Crackership

I was under my car the other day while re-tensioning my timing belt and I noticed that both of the lines to my oil cooler were swelling and weeping. After seeing what new ones cost, I looked around here for other solutions, and I came across the RX7 oil cooler option, and it looks like a great alternative, but I have some questions about the setup that search has been unable to answer in the level of detail I'm looking for, so I figure I'll ask and see if anyone has the answers I'm looking for. I really can't afford to have my car down for too long, so I really need to have my ducks in a row before I dig in.

First, and possibly most important question: Is this a worthy upgrade for a street (and occasional lapping day) driven car? Keep in mind that my end goal is to have something on the exciting side of 350rwhp, but I'm not there yet.

Second question: will the RX7 oil cooler set-up fit without interfering with the A/C?

Third: What, if any modifications to the RX7 oil cooler are necessary to make it work?

Fourth: What are the requirements for the new lines that must be made? Length, fittings, adapters, and any other details...

Fifth: Anything else to consider that I may not be aware of?

Search has gotten bits and pieces of this answered for me, but I'd really like to have the confidence that I have the whole picture and everything I need on hand and ready before I put her up on stands.

Thanks in advance,

-Dave

mazdaverx7

Dave, when you are considering the RX-7 oil cooler, note that the oil coolers are different between 79-82, 84-85 GSL-SE, and the 86-91 series and each has its own different mounting points and oil cooler line angle location. i have one of each of the SA and FB series that i can take and post pics for you if you'd like.

doabarrelroll

I just did this on my car, so, I may be able to help.

This upgrade I think is meant for heavy track driving. Mine added something like 2 qts of oil to the system.

You should be able to retain the A/C.

You'll need adapters for the oil lines that attach to the sandwich plate. My lines ended up being 12 AN so the adapters were 22mm to 12AN. Then of course, mounting. I mounted mine in front of the radiator with the rubber idle control valve mounts.

Depending on where you buy the cooler from, it could come with any range of fittings on it. I would just go the route of have a machine shop take off the ends and mount two 12 AN bungs on the side for your hoses to directly plug into.

The lines, IIRC, were 14 and 19 inches long. However, this depends on your setup. You'll need 3 90 degree angled and 1 45 degree angled fittings for the setup too. The lines totalled for me at around $160 which included assembly.

It takes time to work the lines around to fit properly. I would recommend detaching the oil cooler plate to get the adapters attached because otherwise it's a real PITA.

Crackership

I'd love pics! Do you have any idea which option would be better? Like which one doabarrelroll used? Also, since you seem to be a bit more versed in the world of the RX7, do you know of a good place to get a good used one at a fair price? For some reason all the junkyards around here seem to be downsizing dramatically and stuff is getting a lot harder to find..

Thanks for the pics! do you know which version of the RX7 oil cooler you used? Also, did you have to remove the bumper to do this, or would you count that as "optional"?
And yeah, I'm really not looking forward to changing the lines at the oil cooler plate, but it's got to happen anyway since the lines are poo... but I'd rather do it once, and have a better setup than just rebuild the lines I have and then wish I'd upgraded later...

doabarrelroll

I used the 86-91 version of the cooler. It was my understanding that these would make it easiest to mount to the frame of the 944.

When you take the cooler plate off, you can do the seal at the same time. Nobody wants to do it but it's a good WYAIT.

floatingkiwi

Is this the best oil cooler to be using for an S2 race car? Need to replace the factory cooler with a better one, also having the air draw with the fans would be helpful.