Oil Intercooler versus stock oil cooler

[Justin Hodge]

I am considering the use of an external fin design intercooler instead of the heavy coper cooler on the honda f4i engine. Has anyone successfully eliminated the existing liquid to liquid cooler and replaced it with a fin style intercooler? Any comments would be of help.

Thanks

[RickyRacer]

As far as I know, a liquid to liquid intercooler is more efficient that an air to liquid.

[John Bucknell]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by RickyRacer:
As far as I know, a liquid to liquid intercooler is more efficient that an air to liquid. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

And usually lighter too, due to the elimination of high pressure lines to and from the cooler.

[Daygo Nighthawk]

NACA duct
http://sae.ucsd.edu/visuals/competition/images/PICT0116.jpg
Feeds oil intercooler/remote oil filter on other side of firewall
http://sae.ucsd.edu/visuals/competition/images/PICT0104.jpg

Worked out pretty well for us. Gives a little more running oil capacity- we never have had a cooling problem.
Our engine doesn't come with a stock liquid/liquid cooler.
Packaging is pretty tight in that space, though.

[Sam]

yeh. i have wanted to whack an air-oil cooler on our dry sump line and get rid of the stock one on our f3 but never got around to it. i reckon its a good idea if you are already running oil out of the engine for a dry sump but if not there is not a lot to be gained.

[Justin Hodge]

Yah, I checked into it a lttle bit and measured our current design and it should fit right next to our dry sump reservior so we will not have to add much hose. It should save us just under 1 pound in weight. The main thing I'm worried about is getting the engine oil upto temp at initial startup. If the engine and coolant (water) heat up but the oil stays cold then it could result in major engine failure. I am loking into a way to heat the oil in the reservior tank before initial startup. If their are any tams that have addressed this issue or runs an air to oil cooler without the water to oil cooler, please let me know. Any information will be of help.

Thanks!

[Jarrod]

Sprintcar racers often use a heater element in the dry sump tank, plug a 12V battery in, instant warm oil, or else i have seen oil thermostats, can't remember where though.
We have relocated the oil/ water heat exchanger on our F3 this year, largely for packaging space, it let us move the engine a lot closer to the firewall, gave us more freedom for the 4-2-1 exhaust. saved a bit of weight by fabricating a box to house the stock core, instead of the die-cast Honda one.

[Daves]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>or else i have seen oil thermostats, can't remember where though. -- Jarrod <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Perma-cool has oil thermostats:
http://permacool.com/Catalog/Cat_page14.html

Also, I found one website that has oil coolers specifically for the F4i:
http://www.dippold-racing.de/hrcss/parts.html http://www.dippold-racing.de/hrcss/images/CBR600F4i_2002_02.jpg (http://www.dippold-racing.de/hrcss/parts.html)

I imagine the oil cooler made for the F4i would cost a fortune though, as do all bike parts.

[Pushrod]

We ran an external oil cooler last year and it worked fine, but nothing special. We're going back to the stock one this year on account of eliminating some lines (less places to leak) and you buy the stock piece as part of the enigne so it won't affect the cost report.