OK i have done searches many times. Nad found alot of useful info but not much pertaining to my perticular needs/setup. Ok in the past few years i have had in the works a turbo weekend warrior track car. Now i am going to be running a mild boosted d16. Under 350 whp most likely ~300whp. Now in my research i have found that d's oil temps run high. And that since they run high and ill be adding heat from a turbo that an oil cooler will be necessasary. So here is my question I am thinkin about mounting my oil cooler between the inter cooler and radiator.... here to be exact

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Now the main question is do i have it tight aginst the intercooler and radiator. Or leave some space but not much unducted or ducted. Im in the testfitting pahse of my build right now and want to get everything ready before hand.

 

Leave space because the fin density is different between the different cores. I wouldn't stack the coolers like that though. It's kind of like having a thicker core, not good for airflow. Can you arrange it so that the oil cooler is above the intercooler? It doesn't have to be in line with direct airflow from the bumper opening. The main mechanism for providing flow across the core is the pressure differential.

That oil cooler is also a bit small I think for a turbo-d track car. You'l need to run some pretty thick oil if you keep it.

 

That will need some space between the rad and the cooler. Vibration is a *****..
You dont want to ruin both of them.
Offset the cooler a bit and see if you can give it more air.

 

Typical 'rule of thumb' for coolers is you run them small to big. The smaller coolers still allow the larger coolers to get 'fresh' air that way, the way you have it the small cooler wouldn't see any 'fresh' air.

Also you do want to stack the coolers on top of each other, any gap/space between them will allow the air to take an easier path and not travel through the next cooler. I've never had the problem either of these guys talks about (fin density difference and vibration), and i've been around a lot of cars with a lot of track time on them.

With small coolers (like 5x6 against a full sized radiator) it isn't a big deal, because the area is very small (this means the area that you lose cooling on.)

 

Agree with everything hatch says. No space between to let air escape regardless of fin differences, and place oil cooler in front of radiator is best. Seal gap with foam tape, and make certain they can't rub against each other.

A ton of good info on this in the Mocal catalog:

http://www.thinkauto.com/plist010106gweb.pdf

From page 8
"Installing an oil cooler
In the case of the air to oil cooler, The oil cooler will only achieve results
where a volume of air is passing through the fins. The amount
of heat dissipated by radiation is negligible. In practice the most
convenient position for the oil cooler is in front of the water radiator
where a flow of air is guaranteed. Even in cases where the water
cooling is marginal, placing the cooler in this position will have
hardly any effect on water temperature. The sheer volume of air
passing through the cooler ensures that the air is only heated a few
degrees; not enough to affect the water radiator performance, and
as the oil cooler is a more efficient device for extracting heat from the
engine, the overall effect is helpful. However, where water cooling is
marginal it is essential that the oil cooler be placed against the water
radiator face, otherwise warmer air leaving the oil cooler will become
turbulent on meeting air at ambient temperatures and will not
pass through the water radiator. If placing of cooler and water radiator
in close proximity is not possible then a duct of cardboard or thin
aluminium should be made to exclude the ambient air. If space is
not available in front of the water radiator due to an electrical fan for
instance, the cooler may be mounted behind the radiator and will
still work well for the reasons already given. In the unlikely event of
an insufficient space being available either behind or in front of the
water radiator, the radiator grille may be moved forward by using
longer screws and spacers. Alternatively oil cooler size holes may
be cut in the forward bulkhead either side of the water radiator and
air from the grille ducted to the cooler. An illustration is given of the
ways in which the cooler may be mounted using our standard universal
brackets.
Mounting on bottom brackets alone will suffice up to 13 row coolers
after that all 4 brackets should be used, a system of spacers and
long bolts tying in all four brackets will spread the load. The weakest
part of the plate type cooler is undoubtedly the brackets, breakage
of which often damages the whole cooler. if fitted to any vehicle that
may be subject to vibration or twisting of the mounting platform,
consideration should be given to abandoning the brackets and
mounting in a cradle, locating with cable ties or an elastic strap
should be sufficient as the hose will provide some restraint. Oil coolers
may be mounted anyway up and are self bleeding, the resistance
to oil flow through the matrix means that tanks will fill up pushing
out the air before the oil flows through."

Pic from the older edition of the Mocal catalog

 

wow great info! ill have to post up some more as this build progresses

 

I had the same problem with mounting my oil-cooler. I have an 89 Prelude turbo. With limited space i had to run my oil-cooler behind the radiator. To help with cooling i have two pusher fans. One is hooked up to the factory temp sensor in the radiator. The other i have on a switch to push air thru the rad and oil-cooler. So far with this heat wave we've been having my oil temps have stayed down. I'll try and get some pic's of my set up.