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Oil Cooler And Temp Guage Sandwich Plate

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7.5K views 11 replies 8 participants last post by  Organ Donor  
#1 ·
Hey Guys

I'd like to fit an oil cooler with a thermostat and oil temp and pressure gauges. Most the oil cooler kits use the Mocal thermostat sandwich plate but these don't appear to have any fittings / outlets for oil temp and pressure gauges and the sandwich plates for fitting sensors don't appear to be usable with oil coolers. Do you have to stack these up i.e. fit one after the other (would there be enough room on a NA 1.6 or are there sandwich plates that will do both or can the sensors be fitted in another way?

Thx
 
#3 ·
Most people (me included) remove the inlet manifold support brace and use two sandwich plates. I don't recommend the cheap ebay sandwich plates, the o-ring design is crap. Get a Mocal one with the large flat, rectangular seal, it's a much

better design and you can buy replacement seals for them. Trust me, once it's on, you don't want to be removing it, it's a right faff. I wouldn't recommend over-braided lines either, no need and they're a pain to cut to length, just go with plain rubber oil/fuel hose.
 
#4 ·
Most people (me included) remove the inlet manifold support brace and use two sandwich plates. I don't recommend the cheap ebay sandwich plates, the o-ring design is crap. Get a Mocal one with the large flat, rectangular seal, it's a much

better design and you can buy replacement seals for them. Trust me, once it's on, you don't want to be removing it, it's a right faff. I wouldn't recommend over-braided lines either, no need and they're a pain to cut to length, just go with plain rubber oil/fuel hose.
ditto. mocal cooler plate, and cheap shitty temp gauge plate. buy a decent one. If i ever have to take this one off for any reason, I will replace with a mocal version.

I found the extra plate for temp gauge was the only way to be able to fit the cooler plate anyway (I think others have managed it)
 
#6 ·
I've gone for a reasonably cheap sandwich plate as a spacer and also for the temperature sender along with a mocal thermostatic sandwich plate and 13 row oil cooler. I won't be using the extension bolt from the cheap sandwich plate & I've ordered an additional Mocal one for piece of mind. This was influenced by a friend's oil filter blowing off on a trackday with much flame and a LOT of cleaning out of powder extinguisher.

The whole lot via eBay & Matt Lewis Racing came in at ÂŁ138.13, it's just a generic fitting kit and I think it has push fit AN10 lines.
 
#7 ·
Bump to bring this one up and save me starting a new thread - what combinations of extension bolts and adapter plates did you guys use? I've got a thermostatic plate at the moment for the oil cooler, and trying to add another for the temp sender. But, if I fit that, I don't have enough thread for the filter. The extension bolt doesn't work because there's too much thread left for that so when it bottoms out, the second plate is loose. Adding another nut means there's no thread for the extension bolt :D

Maybe I should have played with more of those shape puzzle games as a child...
 
#9 ·
Watch for leaks the cheap ones tend to not seal very well. Mishimoto do one but its catastrophically expensive by comparison. It is lovely though and come with two sensor takeoffs
 
#10 ·
I've got the Mocal stuff and that bolt is exactly what I have. The problem is the bolt only screws in to the end of the tube, and the second take off sits a bit further in so that becomes loose. I put a second nut on and that took up all the spare thread so nothing to fit the extension on to.

Perhaps the mk2.5 fitting is longer. My spare mk1 engine is accessible so I'll check that.

Failing that I'll change to a laminova oil cooler that plumbs into the cooling system. That will mean I don't need a thermostat and so can fit the temp sender on those lines. Added benefit of warming the oil up quicker, with the negative being the cost.
 
#12 ·
No, I did nearly buy the longer bolt until I realised that wouldn't help as it would still only screw on until the end of the bar or until the end of it met the nut, The spacer is 25mm deep, which might work with the longer extension bolt or the normal one, but I'd end up with the oil filter jammed right up against the tub I expect.