Oil cooler

[mrcuda]

Anyone here ever use an oil cooler? Tried one on a stock small block a few years ago it seemed to work ok, But that car was never  city driven and tested. I have an external pump on my 440 and dual remote filters, but wondering if I'm going to have enough oil at the bearings. 

[wart1de]

I had one on my 351C for a while. This motor had a standard oil pump and before I had the cooler I would lose a lot of oil pressure when coming to a stop after driving on the highway for a while. Adding the cooler fixed this.

I rebuilt that engine with a high volume pump. Several times with the new motor the oil lines and fittings leaked which dump'd all the oil in the big Milodon sump all over the road. Not fun! After doing that a few times the engine now goes knock knock knock. I've now removed the cooler because of those issues with my setup. With the high volume pump I don't have the oil pressure loss I used to have when pulling off the highway.

If you do a lot of highway driving or circuit racing I would say the cooler would be of benefit but just make sure all your lines and fittings are 100% because you don't want the problems I had. I doubt it would make much difference cruising around the streets.  It's always been a challenge keeping the 351C cool in traffic and I have to say that adding the oil cooler did not appear to help there. If anything, it may have made it worse since the oil cooler blocked off a good portion of the radiator.

I did not notice a great loss in oil pressure with the cooler attached so I don't think you'll have any problems as long as your oil pump is in good condition and you route the lines efficiently. Make sure you have as little turns as possible in your lines. Do not use right angle fittings. If it gets cold where you are located, make sure you use a oil thermostat otherwise in winter your oil will never warm up. I highly recommend an aftermarket oil pressure gauge which is placed in a visable position. This is what saved me from seizing my 351C when the lines sprung a leak.

[tactransman]

I had one on my chally's 360.......hated it. It lowered my oil pressure and I figured out why, the hoses were swelling! If you grabbed the hose with your hand and then started the engine ,you could feel the hoses expand greatly,rev it up and they expanded more. I took it back off and my oil pressure was back to normal. Bad/cheap hoses,I don't know, I think it was a flex-a-lite.  It was 20 years ago.

[moper]

I guess I'm wondering why a cooler has anything to do with oil volume at the bearings. With that big blower, I would have drilled the main feeds oversize, and i would run 1/2 or 3/4 grooved mains, with clearances around .0015, .002 max. Rods could be set a little more lose. A cooler will help the engine run cooler overall, help the oil performa at its best, and keep the temps more consistent under all conditions. It also adds some volume to the system. But it does nothing to pump more oil. That's in the oil pump and pickup.

[mrcuda]

At the pump at idle I have about 80lbs of pressure. When the engine temp is at 200 I have about 30 lbs.

[Aussie Challenger]

  Adapted an oil cooler to my 1970 Dodge 360 a few years back, used the correct lines and put in a remote oil filter. Excellent oil pressure all day even when towing at speed in summer.
Regard the fraud 351, they have enough problems with their bottom ends, a cooler properly installed should help. When I had any in my shop with a few miles on them and weak oil pressure I installed a Nissan oil filter as they have a higher residual pressure relief valve in the filter. I know I should have just let them blow up but it made the customer happy to see a higher number on their oil guage.