Just to interject a few comments regarding cooling of oil and water.
An oil cooler will do wonders for protecting an engine's bearings and
major rotating parts. You can go out an buy an oil cooler which will
work very nicely, but consider this route.
1. Find the pancake adaptor for an oil-cooler from a wreck or just
order one.
2. Go down to a "Super-Shops" or other hi-performance store and get
some steel braided lines and good stainless clamps (don't worry about
buying the more $$ anodized fittings unless you want to dress up the
engine.)
3. Go to the wrecking yard and look for a BIG evaporator from a big
American car's A/C system. (I like to use the Chevy Caprice from the
'70's, as do my friends who race out-law mini-sprints.)
4. Pressure test the evaporator.
5. Rig up some brackets
6. Bolt it down!
You will find (in most cases) that this solution is less expensive and
works just fine. An evaporator sees pressures in excess of 120 PSI
(still less than a hyper-active BMC engine will pump out on a good day)
and work great because of fin and coil density (which is quite high).
Remember, you can use the simple BTU formulas (but I don't need to tell
the engineers on this group that!) to figure out how much heat you need
to dissipate for effective cooling.
Also, I would suggest, for our brethren and sisters in colder climates,
invest in a thermostatic valve which regulates cooling of the oil when
the ambient air temperature effectively cools the engine. Over cooling
the lube system in cold weather is just as bad as oil that is too hot!
With regard to electric fans, I have used a lot of them (in BMC engines
and Japanese, and U.S. made.) I have found, after installing 6 of them
in a variety of personal vehicles that QUALITY COUNTS. Get a fan that
has a powerful motor, a high quality blade unit, and good mounts. I
found (not a pitch) that a little manufacturer called "Scotts" in
Ventura, CA makes great fans and they are relatively inexpensive.
These fine gentlemen will CUSTOM make you a fan if you choose for about
$90.00. I just installed a new one on my '93 Ford Ranger and it works
fine (and comes with all the appropriate hardware including relays to
save the bloody Lucas harness from overload.)
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