Check out my DIY Oil Cooler Block Off Plate Thread
 

As the title states. I think this is very useful for us. Any suggestion and input will be appreciated. Jsut wanted to get this out there to everyone. Very detail and full of pics.

http://www.the370z.com/diy-section-d...off-plate.html

:tup:

Any concern about temps and the velcro itself?

Not really. I played with it some after it was hot to see if it was still sealed. Seems to be holding for now. I know of others who have done this and are fine that i know of. I will be checking it frequently.

i thought the whole reason behind getting an oil cooler with a thermostatic sandwhich plate (which i thought most of the kits had) was to prevent the need for something like this. ie the plate only sends oil to the coolers at a specific temperature

Well it's obvious the cooler cools the oil. But to my understanding the thermostatic sandwhich plate gets the oil up to and reaches an ideal operating temperature by allowing more or less oil to flow accordingly to warm up faster. But I don't think it does what your referring to. I'll let another shine in.

Plus I have a big cooler (which I need) which it cools so well along with being more oil it can't bring temps up to a certain level even with the thermostatic sandwhich plate in colder weather. Being that coolers cool so well it's not going to keep the temps at a perfect set degree even with the thermostatic sandwhich plate. Especially in colder climates. Lots of threads here on both of these issues. This is the best I can explain.

interesting...i only ask because when i was doing some research into oil coolers i remember reading about thermostatic sandwich plates. essentially, they have a thermostat, and when it reaches a certain temperature, the valve will open and allow oil to start flowing to the cooler, and when the oil is too cold, it will shut. thus eliminating the need for a plate to block off the cooler.

Yea from what I've read (I thought) it always flow to the cooler reguardless of it's cold. It never completly shuts off to the cooler, it just reduces.

yea i just did a quick search...i guess it depends on the thermostatic plate?

Autotech Sport Tuning - Engine-Oil Cooling, Oil Thermostats, Oil Cooling Kit, Setrab Oil Coolers (VW website..but yea). anyway, i dont have the kit, you do, so you'd know by experience :tiphat:

Mine looks like the one on the left that GTM supplied to me. It has a spring type thermostat inside. Not sure how the other one on the right in that pic acts. But it does look like a typical thermostat. I do believe it shuts off alot but not completly. For it needs to get all the oil circulating I would think.

Also I've seen others here with smaller coolers that couldn't get temps up also in cooler weather.

Thermostatic sandwich plates cut 80-90% of the oil flow when the oil is below the thermostat temp. Thus, a huge cooler or very cold ambient temps will keep your oil temps too low even with this reduced flow through the cooler.

I've had my cover velcro'd on all winter and it's still on their solidly. Some of the warmer days I've still gotten temps up to 210F or so with the cover in place and the velcro is fine.