Adding a sandwich type oil warmer to the Mirage

[Daox]

I am thinking about adding a VW TDI sandwich type oil warmer/cooler to my 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage. Why? Because oil temperature warm up lags behind engine coolant temperatures. Warmer oil reduces pumping losses and lower viscosity obviously has its advantages in engine efficiency. Add that to the fact that all the Honda high mileage vehicles had these (VX, HX, Insight), and it lends some real credibility that there is a benefit. We had a lengthy discussion on the topic here started by Oil Pan with some great info in it:

Fast warm up ideas: Oil to coolant heat exchanger

A few years ago, I swapped out the engine in my sister's TDI with one that didn't have a broken timing belt. I kept a bunch of parts off the old engine, and parted out the rest of it. Amongst those parts was the sandwich plate oil warmer/cooler that all TDIs of that era (ALH engine) have. So, I am thinking about slapping it on the 'ol Mirage. Here is what it looks like:





How does this work? Basically, you unscrew your oil filter, then screw this thing on, and then screw your oil filter on to the sandwich cooler. You also have to route some coolant lines to the cooler. As the oil is pumped through the filter, the engine coolant flows through the warmer/cooler and heats things up (and cools once the oil exceeds coolant temps). Its a pretty nifty little device. Here is a picture of the one on a 2001 Honda Insight. The coolant lines aren't hooked up in the picture.





This is the part I have below. So, there is a slight hang up. Notice, no filter screwed to the cooler? Its just a bolt that holds it on.





Typically, there is a tube that threads into block to hold the cooler on. That tube also has threads to hold your oil filter on. This is not so in the case of the VW TDI. Therefore, I need to make or buy this threaded tube. This is what it will look like:





However, I really haven't been able to find this type of bolt anywhere yet. I know the filter thread for the Mirage is M20x1.5. However, finding threaded parts that large isn't the easiest. So, I am looking for suggestions on how to make this part.

I thought first about taking a 3/4" tube and M20x1.5 die and just threading it. However, that really doesn't leave a ton of thread as M20 is larger than 3/4".

My next thought is to purchase a super cheap oil filter sandwich plate, and take the threaded part out of there, cut it and extend it. But, I'm quite open to other ideas.

[ThermionicScott]

It's always amusing to me how performance guys see this as an "oil cooler" and we EcoModders see it as an "oil warmer."

Have you considered adding an oil temperature gauge, y'know, for science?

[oil pan 4]

I put one of these on my firebird.
Imo the oil warms up about twice as fast according to the pressure gauge.

[Daox]

Originally Posted by ThermionicScott

It's always amusing to me how performance guys see this as an "oil cooler" and we EcoModders see it as an "oil warmer."

Have you considered adding an oil temperature gauge, y'know, for science?

Yep, I have. I'm not exactly sure where I'd put it though. If you're going to nerd out, you'd like one in the pan and then after the heater to see how much its really doing.

I do like Oil Pan's method of using a pressure gauge to monitor things too. Its straight forward and tells you when the oil is thinning out.

[teoman]

A vw cooled exhaust manifold would be nice. They heat up very fast.

[ThermionicScott]

Originally Posted by Daox

Yep, I have. I'm not exactly sure where I'd put it though. If you're going to nerd out, you'd like one in the pan and then after the heater to see how much its really doing.

I do like Oil Pan's method of using a pressure gauge to monitor things too. Its straight forward and tells you when the oil is thinning out.

I've read mixed reviews of the oil temp senders that replace a drain plug, since they are in a vulnerable location and read the coldest oil in the system. I'm thinking the best method would be one of those long probes, mounted a little higher on the sump pan and in the rear for protection from the wind. It would read warmer oil that way.

But oil pressure is a decent proxy for what you're after. In fact, it might be useful for other things like determining the ideal oil viscosity and checking whether the pressure relief valve works correctly.

[samwichse]

I'll just point out that Honda actually dropped this device from the insight MY2003 and on and nobody seems to be able to detect a milage difference between these later cars and the MY2000-2002.

[niky]

Originally Posted by ThermionicScott

It's always amusing to me how performance guys see this as an "oil cooler" and we EcoModders see it as an "oil warmer."

Have you considered adding an oil temperature gauge, y'know, for science?

Same reaction! I actually had a cooler on my car before, for track use... not that it made a huge difference to how long I could stay out, because my brakes would cook well before my oil!

[M_a_t_t]

is it just a threaded rod, or an exact replica of the one in the picture?

[Daox]

It could be a threaded rod with a nut, but it would have to be a threaded rod that is drilled out. The center of the tube is used to pass oil through it.