Factory Oil Cooler - What did they look like?

[AuroraGirl]

I found a cooler of some sort in my shed, but I cant know its for a square. its damn near the size of a cars condensor(its not a condensor) and it has AN fittings on one side in a corner, but its all aluminum and bent to hell, with no obvious way it would have mounted at least to me. Could it just be a very large, maybe medium duty truck oil cooler?

i can show a pic soon.
my 1980 manual shows at least 4 different styles in 1980, none that perfectly match. it would only be expected to match, i guess, to a 1978.

 

[Vbb199]

In my hand is a sbc cooler adapter that bolts onto where the filter would be,

On the front if my k5 to the right is the radiator that the oil flows thru.

This is a factory cooler I believe that came off of a 1987 suburban.


I milled down the cooler adapter to fit into my big block.

(last 2 pictures)


As far as heavy duty or medium duty, I am unsure, just replying to the heading "what did they look like"

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[Goldie Driver]

I was not aware that option existed for the 80 MY and prior. My 91 Sub had one.

For the early ones, could it be part of the Trailering Special option?

@AuroraGirl - can't remember if your SPID mentioned that or not.

 

[Craig 85]

The adapter on my BBC look the same. Here's the cooler in my '85.

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[AuroraGirl]

I was not aware that option existed for the 80 MY and prior. My 91 Sub had one.

For the early ones, could it be part of the Trailering Special option?

@AuroraGirl - can't remember if your SPID mentioned that or not.

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kc4

 

[bucket]

My '79 camper special came with one, but I don't know what it looked like. It was removed when the PO had the engine swapped.

 

[ali_c20]

Had the same as Vbb199 and Craig85 on my 79 k5.

 

[Vbb199]

I forgot to add to this =

But it did actually lower overall engine Temps a little bit for what it's worth.

I cannot give exact numbers because on the previous engine run of my 502 bbc, my target AFR was set a bit lean...
I set target AFR to richen it out a bit on the efi and added the oil cooler.

The difference in Temps was this :

220 degrees on the first run at lean afr and no oil cooler

208 degrees on the second run at better balanced AFR with oil cooler.


Suffice it to say, any heat extraction from such a big motor helps.

 

[Craig Nedrow]

My 454 swap was from a motorhome and had the filter adapter as in the pic. I used my small block filter adapter, works great, with the 170 degree thermostat, never gets hot, runs about 185 degrees. FWIW

 

[Vbb199]

My 454 swap was from a motorhome and had the filter adapter as in the pic. I used my small block filter adapter, works great, with the 170 degree thermostat, never gets hot, runs about 185 degrees. FWIW

Curious, did your small sbc adapter fit right up to the 454?
Or was modification needed like me?

 

[bucket]

The markIV big block fits the same adapter as a small block.

 

[Craig Nedrow]

Curious, did your small sbc adapter fit right up to the 454?
Or was modification needed like me?

Vince, direct bolt up, early motor, no flange. Will add an aftermarket cooler after motor mod using original oil filter adapter, if necessary. So far so good.

 

[Craig Nedrow]

The markIV big block fits the same adapter as a small block.

What bucket said, direct bolt up, screw and all

 

[Craig Nedrow]

It really doesn't show in pic, but the filter is not flush, it fits up into the machined filter area for the block filter adapter.

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[austinado16]

My '90 Suburban V1500 came equipped with the engine oil cooler (located on the driver's side). I added a similar sized 11"x11" stacked plate style trans cooler on the passenger side. I put a factory 454 pusher fan in front of the trans cooler. I switch the fan on when towing at low speeds in the mountains.

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