DD 8V71 oil cooler question

[bevans6]

I have, as some might remember, just bought a reman old stock industrial 8V71T to swap into my MC-5C bus.  I've been spending some quality time bonding with it this morning, pulling off the industrial stuff to clear the  way for the swap.  I just pulled off the giant twin tube industrial oil cooler (which if you haven't seen one is bloody huge and weighs at least 100 lbs).  It made me think - why couldn't I build a nice big oil-to-air cooler, probably with thermostat control and a fan, and  use it as the oil cooler?  In my application it just has to cool the engine oil, and that would eliminate two things of concern = firstly, the oil cooler failure where you get coolant in the oil and trash your engine, and secondly the increased heat load on the cooling system from making it cool the engine oil, when I need to reduce that so I don't need to upgrade the radiators that are otherwise perfect...

Can I reasonably expect success converting to an air/oil cooler setup?  Air/oil cooler pictures:  http://www.fluidyne.com/pl_theoc.html

Thanks,  Brian

[luvrbus]

Brian, stay with the factory cooler they serve a dual purpose


good luck

[bevans6]

What is the other purpose, beyond cooling the oil?  I suppose they could heat up the oil too?

Brian

[luvrbus]

Its a water jacket also the water come from the pump through the cooler then to the top side and across 2 strokes don't like cold engine oil they won't clean and you don't live in sunny AZ lol


good luck

[bevans6]

Makes sense, it's probably as much an oil heater as an oil cooler sometimes.  Thanks for the advice   

Brian

[TomC]

Brian- the failure rate on oil coolers is extremely low.  What you could do is swap out your other engine cooler (if the bolts align).  Virtually all Diesel engines have oil coolers-it is one of the important ways they stay cool.  Radiator coolant shell coolers heat the oil up in the morning, and keep it warm in cold winter driving.  When it comes to engineering, don't goof with what has worked for the 72 years Detroit 2 strokers have been running.  Good Luck, TomC

[Ed Hackenbruch]

If you ever went to an automatic tranny you could always use it for a tranny fluid cooler,.....if you had room to put it somewhere of course.