Well done Martin, in my opinion all motors should have an oil cooler. Much more affordable these days than 20 years ago.
Everyone talks about having overheating issues at some stage and upgrading their radiator/cooling system. However if you look at a bare block you will notice that the cooling jackets for the water cooling don't extend below the cylinders, so the heat generated in an engine from the rotating parts like the crankshaft and camshaft is taken away in the oil as it is pumped through the motor back to the sump. Yes, the engine oil lubricates components, but it also takes heat away from these areas of friction.
Engine oil takes longer to heat up as well as longer to cool. When you are working a motor hard, carrying a load, climbing up a long hill or towing the oil temp rises as oil returns to the sump where it cannot dissipate the additional heat quick enough and the oil temp continues to increase. The oil temp in my Range Rover used to rise 20-30 degC without an oil cooler in these situations. So if the oil temp is now at 110-120 degC it's going to impact on the water cooling that is trying to maintain a temp around 85-90 degC and will start pushing that temp up too as it tries to control the increasing water and oil temp.
Fitting an oil cooler helps cool the oil and can take quite a load off the water cooling system. I have a similar set-up to what Martin is offering already on my Mitsubishi L300 van and fitted to the Commer project, though I have gone to a 16 row coolers as it gets a little hotter down here in Australia. So far the highest I've seen the oil temp on the L300 was 100 degC on a hot day, carrying quite a load, cruising at 3600rpm, 110 km/h (70 mph) on the motorway to the Southern Highlands 2 hours out of Sydney.
Aside from all I have mentioned above, I believe oil coolers will improve the life of your oil, and all the components it lubricates, by better controlling these temp changes.
Hope this all makes sense.
It's not a sale pitch for Martin, just an area that is too often overlooked, and good to see someone had made it easier for others
Cheers Stephen
