can either go down the bar-Tec route or convert to a spinoff filter and use a sandwich plate from HEL

 

[Cog Head]

I think I’ve found a winner!

Grotty old oil cooler from my van, that great fixing was a bit of a challenge.


Potential match, it’s from darkside developments

 

[Cog Head]

Ooooo... Shiny

I really hope this fits!
I'll head out now to check.

 

[Cog Head]

Hooray it fits!!!

Side by side


Placed over the two locator pins, all fixing holes, coolant passage and oil outlets line up perfectly.


I can see how much head room I have to play with, I can now mock up the oil lines, find a spot for the T'stat to live and order the additional fittings required.
only minor downside to the take off plate is the outlet bosses are AN-8, all of my fittings are AN-10, not a major problem as I've got some AN-10 to AN-8 ORB Male to male adapters in my HEL basket


Next question then...
Engine oil flow diagram? I've found a coolant diagram, but the engine oil diagram evades me, the thermostat need to be fitting on the "flow" Side of the circuit

 

[Cog Head]

Sorted it!

Red if flow, from the centre of the oil filter.
Blue is return, to the outside of the oil filter.

 

[FerrisBFW]

I have found I can change the thermostat from 80 to 102 for £15. I am just deciding whether do that and test or just go for a HEL 102 swp like this, and route the hoses the other way (above the gearbox where there is a void) where there is more room and then avoid rubbing on something?

 

[Marc R]

I have found I can change the thermostat from 80 to 102 for £15. I am just deciding whether do that and test or just go for a HEL 102 swp like this, and route the hoses the other way (above the gearbox where there is a void) where there is more room and then avoid rubbing on something?

View attachment 286279

This looks like a very nice piece of kit, if my oilcooler keeps oil temp too low then ill definitely buy this one in the 92c version (thats the sweet spot imho)

 

[Cog Head]

The beauty of the HEL unit is, you can swap the thermostat within the unit, I have a 102 fitted, and a 92 on the box in case it doesn’t cool enough for me, the inline thermostat will be mounted up near the battery so I can swap it out without dropping the oil.

I made some real progress with getting the van back together last night, new intake manifold is fitted, EGR delete kit is complete, most of the coolant lines are refitted, just waiting on a new set of oil cooler take off plate seals to be delivered (hopefully today) then I can get the rad pack re-fitted and start working out the oil lines and cooler mounting

Thermostat will be mounted on the side of the battery housing, probably on rubber silent blocks to stand it off slightly and de-couple it from the bodywork.





this is probably how it will look once fitted




Intake manifold fitted and torques up



Darkside dev EGR delete kit fitted.
There’s a huge void to the right ah d side of the engine block, this is where the oil lines from the take off plate will be routed.

 

[Richard T6.1]

That looks like really good progress @Cog Head.

I would be really surprised if the 102 turns out to be too high as this temp allows the engine to reach full operating temp before the cooler joins te party.

Is the 102 fully open or the start of the opening?

 

[Cog Head]

That looks like really good progress @Cog Head.

I would be really surprised if the 102 turns out to be too high as this temp allows the engine to reach full operating temp before the cooler joins te party.

Is the 102 fully open or the start of the opening?

Thanks
I spent an hour yesterday removing hard to get to bolts & screws, brushing copper grease on and re-fitting, I broke a lot of fixings when I was stripping it down, which took a lot of time to extract, hopefully my future self will appreciate my efforts.

Yeah, I agree, 102 should be perfect, but I’m going to add the 92 ‘stat to the vans bits box just incase we end up towing our 2 tonne caravan through a 40 degree Spanish heatwave.

I’m not sure if it starts opening at 102 or is fully open at 102, I’ll fire over an email to enquire, hopefully it starts opening at 102 to help the engine warm up faster.

 

[FerrisBFW]

Its the size of the hoses and the lack of flexibility thats an issue i am finding.

 

[Cog Head]

Its the size of the hoses and the lack of flexibility thats an issue i am finding.

What size hoses do you have?
I have AN-10 nylon braided rubber, they’re pretty flexible, obviously you don’t want to kink them, but you can give them some abuse.
The ends can be a pig to make off nicely though.

I’ve had a reply from HEL about the thermostats.
Screenshot attached.



It would be helpful to know what the specified / designed working temperature range is, we can then match the stat to suit, even the 92 will off gas & evaporate any fuel or coolant that finds itself in the engine oil.