Recommendations For Engine Oil and PS Fluid Coolers
- Thread starter Scouty
- Start date
Michael Mayben
IHPA Tech Moderator - Retired & No Longer Online
The heat exchangers you are referring to are known as "prf" or "parallel flow" design. Some sources refer to 'em as "laminate" or "plate-type" coolers.
Those are the only auxiliary heat exchangers I'd ever consider using. Far more efficient inna much smaller footprint than a tube and fin or serpentine design. Hayden/imperial has several sizes to chose from, but for use in engine oil cooling, a thermostat should be incorporated.
If you are not running an a/c condenser, then I'd "seal" 'em to the air-on face of the radiator to insure all air goes through 'em and none goes around! I believe Craig has done the same with his rig based upon his description.
The prf design is considered to be a "hi-tek" innovation of the mid-80's and is considered to be the premium part in the heat exchanger bizz today. That said...I was shocked to find a prf tranny cooler onna '79 Scout traveler two weeks ago, a factory option! And the mounting bracketry for it is outstanding...unlike the rest of the crapball engineering on IH junkiron! Today I found the part shown in the sii parts list!
The motor and powertrain on the traveler is in excellent/virgin condition, but the body May be beyond redemption. I'm driving it up to the owner's place later this week, I'll convince him to keep the tranny cooler intact if he decides to scrap the rig!
Those are the only auxiliary heat exchangers I'd ever consider using. Far more efficient inna much smaller footprint than a tube and fin or serpentine design. Hayden/imperial has several sizes to chose from, but for use in engine oil cooling, a thermostat should be incorporated.
If you are not running an a/c condenser, then I'd "seal" 'em to the air-on face of the radiator to insure all air goes through 'em and none goes around! I believe Craig has done the same with his rig based upon his description.
The prf design is considered to be a "hi-tek" innovation of the mid-80's and is considered to be the premium part in the heat exchanger bizz today. That said...I was shocked to find a prf tranny cooler onna '79 Scout traveler two weeks ago, a factory option! And the mounting bracketry for it is outstanding...unlike the rest of the crapball engineering on IH junkiron! Today I found the part shown in the sii parts list!
The motor and powertrain on the traveler is in excellent/virgin condition, but the body May be beyond redemption. I'm driving it up to the owner's place later this week, I'll convince him to keep the tranny cooler intact if he decides to scrap the rig!
Craig
Active member
Matt, large heavy tires and equally large rocks means a ps cooler would be top on my list of must do items for sure.
I assume your looking at one of these. I used a stack plate cooler and seal it to the radiator for positve flow at low speeds
As for the oil cooler, I find the oil is not as hot as you might think. Checking with the ir gun I find the oil pan does a nice job of cooling the oil down. If you have room add a finned strap on cooler to the oil filter for like $15.
Is your fan shroud in good shape? Sealing up the edges will make sure your pulling ever last bit of air through the radiator. I would also get rid of the fan clutch on your trail rig as fan clutches run at less then 100% of the water pump speed (I.e. Slippage) can't remember which fan you have, post a pic of your setup. I'm keeping an eye out for a dodge motor home 19" oem fan to add to my cooling collection.
I assume your looking at one of these. I used a stack plate cooler and seal it to the radiator for positve flow at low speeds
As for the oil cooler, I find the oil is not as hot as you might think. Checking with the ir gun I find the oil pan does a nice job of cooling the oil down. If you have room add a finned strap on cooler to the oil filter for like $15.
Is your fan shroud in good shape? Sealing up the edges will make sure your pulling ever last bit of air through the radiator. I would also get rid of the fan clutch on your trail rig as fan clutches run at less then 100% of the water pump speed (I.e. Slippage) can't remember which fan you have, post a pic of your setup. I'm keeping an eye out for a dodge motor home 19" oem fan to add to my cooling collection.
Scouty
Member
Yes, I'm interested in one of those stack plate coolers, where did you get it and how much? Did you mount it to the front of your radiator? I already have a trans cooler there. I'm still running the stock ps system, no ram assist, will that cooler still benefit the system?
