best oil coolers ? help

pyrrhus17

I am ready to get a oil cooler . What are the best ones out there ? Does it make a difference ? what about these Racing Oil Cooler Kits
are these Good ? They seem so much cheaper than the named brands ?

Guard Dad

The info that I've seen indicates that the Tru-cool units don't transfer heat as well as the units from Z-1 and Stillen, consequently you would need a bigger cooler to get the same results. I've been checking out coolers on-line and I've decided (just my opinion) that right now Z-1 Motorsports has the best kit for joe-average because it seems to have the cleanest installation and is composed of quality parts. The Stillen kit is very good as well and if they had a sale or promotion going I would consider it too.

FL 4Motion

+1 check sig, went with a Z1 unit here and couldn't be happier

UTAMAV

There are tons of discussions about this on the forum. Plenty of folks have posted install and reviews...I'd suggest you just browse or search the forum. You'll get some good info from there.

Good Luck!

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| Agency Power Ti CBE | Stillen G3 CAI | Z1 Motorsport Wheel Spacers | Bridgestone Pole Position Tires |

Casey@AEperformance

It also depends on what you are looking to do with the car. We bought 3 kits for our 370z and none of them could make it around the track more than a lap or two before the car went into limp mode from oil temp.

So we had to develop our own kit, and we still get complaints that our kit is a lot more than others. But we always explain that if you are tracking your car (or even spirited street driving), going into limp mode after two or three laps instead of on the first lap isn't worth the money for a cheaper kit. You might as well not buy one at all.

So I would suggest first figuring out what you want to use the car for, then find a solution that has been verified to actually work.

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Brazilbro

I plan to get the ae kit when I get mine. I hope it's enough for a tt z on the track

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Juke AWD/240Z SR20
08 Evo 10(Stage 2) SOLD
Fastest Sport 6spd 370Z 11.8 @126.5SOLD

Casey@AEperformance

Thanks!

Yeah, we don't have the kit on a FI application as of yet, but we are going to FI on our silver car and we are confident that it is going to be sufficent. We have had our white car out at Spring Mountain in the 110º Nevada Desert Heat and it lasted the entire day.

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henry0844

I for one have been very happy with my Stillen 19 row street kit. warmup is not bad at all but I only street my car with some spirited driving. have not had my temps go up above 220 even in 107 deg temps. I agree with everyone that u should think about how u want to use the car and go from there.

roy'sz

I got mine from Nissan and it has been a headache trying to get the fittings to mount up with the mocal. Save yourself the headache and get the kit from Z1 Motorsports. It is easy to install the kit. Maybe half a day if you are a decent mechanic and take your time. Whatever you decide to get make sure it is a thermostatic controlled kit.

Casey@AEperformance

Thermostatic kits are not always necessary. They are there to make sure your oil gets up to temp quickly, as it can be just as bad if your oil is too cold vs. too hot. With certain applications a Tstat is the only way to accomplish that, but not for the 370's.

Slow warm up time is a common problem for oil cooler kits that use long horizontal rows. It takes the oil a lot longer to circulate back to the engine and in turn takes a lot longer for the oil to heat up. The oil is also physically in the core for a longer period of time which slows down the warm up process significantly as well.

Unfortunately the 370z's need a hefty amount of oil cooling, which in turn means big cores. Before we built our kit, we tried 3 different aftermarket kits (19row, 25row, 34row) and with the 25 and 34 we experienced slow warm up, and with all three we were unable to get more than 2-3 laps before we hit limp mode. But that doesn't mean you need a thermostatic kit. The Setrab 72 row core we use in our kit, utilizes vertical rows, which completely eliminates the issues that cause the slow/limited warm up. The oil isn't in the core as long and it circulates much faster which get's the car up to temp very quickly. We have kits on customer cars in very cold areas and we have had great feedback on warm up times even in extreme cold conditions.

The way we think about it is that it works better to utilize a core that works with the car (if possible), instead of trying to band-aid a core that doesn't quite work properly for the application. It also eliminates the need for additional parts and as most have experianced, with more parts, there's more things that can go wrong. That problem is also heavily exacerbated when you are going to the track as well.

So that's why we developed our kit for the people who want a tested reliable solution, that works great both on the track and on the street.

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roy'sz

So you mean to tell me my 34 row cooler from Setrab takes longer to warm up than your 72 row? Im not too sure on that one. I think you guys are using a different sandwich plate adapter. I looked at your kit and it looks really clean +1. But not too sure on the vertical vs horizontal flow. Also what degree is your thermo adapter set for?

Casey@AEperformance

Definitely not what I am saying, haha, and we don't use a thermo adaptor. I am saying that our kit warms up quickly as well, but without the aid of a thermo adaptor. It doesn't really matter which is faster, it only matters that your oil gets up to temp quickly enough to not adversely effect your motor.

In your case, your car get's up to temp quickly enough and your oil temps stay cool on your canyon runs, so your kit works for you.

In our case, our car went into limp mode before we could turn three laps on the track with a 34 row core. So we needed something more and that's why we developed our kit. It get's up to temp quickly enough and it lasts all day on the track, which is what we needed.

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ChrisSlicks

It works about 90% good enough for me. If the ambient temp is low enough it keeps everything in check, but on hot days in the midday sun I'm still hitting 280 after 10 minutes of driving on track.

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Hotchkis ARB | Stillen CAI | Art Pipes | Berk CBE | Stillen AP Racing Brakes | AE Performance Oil Cooler | BC Racing ER Coilovers | Doran Control Arms

kchu221

central 20 oil cooler!

pyrrhus17

I will be doing autoX and some track driving .My car now easily hits 240 temp with just some spirited driving . I may FI but that is down the road . I really want to learn how to drive my car ! ( track ) but the oil temps prevent that right now. once around the track before overheating will only get me wanting to trade her in .