# ABA swap oil cooler question



## Danbodia (Sep 3, 2003)

Here's the background:
Over the winter, I've had an ABA swap with all the bells and whatnot going into my '92.... Bored out to 83.5mm, ARP everything, Techtonics big valve/P+P/rebuild head, BMW AFM, 3.5 bar FPR, lightened/adjustable pulleys and flywheel, header, and painting, cleaning, polishing, and general refurbishing involved. I've spent alot of my hard earned $ and alot of Johns' (Fast Addictions) time.
Here's the question:
How necessary is the oil cooler sandwich?


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## autobahn 69 (Aug 11, 2003)

*Re: ABA swap oil cooler question (Danbodia)*

It is not deadly important, but with the more performance you get out of your motor, the better chance it has to run hotter. I ran a 3a 2liter block with no oil cooler. It was stock but my engine ran fairly cool. 
I run a stock ABA with an oil cooler and it definitely runs cooler. So if you read up on other methods of cooling you should be able to delete the cooler without any problems.


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## Danbodia (Sep 3, 2003)

*Re: ABA swap oil cooler question (autobahn 69)*

Other methods of cooling right now include, low temp thermostat and fan switch. The a/c bits have been removed for direct flow to the radiator.


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## autobahn 69 (Aug 11, 2003)

*Re: ABA swap oil cooler question (Danbodia)*

Low tempature thermostat is a great way, I use a 176 thermostat. I have heard a lot of racers use one set up and my cousin has done this in his 87 GTI. You wire the fan switch into the dashboard and you can turn it on and off as you like depending on how hard the engine is working or whatever temp it is outside. I use a bigger radiator out of an 92 Jetta with an overflow tank, but you probably have this? Also running a good oil will help. I usually run a cheap synthetic during the summer, MObile 1 15w50, and this helps as well, it is thin and light but the synthetics do not become uneven. Amsoil makes a good oil but at $9 bucks a quart is high, but I have only heard good things about it. 
Just curious but why would you want to delete the oil cooler, is it because of the chance of coolant getting into the oil, or another reason?


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## Danbodia (Sep 3, 2003)

*Re: ABA swap oil cooler question (autobahn 69)*

Ah, you ferreted me out. I've heard they may contaminate your oil with coolant (possibly), and i just want to get rid of alot of the back and forth of this and that under the hood (realistically).
All my radiator/coolant equip. is stock. I plan on using quality synthetic after the break-in bit. Since I live in VT and want this car last I won't run it in the winter. So, it will only see summer temps.


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## autobahn 69 (Aug 11, 2003)

*Re: ABA swap oil cooler question (Danbodia)*

I completely understand, I have never had AC in my VW. I do enough maintenance already, LOL. THere were a couple more things I forgot about. One would be to add an oil cooler that sits in front of the radiator. You should be able to use the fittings you have for the factory cooler and reroute them to the front of the radiator, hood scoop, turbo fender, etc. Rather than use coolant, use air. Also another thing I was reading was that the diesel cars use a copper radiator, which is unneccessary for cars putting out LESS than 200 hp, but seems like a viable upgrade. This was from "WaterCooled VW performance handbook". 
I have also heard that once you go synthetic, you shouldn't go back to conventional oil, I usually use a synthetic blend 10w30 for the winter, Oregon has cold winters too.


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## Blitzen155 (Aug 15, 2002)

*Re: ABA swap oil cooler question (autobahn 69)*

You could also consider an 'old fashioned' GTi cooler... euro GTis used to have an oil to air cooler mounted to the left of the the radiator right behind the grill with 2 pressure lines coming directly from the oil filter flange. I think Autotech still sells that setup as a retrofit with a modern (modine) oil cooler.

FWIW, i have never heard of oil/water oil cooler actually [email protected] out... only the sage advice that it 'could happen'
Maybe it's a myth?


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## Danbodia (Sep 3, 2003)

*Re: ABA swap oil cooler question (Blitzen155)*

Thanks for the well thought out input. The other methods for cooling are more than effective. The car is built in that grey area in between "race" and "going to work on a sunny day in a sporty way" much more towards the latter. (sorry, I have an over-active imaginary life in my head). So the beef of the question is, do I really need the extra oil cooling? Provided the car has pretty modest mods and will probably never see actual racing. Is it all just overkill?


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## mk1scott (Jun 24, 2002)

*Re: ABA swap oil cooler question (Danbodia)*

i would all base it on the temperature that the oil normally gets up to. if it tends to run hot then i'd add an oil cooler (air/oil cooler and not the water/oil cooler). it's a very easy mod and fairly inexpensive.


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## kervin (Feb 24, 2001)

*Re: ABA swap oil cooler question (Blitzen155)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Blitzen155* »_FWIW, i have never heard of oil/water oil cooler actually [email protected] out... only the sage advice that it 'could happen'
Maybe it's a myth?
When I got my Scirocco with 100,000 miles on it the oil cooler thing had gone south. I got a remanned unit and 20,000 miles later, it went bad too.







I had a "extra" one around so I put it on so I could make it to work the next day. If I had had the correct hoses around, I would have just left it off. A while back I talked to Potterman, and he said the function was to help the oil warm up faster so that the engine could get out of the cold start mode faster. It's there to help keep the air a little cleaner. So, I'd just leave it off and get a air-to-oil cooler to help keep temps in check.


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## ABA Scirocco (May 30, 2001)

*Re: ABA swap oil cooler question (Blitzen155)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Blitzen155* »_You could also consider an 'old fashioned' GTi cooler... euro GTis used to have an oil to air cooler mounted to the left of the the radiator right behind the grill with 2 pressure lines coming directly from the oil filter flange. I think Autotech still sells that setup as a retrofit with a modern (modine) oil cooler.


Here's the euro GTI oil cooler, it's the same unit Autotech sells








These units replace the whole oil filter flange and they have a built-in thermostat, a great way to go on a 1.8L engine unfortunately, the oil filter flange on the ABA block is different, these units won't fit. I'm going to go with a thermostatic sandwich plate adapter from a Volvo 760 turbo, it installs in the same location as the stock oil cooler. Here it is.








Pic courtesy of Weaver


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## Danbodia (Sep 3, 2003)

*Re: ABA swap oil cooler question (ABA Scirocco)*

Holy crap that looks like the oil cooler in my '71








OOO, I like the idea of the Volvo piece. That fits in with my grand plan to have parts from at least 20 different cars on the GTI








I don't think I was clear enough in my first post. The car isn't running yet. TT is taking their time with the head and the con rods, but the block is all bored out and the rest of the parts are ready to go.
I had no problem with cooling before the swap (in fact it ran really cool) but so many things have changed, your guess is as good as mine.


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## Bicycle019 (Mar 30, 2001)

*Re: ABA swap oil cooler question (Danbodia)*

The stock "silver box" oil cooler/warmer has been known to fail. Mine did and the coolant became contaminated with oil. I removed the system and swapped to a Setrab air/oil cooler. The cooler is attached to a thermostatic sandwich plate adaptor which opens the flow of oil to the cooler as temps increase. If it's not warm enough, the oil is not really flowing thru the cooler.
I used to see 110c all the time with moderate hard driving. Now I only see that in the summer at the roadcourse after several laps.








Check with BSI racing http://www.bsiracing.com for their setup. I'm going to be swapping mine when I install the ABA motor sitting in my garage.


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