My newly built 1340 (Cheers Rodney) has a 19 row oil cooler. Original it was positioned here:



But I've now moved it to the other side here:



I was concerned the original position meant warm/hot air would be passing over the alternator and into the radiator. The new position means warm/hot air onto the dizzy and clutch housing!

My question is, should I really try and position the oil cooler lower down or do people think it will be ok where it is now or should it be back to its original position?

All opinions, suggestions and comments welcome

Two thoughts.

1) I've seen group N guys put their oil cooler at the radiator end. They seem to cope Ok but I've often wondered about the affect as you've suggested.

2) That's a really big oil cooler. Are you sure you need one that big? Oil that is too cool is a bad thing. I presume is only road use?

Ps nice looking engine bay.

Thank you. Yea road use only but Perth can get pretty hot come summer and the poor old Mini struggles!

Similar to FNQ, gets very hot here and we get the very high humidity too. I did some tests on oil temp some years ago in the middle of summer with std 13 row cooler using a dip stick temp sender and the oil did not get hot enough. So I removed the cooler and never refitted it. This is for road use. I do however make sure the (water) cooling system is optimised, e.g., clean radiator and block, big cast impeller water pump, high efficiency 3 core rad, 180F thermostat and BMC pressurised overflow tank.

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Steve

If you position it lower down you might as well get a 13 row!

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1963 Morris 850 Smoke Grey
1963 Morris 850 Shadow Blue
1965 Morris Mini Smooth Van
1966 Morris Mini Van
1969 Morris Mini Deluxe Resto
5/72 Clubman Gt

If you're marginal on cooling why don't you put an auxiliary radiator in? Disconnect the heater and use that plumbing for a front mounted radiator. In the colder months reconnect the heater core.

An aux radiator does far more for engine cooling than fitting an oil cooler will.
My 13 row cooler has been sitting on the shelf for years since I stopped doing track days.
Oil pressure cruising @ 110 on the freeway is 70psi or more, cooler not needed.
I do have an `aux radiator', it's the original MiniMatic fresh air heater.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

When I raced my speedway cars I found that an oil cooler wasn't necessary , it just caused problems with oil pressure at times especially at idle.I quickly dispensed with the oil cooler after a few meetings and never used one again . As Doc says an auxiliary radiator is of much more benefit , I used a heater core mounted near the front in my speedway Minis and when I started racing Hondas I did the same thing .......

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1965 Morris 850
1966 Morris Mini Minor
1967 Morris Cooper 'S'
1977 Leyland LS

Probably a better way to go, I had previously tried to get a custom made radiator to run along the bottom of the front end, a short but long rad.

I do like the idea of the extra one and a half litres of oil the oil cooler takes just for the extra oil, no real reason just the idea of six litres of oil rather than the four and a half it takes without the cooler! Probably just my OCD kicking in!

Great advise re: oil pressure I didn't think about that one! I've never been the sharpest tool in the shed, just the biggest tool in the shed!

Any one wanna buy an oil cooler with nice shiny oil lines?

A bare Clubby heater core makes a dandy aux rad.
Mount it in front of/above the flywheel housing, next to the dizzy. Fits fine there in a roundnose Mini.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Yep heater cores on a few of mine too, makes a huge difference. You can get custom rads made from the dudes on ebay selling ali rads. I got one made for my supercharged engine $75 custom size delivered to my door.

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1965 Riley Elf
1974 Ex Army Moke
1997 Rover Cooper
2002 JCW Cooper
2003 JCW Cooper S

I have the oil cooler on my 1430cc mounted on the right hand side.
The bonus is it stops water splashing directly onto the dizzy.

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Too many cars, and too little time.