is a stock 1LE oil cooler from a tpi corvette a good upgrade? is this thing effective?
thanks

 

You should already have one on your 350 engine.

 

Thats a new one 1LE & Corvette being used for the same common part. That must make it cost twice as much, WOW!

 

i don't see one on my motor, i have a 77 vette 355 block, i don't think it has one. is it worth buying the cooler? does it actually work? and does it just like screw on to where the oil filter goes and then the filter goes on the cooler?so it would be like
the block/the cooler/the filter
thanks

 

That's it, it bolts on between the oil filter and block and has engine coolant lines running to and from it to radiator.
Yes it works, yes it's worth it if you run hard, the amount of cooling needed isn't a lot to maintain the proper vescosity or thickness of oil.

 

I have it on my stock engine. I use 0W40 Mobil 1 oil and it seems to flow ok. Not sure how much it helps or hurts.

 

An oil cooler is very worthwhile if you race a lot, tow heavy loads, or even just drive real hard. It'll extend the life of your bearings IMMENSELY.

If you add one to a car that didn't have one stock, DON"T plumb it inline with the heater core. Sure, the lines are the right size, and sure, it's easy that way....but if you do this it will only cool the oil when the heater control valve is open. Put a brass "T" fitting between the head and the ECT sender and run a hose from there to the cooler inlet. Then run a hose from the cooler outlet to the heater return port on the radiator. You can also splice into one of the return hoses (heater hoses that connect to the metal line running up the pass. side subframe rail) with a "T" fitting, but you loose a little flow capacity that way.

 

The Oil Cooler that came with my LT1 has the oil running from the sandwich adaptor to a small radiator looking thing and then back to the sandwich adaptor.

I think this setup is better to cool the engine oil, since they use this method on the 9C1 Cop cars.

 

Manny you're gonna start a debate if you aren't careful.

The pros/cons of a fluid-water vs fluid-air setup are the same as those for the similar intercooler debate. Fluid-air has the potential to cool the oil to a lower tepmerature, but fluid-water is more efficient at removing heat. If you use a big enough cooler, the fluid-air setup (i.e. 9C1 design) will get the oil colder...but will also take up a lot more space. The fluid-water (1LE) system will take up less space, and is better at KEEPING the oil cool, but can't cool it as much (if that's not too confusing.)

 

Well, when I think about the two setups,
how much can the oil be cooled by coolant passing by the oil filter.

The only extra space being used is the small oil cooler that you mount in front of the radiator or the condenser if you have A/C.

do you know any sites that have info between the two types of oil cooling?

 

Having owned both a '92 9C1 and currently an '89 GTA L98, my opinion is Zepher is correct in his observations. My 9C1's oil pressure gauge had far less fluctuation than the GTA when hot. When the engine coolant temp goes up on the L98 in traffic, the oil pressure starts to decrease right along with it. In the 9C1, it made almost no difference, the oil pressure was always much more consistent in similar driving situations.

My conclusion is the fluid to air cooler cools the oil better than the fluid to fluid unit used on the GTA. Just my opinion, guys.