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Oil cooler mounted on steering rack?

Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 2:24 pm
by deviant
I am looking at the Flyin Miata oil cooler kit which is mounted on the steering rack. Does anybody have any experience with the kit or can offer any comment?

http://www.flyinmiata.com/index.php?dep ... %201990-93

Re: Oil cooler mounted on steering rack?

Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 3:02 pm
by manga_blue
I've had my undertray ripped off twice by going backwards through kitty litter. I've removed rocks and clay from as high as the top of the inlet manifold after going infield at Barbagello.

Re: Oil cooler mounted on steering rack?

Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 4:39 pm
by deviant
Thats my fear to. My car does not have an undertray at all. It does look to be angled and does not sit proud of the underside of the car but I wonder what would happend if I buried the car up to the floor in a sandtrap.

I am looking at this because the price is reasonable and I am not happy with the oil cooler on my car, it sits in the nose of the car hanging off the bottom of the intercooler well and truly exposed to airflow and does not have a thermostat. It does not seem to pick up any damage from flying stones and the like but on the road it takes a rediculous amount of time to get heat in to the oil and if I remember rightly the temp does not get above something like 70 degrees. On track it will sit on around 100 degrees but when I come off the track it will climb to 120.

Re: Oil cooler mounted on steering rack?

Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 5:03 pm
by rascal
deviant wrote:Thats my fear to. My car does not have an undertray at all. It does look to be angled and does not sit proud of the underside of the car but I wonder what would happend if I buried the car up to the floor in a sandtrap.

I am looking at this because the price is reasonable and I am not happy with the oil cooler on my car, it sits in the nose of the car hanging off the bottom of the intercooler well and truly exposed to airflow and does not have a thermostat. It does not seem to pick up any damage from flying stones and the like but on the road it takes a rediculous amount of time to get heat in to the oil and if I remember rightly the temp does not get above something like 70 degrees. On track it will sit on around 100 degrees but when I come off the track it will climb to 120.

Why not just add a thermostat to your existing cooler setup.
You say it doesnt get damaged by stones and does the job, except takes forever to warm up, which a thermostat would fix.
Seems overkill to buy a whole new cooler setup, just to gain a thermostat over your current setup.

Re: Oil cooler mounted on steering rack?

Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 6:37 pm
by deviant
Long story but...

My car has an AVO turbo kit on it that appears to have been designed only for a car with AC....the oil cooler is mounted to the intercooler and the intercooler was mounted to the AC heat exchanger. I have ditched the AC so now the oil cooler and intercooler are hanging on a single tab and supported only by the intercooler pipes.

I need to organise some better mounting system for the intercooler but I think it will be easier without the oil cooler hanging on it and adding weight to it.

Re: Oil cooler mounted on steering rack?

Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 10:57 pm
by Kain
Any reason you can't fab up some meaty brackets to hold them both?

Re: Oil cooler mounted on steering rack?

Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 9:17 pm
by deviant
Kain wrote:Any reason you can't fab up some meaty brackets to hold them both?


I have fingers of butter and fists of ham. Anything that involves something more than removing a part from the box and installing it as per the instructions usually ends with blood loss and a misshapen bit of metal that doesn't fit :lol:

Davex3 wrote:
rascal wrote:Why not just add a thermostat to your existing cooler setup.
You say it doesnt get damaged by stones and does the job, except takes forever to warm up, which a thermostat would fix.
Seems overkill to buy a whole new cooler setup, just to gain a thermostat over your current setup.


Exactly what i was thinking. Mocal do a nice unit with thermostat, FM sell one with some fittings.

http://www.flyinmiata.com/index.php?deptid=4533&parentid=0&stocknumber=04-37310%20%201990-93


I did not spot that before, thanks for the link.