Show me your oil cooler setups!

I am currently collecting parts for my next oil change to install an oil cooler to my b230f+t.

I have the oil cooler and mounts right now but not the sender unit that comes off the block.
In the JY there was a 760 which I pulled the cooler off of, but the sending unit was different, it looked like this:



Could I use one of those on my block, or do I have to run the sender unit from a 240 turbo, such as this one?



I also heard somewhere that the oil sender unit for foxbody mustangs works as well, is this true?

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/FLX-3961/



Next thing is what size fittings do I need to run lines to and from the cooler? I was going to use metal braided lines with screw on fittings at each end, I was wondering what size is required to use them, I would rather stay away from the old oil lines and run new ones.

And is there anything else I need to know about installing an oil cooler to my 240? If you guys have any pictures of what you did, it would really help.

Others will help with the Volvo-specific questions. I'd offer this - if you use a 'cooler' that exchanges heat with the car's cooling system (water to oil) be sure you have enough radiator capacity to deal with the extra heat you'll be rejecting into the engine's coolant cooling system. That's also true if you use an air to oil cooler (stacked plate or fin-tube) and you mount it in front of the radiator as is often the case. That mounting location once again puts the heat from the oil right back into the radiator. If you go air to oil - mount the cooler low and shield the back side so the hot air off the cooler goes under the car instead of back across the radiator. That will allow your oil cooler to provide incremental cooling capacity compared to what you have now.

M.H. Yount said:

Others will help with the Volvo-specific questions. I'd offer this - if you use a 'cooler' that exchanges heat with the car's cooling system (water to oil) be sure you have enough radiator capacity to deal with the extra heat you'll be rejecting into the engine's coolant cooling system. That's also true if you use an air to oil cooler (stacked plate or fin-tube) and you mount it in front of the radiator as is often the case. That mounting location once again puts the heat from the oil right back into the radiator. If you go air to oil - mount the cooler low and shield the back side so the hot air off the cooler goes under the car instead of back across the radiator. That will allow your oil cooler to provide incremental cooling capacity compared to what you have now.

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Thank you thank you thank you for posting that. Highly overlooked when people add coolers.
Be sure to isolate the cooler with rubber bushings between the mounts and the cooler. They don't like high amounts of vibration.

^That is really really clean. Thumbs up to you sir.

You can use either one but they both require different hard lines. If you have an automatic transmission, your transmission cooling lines might get in the way if you use the 760 setup. The 760 setup makes oil changes easier if you have a turbo because it moves the oil filter to the side. Also that oil sender unit is the same with he 240 and the 760 setups and the only difference is that on the 760 the sender unit is bolted to an arm like thing instead of being bolted directly to the block. You will also have to consider how you will remove the stud that the oil filter screws onto on the block. I hope this helps.

there are 3 different oil cooler setups on 700/900's with the b230...

the one you saw on the 760 looks like it's the air/water cooler... it uses the engine coolant to cool the oil instead of using an air heat exchanger.

this it the more common one you see...
it moves the oil filter away from the motor mount... they started using these when they went to the newer style motor mounts (fat ones and old ones looked kinda like a hokey puck), the new brackets are taller and made it so you couldn't fit the large oil filter with the old style filter plate.

this is the 2nd one you posted... sorry it's a bad pic but the only one I have... it was on my '86 760 turbo...

as I mentioned before because of the way the motor mounts are on the newer style oil filled mounts you can't fit the large diameter oil filter (well not without unbolting the motor mount bracket from the block)...

when I swapped the '86 760 engine into my '89 740 I kept the t3 turbo and because of the t3 drain pipe doesn't clear the newer style filter arm bracket... I ended up having to use a smaller oil filter on the engine (was from an '86 toyota mr2)

if you can find the arm style use it... it gets it away from the cross member and most importantly the motor mount... oil on the motor mounts isn't good for em... and makes a mess to boot... the arm makes it easier to get to the filter and makes for a cleaner oil change in my experience...

Here is a 740 T oil cooler installed on my 245 n/a. It uses the block mounted filter plate and orig 740 lines bent to reach the passenger side core support, which I've removed most of the metal there for air flow. The cooler brackets and mounting is filpped upside down.

