I've talked with numerous off-road racers who agree the RX-7 oil cooler was
one of the finest ever designed.  It's rugged, free-flowing, and cheap at
junkyards ($25.)  I had one mounted on a stroked 2 litre type 1 motor
running in a Thing a few years ago and couldn't  get it to overheat despite
towing a 1500lb trailer from Los Angeles to Montana at 70mph.  The RX-7 puts
out gobs of heat and is prone to warpage under extreme conditions, so the
Maxda engineers had to come up with something that perform adequately no
matter what.
Anyone who thinks the stock VW oil-cooler is adequete is just FULL OF BEANS,
as evidenced by the fact that VW oil pressure tends to plummet to
dangerously low levels when the engine is hot.  (Thats why so many of you
experience flickering oil pressure lights when the engine has been run hard
for short periods of time.)   Charles is right, buy one of these monster
coolers and plumb an in-line oil thermostat between the engine and cooler to
keep the oil at 180 or so, and forget it.
M. Thoma
-----Original Message-----
From: charles fladger <thefladge@YAHOO.COM>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Date: Thursday, May 13, 1999 5:32 PM
Subject: The Ultimate Oil Cooler

>Vanagon List:
>
>With Summer on the way, everyone is asking about keeping their oil
>cool.  If you have already checked your timing, compression and
>fuel/air mixture here is a suggestion.
>
>I have found that the massive oil cooler used in the Mazda RX7 is
>perfect for cooling down the hottest engine.  I used one in my Corvair
>two years ago and it dropped the average temp by about 50 degrees.  I
>bought the cooler at a local junk yard for $12.00.
>
>Since it uses some strange metric fittings not available in my hick
>town, I retapped it for 3/8 pipe thread.  I mounted it just ahead of
>the transmission where it gets plenty of air flow.
>
>Make sure to also keep your stock cooler and I would recommend using an
>oil thermostat for fast warm-ups.
>
>C.F.
>
>
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