My engine runs pretty cool, so I like the idea of the finned strap on cooler where did you get it? No fan clutch on my Scout. I am running a set of Jeff's hood louvers, have a brand new fan shroud, and cut out some of the inner fenders. These mods brought the temp down considerably. Every little bit helps
My engine runs pretty cool, so I like the idea of the finned strap on cooler where did you get it? No fan clutch on my Scout. I am running a set of Jeff's hood louvers, have a brand new fan shroud, and cut out some of the inner fenders. These mods brought the temp down considerably. Every little bit helps
ldo_marlin
Member
Ask Jeff about bm racing coolers . He's a dealer.
Michael Mayben
IHPA Tech Moderator - Retired & No Longer Online
This is the "typical B&M-supply "supercooler". That designation is a prf design:
automatic transmission supercooler rated at 13,000 btu 11"x7-1/2"x3/4"
They still make the oldskool units also, those are for the "budget" market and near worthless in my book. The use of a/c condensers as heat exchangers for oil and tranny creates a problem of it's own...pressure drop is unacceptable. Those units are designed for gas-to-liquid condensing...not a continuous high viscous liquid flow! And any boneyard condenser is gonna be full of black death, compressor fragments, and rust. And...it will be mostly blocked internally, a serpentine or tube fin unit has a single loop pass system, if any of the loop is blocked, then no circulation.
If...your engine cooling system is functioning properly, I see no need for an oil cooler personally. If you put a proper thermo-control on the oil cooler, the cooling system keeps the oil at it's design temp anyway and the cooler will not actually function and will bypass most of the time.
Put on oil temp gauge on and you will see it's not needed.
As for a ps fluid cooler, given the fact that the oem sii ps pumps are inadequate for even a stocker, when ya add all the bells and whistle stuff to 'em (hydra-winch, hydroboost, ram assist steering, etc.), yes...a fluid cooler is imperative, them pumps, even when hotrodded ain't gonna hold up to the heavily increased load with all the active hydraulics.
When mounting a prf heat exchanger to the radiator air-on side, I always seal the unit by using 1/2" wide x 1/2" thick closed cell neoprene "camper tape" around the perimeter.
Mounting a prf tranny cooler and a ps cooler side-by-side on the radiator in this manner actually adds very little heat load to the radiator. But of course, the radiator and all other engine cooling system components must be up to snuff and functional. And the pieces must be mounted within the envelope created by the fan shroud...otherwise, you will have no air flow, even with ram air, due to "stagnation"/reversion.
automatic transmission supercooler rated at 13,000 btu 11"x7-1/2"x3/4"
They still make the oldskool units also, those are for the "budget" market and near worthless in my book. The use of a/c condensers as heat exchangers for oil and tranny creates a problem of it's own...pressure drop is unacceptable. Those units are designed for gas-to-liquid condensing...not a continuous high viscous liquid flow! And any boneyard condenser is gonna be full of black death, compressor fragments, and rust. And...it will be mostly blocked internally, a serpentine or tube fin unit has a single loop pass system, if any of the loop is blocked, then no circulation.
If...your engine cooling system is functioning properly, I see no need for an oil cooler personally. If you put a proper thermo-control on the oil cooler, the cooling system keeps the oil at it's design temp anyway and the cooler will not actually function and will bypass most of the time.
Put on oil temp gauge on and you will see it's not needed.
As for a ps fluid cooler, given the fact that the oem sii ps pumps are inadequate for even a stocker, when ya add all the bells and whistle stuff to 'em (hydra-winch, hydroboost, ram assist steering, etc.), yes...a fluid cooler is imperative, them pumps, even when hotrodded ain't gonna hold up to the heavily increased load with all the active hydraulics.
When mounting a prf heat exchanger to the radiator air-on side, I always seal the unit by using 1/2" wide x 1/2" thick closed cell neoprene "camper tape" around the perimeter.
Mounting a prf tranny cooler and a ps cooler side-by-side on the radiator in this manner actually adds very little heat load to the radiator. But of course, the radiator and all other engine cooling system components must be up to snuff and functional. And the pieces must be mounted within the envelope created by the fan shroud...otherwise, you will have no air flow, even with ram air, due to "stagnation"/reversion.