This works great for a 240 n/a, but for a 240+t it can mount exactly where the stock airbox was located, using the stock 740 lines and mounting brackets un-modified. If you use an intercooler there's enough room to mount it below the outlet, just cut out the sheetmetal to allow airflow.
BTW, the 740 mounting has it located behind the radiator and condenser (wider, later radiator) in just about the same location as if you put it in a 240T config, it is pretty much the same installation as a 740T

Since your needing to clear the mount, you would need the full extension housing that goes under the exhaust maifold. It is a very simple install:

FC unit in chin spoiler:

my setup...

MadDog_945 said:

my setup...

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Do you remember the exact lines and fittings you used? I was going to do something really similar.

Here's mine - and then a couple of shots of the sheet metal to channel the hot air under the car instead of back across the rad.

Without bumper/airdam/splitter -



With bumper/850airdam/splitter -



And the sheet metal ducting...

View through the grill opening.



Underneath, viewed from passenger side.



Underneath, viewed from driver's side. You can see the 6" puller fan mounted behind the cooler.




Air comes in through the opening in the air dam, and can only exit under the car without passing over the radiator. Same controller that controls the rad cooling fans controls oil cooler 6" puller. Uses a simple sandwich adapter between the block and the filter; pushlok hoses/fittings.

Homer said:

Thank you thank you thank you for posting that. Highly overlooked when people add coolers.
Be sure to isolate the cooler with rubber bushings between the mounts and the cooler. They don't like high amounts of vibration.

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Sorry to bump this oil thread...Homer, do you run a belly pan on your car? If I'm looking at this right don't the oil lines get in the way or do you just have two slots cut in the pan? You're not worried about ripping the thing off with it sitting below the radiator support? I guess if the lower front bumper clears something the rest of the car should be okay?

I used the oil/water heat exchanger in my 240 with a B21, I had to move the tab that bolts to the water pump and make a little hanger strap for the water pipe, however if you're mounting on a B230 it ought to bolt right in.

I used the 940 heat exchanger with 940 filter re locator and custom flex lines from a hydraulic shop in my B230FT swapped 242. Looks completely stock and having the filter towards the rear makes oil changes a snap.

I used the stock 740 oil cooler mounted up front, drivers side, behind air dam. Then I used the factory 740 turbo oil filter relocate housing relocated forward. I have manual steering so no pumps in the way. Now the filter sticks out front over the sway bar. Easy and convenient oil filter changes and keeps the filter away from exhaust manifold.














Dont have any pics handy from when I first installed everything, much less oil. This all lasted a good 100,000+ miles with no problems. One of the original fittings started to leak at that point and I swapped them for metric AN fittings. All good for another 100k. No oil temp gauge so no sure how efficient it was.

^ get that damn fram filter off of there.

93Volvo240 said:

^ get that damn fram filter off of there.

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Why? It has the Sure Grip so I still need pliers or something to remove. Meh, I don't change the oil enough to care about filter quality. Normally use Supertech filters, $2 from Wal-Mart, weigh the same as Bosch and boast all the same features and Top Fuel uses Supertech products (mainly 90 weight engine oil).

It's just what I had on hand.

Marvelous3 said:

Sorry to bump this oil thread...Homer, do you run a belly pan on your car? If I'm looking at this right don't the oil lines get in the way or do you just have two slots cut in the pan? You're not worried about ripping the thing off with it sitting below the radiator support? I guess if the lower front bumper clears something the rest of the car should be okay?

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Yep I do. I notched the belly pan and put edge guard on it. The intercooler mount bosses sit the lowest but it still sits above the air dam. Yeah it's a concern with parking but I don't get near curbs and whatnot.

Continuation of thought...

Does anyone know what the thread size is on the 240 turbo sandwich plate? I have the 240 turbo oil cooler set up (sandwich plate, hard lines, braided lines, and oe cooler) and I hear this oe cooler has some semi-unique fittings?

I've been trying to figure out where I want to mount the oil cooler and relocate the trans cooler out of the grill area so I think I'm wanting to buy two longer rectangular shaped coolers and put them both in the chin spoiler. Then run some sheet aluminum from the bottom of the chin spoiler to the bottom of the radiator support so sort of shield everything. So I'd run either rubber or braided lines off the sandwich plate to the chin.