Re: Oil Cooler

Posted by LukeM on Nov 12, 2010; 3:12am
URL: http://vintage-and-classic-hondas.81.s1.nabble.com/Oil-Cooler-tp1886215p1886800.html

My dohc bike has a plate on it, that currently has a rubber hose from input to output.  I assume I could replace the rubber hose with an appropriate oil cooler/radiator.

I would think (strictly my opinion) that anything that reduces the oil temperature is a good thing, but I would be concerned if the oil never comes up to "operating temperature".  That being the point where the viscosity of the oil does the best job of keeping the engine internals properly lubricated and contaminants and dirt off of the moving parts.  Oil that gets too hot is no good, and oil that's too cold may not be good either.

If you were in a temperate climate, say south of the Mason Dixon line in the US, an oil cooler might be a good idea.  North of that line, it would help from late spring to early fall.  It might also be possible to put in a bypass to keep the engine oil temperature in the optimum range.  This sounds like an interesting engineering exercise.  Rigging up an oil temperature gauge might be a problem, but not impossible.  I've seen cars use 2 sensors (oil pressure, oil temperature) off of a T junction in place of the oil pressure switch sender.

Luke M