Attachments
Craig
Active member
yes, I'm interested in one of those stack plate coolers, where did you get it and how much? Did you mount it to the front of your radiator? I already have a trans cooler there. I'm still running the stock ps system, no ram assist, will that cooler still benefit the system? yes
My engine runs pretty cool, so I like the idea of the finned strap on cooler where did you get it? No fan clutch on my Scout. I am running a set of Jeff's hood louvers, have a brand new fan shroud, and cut out some of the inner fenders. These mods brought the temp down considerably. Every little bit helps
I like those louvers, but have not seen them installed yet.
I bought a bm tranny cooler for the ps cooler at tognotti's. There both mounted on rad on one side.
Last edited:
Carl Wiese
Member
I run a cooler similar to this one in the crawler.
With two separate cooling circuits, we run the longer one for transmission and the shorter one for power steering. Never had an over heating problem with either, you can mount it anywhere and use a heat activated or manual switch to turn on and off.
With two separate cooling circuits, we run the longer one for transmission and the shorter one for power steering. Never had an over heating problem with either, you can mount it anywhere and use a heat activated or manual switch to turn on and off.
ihpartschad
IHPA General Manager
I run a cooler similar to this one in the crawler.
With two separate cooling circuits, we run the longer one for transmission and the shorter one for power steering. Never had an over heating problem with either, you can mount it anywhere and use a heat activated or manual switch to turn on and off.
I am running basically the same cooler through the inner fender behind the headlight. Can't seem to find my pictures right now though.
Scouty
Member
ihpartschad
IHPA General Manager
perma-cool 13211 - perma-cool maxi-cool six pass fluid coolers - summitracing.com
Summit. What is different about the cooler shown above is that it is bascilly 2 coolers in 1, May be a better fit for your application. Shop around a little on summit or see if Jeff can get you one like that.
Summit. What is different about the cooler shown above is that it is bascilly 2 coolers in 1, May be a better fit for your application. Shop around a little on summit or see if Jeff can get you one like that.
Craig
Active member
If you have a fan driven cooler I "think" you need to mount it by itself, vs in front of the radiator. I looked a few desert racers and they have some cool (pun intended) looking coolers.
The one guy had 2 super large in-line tube coolers, plus a fan driven cooler like chads for the tranny. ( no power steering on a desert racer) he was also running two temp sensors one on the output and input to the transmission. This way he could see the temp drop across the coolers. Craig johnson who has 35" tires and stock power steering setup found he needed a ps cooler on the con. I think he is just using a the normal tube and fin cooler that has been around forever as they are cheap too.
I looked at getting one of these for my tranny too, but hopefully the viper fan will give the current tranny cooler some boost, will know in a few days once I get my radiator back in
The one guy had 2 super large in-line tube coolers, plus a fan driven cooler like chads for the tranny. ( no power steering on a desert racer) he was also running two temp sensors one on the output and input to the transmission. This way he could see the temp drop across the coolers. Craig johnson who has 35" tires and stock power steering setup found he needed a ps cooler on the con. I think he is just using a the normal tube and fin cooler that has been around forever as they are cheap too.
I looked at getting one of these for my tranny too, but hopefully the viper fan will give the current tranny cooler some boost, will know in a few days once I get my radiator back in
Craig
Active member
I like this setup, where did you get it?
Craig here are the louvers
Did you get a ps cooler installed?
I see you have a hood scoop, how much did the vents help?
What about rain, are they going to let rain water pour all over my engine during the winter?
Craig
Active member
I run a cooler similar to this one in the crawler.
With two separate cooling circuits, we run the longer one for transmission and the shorter one for power steering. Never had an over heating problem with either, you can mount it anywhere and use a heat activated or manual switch to turn on and off.
I found a pic from the rallye last October, what brand is that Chad. I'm looking at moving mine from in front of the radiator off to the side too. But my battery is right where your cooler is. Either I need to move the battery into the fender or to the other side, or put the cooler on the passenger side. But I think chads setup is looking like the "hot" ticket. Carl got a pic of where you mounted the cooler on your crawler?
Last edited:
ihpartschad
IHPA General Manager
I think perma cool???? The link above should say. It is a little more packed in there now.
ihpartschad
IHPA General Manager
Already done. It is infront of the radiator.