would this work as an oil cooler?? see pic.

Why recreate the wheel? There are so many good oil coolers that are designed to be oil coolers -- especially for someone that 'believes in overkill when it comes to cooling'.

FRPP part number M6642-S101 -- a great, stacked plate cooler for the 5.0L. I fitted one to the 5.0L in my Volvo - works exceptionally well. A bit over $100 for everything you need.

If you're serious about 'overkill' - a couple of thoughts. 1) Mount the oil cooler where the hot air off of it DOES NOT flow back into the radiator. Mine's down low in the front of the car. A small separate fan (6"-8") will be needed for low speed air flow. 2) I'd reconsider your fan choice. The nick-name for them is Black Tragic because many find they don't move enough air to keep the cars cool. People rarely complain about any of these -- Lincoln MkViii fan, SN95 fan, Taurus 3.8L V6 fan, SPAL dual 11" fan. 3) Control your fan with one of these - www.dccontrol.com .

"i have very limited room behind the rad"

You don't want to mount it behind the rad in any event -- think about it; the temp. of air hitting the oil cooler coming off the rad is gonna be hot; it isn't gonna be cool enough to remove much heat from the oil.

Also, simply spacing the oil cooler away from the rad, but still placing it in front of the rad won't accomplish what you think it will. That hot air off the oil cooler will still move across the radiator -- as all the air entering that air flow path will. You have to locate it elsewhere.

Here's a couple of pics of mine - down low behind an opening in my front air dam. You can clearly see the aluminum gutter flashing shield behind the cooler which keeps hot air from re-entering the rad/condenser -- it forces the air hot air off the cooler under the bottom of the car. With the bumper/air dam on, the cooler sits behind the opening in the lower air dam...
The stacked plate unit allows for more heat transfer for less surface area - so yes, they are smaller for a given amount of heat transfer. And they are self limiting in terms of temps -- overcooling is a problem with oil coolers. You should add an oil temp gauge - you want operating temps no lower than 200F. So if you go fin tube, you need a sandwich adapter that has a built in t'stat. With the stacked plate unit referenced above -- no additional t'stat is necessary. http://www.corral.net/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=12071&cat=500&ppuser=30684
http://www.corral.net/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=11621&cat=500&ppuser=30684

As far as fabricating -- well, if you want a well designed/thought out system, and you're serious about overkill -- get used to fabricating. It's just a part of the process that can't be avoided.

As to control, if yours is working for you, great. I've mounted so many fans over the years with relay and adjustable thermal switch control. All I can tell you is I didn't know how archaic and ancient that control method was until I got a variable current/speed controller. SO MUCH better -- no comparison. And much easier on the charging system/alt/battery/fan motors. And, efficient - fan only turns hard enough to keep the car cool. And no 3X voltage spikes during start up. Only way to go - if you try one, you'll never run another fan with relays/switches.

Oh - on pros/cons for the 'Black Tragic' -- you've made the point for me; there are pros AND cons. On the 4 I mentioned above, you'll be hard pressed to find any cons at all.

if any thing it would look cool. I think it would work but I would get an "oil cooler" is space isn't an issue.

I agree - those annodized pieces do look cool. I suspect, however, they're not nearly as effective at actually removing heat as a properly sized fin-tube or stacked plate cooler.

90LX - good luck with whatever you decide to do; I'd still stick with a more traditional cooler if I were you.

MY-Can I use the transmission cooler thats built into the radiator to cool the oil?


And if so what type of lines would I use?

Thanks

I wouldn't try it for a few reasons --- first, I don't know if that plate-type cooler is rated to stand the pressure it's gonna see from the oil (anyone know what kind of pressure the tranny fluid's under?); second, you have the same limitation with it that you do if you put an additional coil in front of the radiator. Since you're putting the heat from the oil into the radiator coolant, it's not really incremental cooling to the engine. You need to be certain you have enough additional capacity in the radiator to take the extra heat. Third - you don't get near as much heat transfer when you're using coolant at 180F-200F to try and remove heat from oil that's, say 240F as you do when you're passing air at 30F-90F through a separate coil. Temperature differential is much greater with a separate cooler; the greater the temp differential, the more heat you can remove.