I picked up an oil cooler installation kit from Summit, and it looks like it should work well, but I'm wondering about one thing:

 

At minimum, the oil will have to travel an additional 6 to 8 feet before reaching the engine at startup. Now, it does have a thermostatic bypass in the sandwich adapter, but the entire system will have to get pressurized before any oil goes to the bearings and stuff, and that could take a while. I'm not too worried about it during the summer, when the oil will be pretty thin upon startup, but when it gets down to minus 10 or 20, it could take a while to pump the oil through there. I am running Mobil 1 synthetic, which in tests I have conducted flows a TON better than Castrol GTX (my dino oil of choice), so that will help, but I'm still worried that my engine might see a lot of extra wear that would offset the benefits of cooler oil.

 

I know that some people on here have installed similar setups on their cars (cough, WJM, cough), and I'm wondering what your experiences have been. Have you noticed an increase in the time before your o/p gauge rises, especially when it's cold out?

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

i think that with the anti drain back valve on the oil filter...and the mounting location of the cooler core and routing of the lines....aka LOW....it should be a non issue. My first design i had the T-stat adapter like I was selling and that Folgers is now selling...and I had the cooler down basically where the air dam is on an RX. The lines and cooler were practically at the same level as the oil pan, not any higher at all except for the lines at the adapter. The wagon never had a pres guage on it...so I dont know....

 

As for version 2....I had the core behind the grille, a remote filter mounting kit, the filter was sitting in the space where the airbox was, and a non-t-stat adapter on the engine. Im sure that there was about a 1~3 second delya for the rest of the engine to get oil when really cold, but I didnt worry about it when it was aboive 20*F. After all, a synthetic will stay on the parts and protect it longer than dino.....Id keep the cooler and lines running as low as possible, avoid elevating it above the oil pump/top of the oil pan if at all possible.

I did a bit of research before I installed my cooler. the best thing you can do is install the cooler with the inlet and outlet facing up. that way it will bleed out air and stay full when the car is shut off. I only have the Idiot light on the dash but it goes out instantly when the motor is started. I did check it with a guage when I first installed it and had no problem then either.

 

just a side note the OEM subaru filter does not seal well on the adaptor I used. the wix, napa ect are just fine.

I did a bit of research before I installed my cooler. the best thing you can do is install the cooler with the inlet and outlet facing up. that way it will bleed out air and stay full when the car is shut off. I only have the Idiot light on the dash but it goes out instantly when the motor is started. I did check it with a guage when I first installed it and had no problem then either.

 

just a side note the OEM subaru filter does not seal well on the adaptor I used. the wix, napa ect are just fine.

 

Hrm, I just bought a case of OEM filters..... Hopefully the adapter I got likes them a little better.

 

Thanks for the help guys! Sounds like low is the way to go. I don't want it out front since the car is an offroader, but I bet I could mount a smallish cooler next to the frame rail on the passenger side. Of course the airflow would be diminished, but the cooler that came with the kit is way oversized for an EA82, so it might work out well in that spot.