Oil cooler on M44
 

I'm doing some research on the feasibility and cost of adding a little oil radiator on an M44. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks!!!

EDIT: Actually my biggest concern is where to take the oil from and where to put it back after is cooler. Here's what I was thinking:
1) get the oil filter housing of an M42 which has the metal cap that was used on several 6 cylinder models. The gasket between the oil filter housing and the engine block has the same p/n as the M44, so my first guess would be it fits; however the M44 has a thing called "bush" which I can't really tell where it goes. Would like your idea on this point.
2) with the metal oil cap I should be able to use the Ireland Engineering oil cooler adapter.
3) get a radiator, oil lines, etc... Nothing too complex in this dept, at least it looks like.
What you think?

Look up the stock oil cooler for the S54 engine.

You mean for the oil radiator? That's what I was thinking... Thanks

Does IE make the kits for the 4cylinder, or are you trying to adapt it from the 6?

I do know that the with the Randy Forbes oil adapter kit, it gets its oil from the Vanos oil supply line which the 4 cylinder obviously doesnt. There is the sensor at the rear of the oil filter housing that may be a potential tap point, but im unsure if it would be possible from that point.

If it were my project, id look closely as how the stock 6 cylinder oil cooler sysem is designed because i gurantee there is a way to adapt it to the 4cylinder whether it be with custom fittings or a few extra parts.

So I thought about it a bit longer and came to the conclusion that before going ahead, I need to make sure I actually need a oil cooler... eheheh...

There are some adapters out there but one way or the other, it looks like they take the oil before the filter, force it through the cooler and return it after the filter. If that's the case, I really don't like this design as it feeds the engine with unfiltered oil. Moreover I was reading most cars with oil cooler have some kind of dry or semi-dry sump and uses the scavenger pump to push oil through the cooler.

The conclusion I came to so far is that the optimum design would require adding an electric scavenger pump that picks up the oil in the sump, circulate it through the cooler and return it in the sump. This way the oil pressure getting to the engine is not affected. I think a thermostat after the pump would be a good idea, so oil goes back to the sump when cold and reduces warm-up time. Most thermostats have a 10% cold flow through to allow the cooler to get up to temperature and reduces risks of temperature shocks. Also a solenoid would probably be required to avoid the oil to drain from the radiator when the engine is off...

EDIT: it looks like the S54 circulate the oil through the cooler before sending it to the filter and has a thermostat to bypass the cooler when the oil is cold.

If you really wanted to do this, you could set it up to gravity feed into the oil cooler and back into the system -- maybe straight to the oil pan. However, it seems like it might be more trouble than it's worth unless you're feeding oil into a turbo.

Ok, so I'm back at this...

On the M42club.com forum I found this:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/m...W/IMG_2035.jpg

That does this:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/m...W/IMG_2478.jpg

In other words it allows you to relocate the oil filter where you like, and also add a oil cooler (and t-stat) in line.

I also end up buying an old M42 oil filter housing on eBay (this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=180344655562) and have called Ireland Engineering to see if their oil filter cap for the M5x work. I'll call them back once I receive the item so I can give them the measures so we can see if it would work...

IE told me thier cap does not work on the m42. I dont see why but they say it doesnt.

Also the m44 oil filter housing uses 2 o-rings on the fitting that goes into the block, where the m42 one only uses a single o-ring. So I think it is different.

I thought about this a lot and finally settled on a metal cap with 2 ports for temp and pressure gauges, and I will decide later if I need a cooler.

I wonder if you could rig something up using an automatic transmission cooler:
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...95&hg=17&fg=05

It goes between the A/C condensor and the radiator.

That's what they told me too... But they also said they never tried it and THEY THINK it's different... I just don't accept NO as an aswer. Anyway: I bought an M42 oil filter housing on ebay (for $15 you can't really go wrong) and got it today. Tomorrow I'm bringing it to work along with my caliper, I'll call IE and we'll see.

The M42 and M5x share the same oil filter cap.

Also, the M44 oil filter housing uses 2 o-rings cuz the non return valve from the block is a separate parts. And requires 1 o-ring on the block , and 1 o-ring on the housing. The M42 oil filter housing has the non return valve integrated in the housing and uses only 1 o-ring where it couple with the engine block. The two o-ring are the same p/n and also the gasket between the two housing and the engine block is the same p/n for both the M42 nd M44: the housing of the M42 fits on the M44...

I'm thinking that if IE cap won't fit, I'm gonna ask them to send me the bluprint, I'll modify it and send it back...

For the heat exchanger I'm planing on using one off of a BMW Motorcycle, R1100RT(if you go on ebay there's ton of them an they look the perfect candidate...

More to come tomorrow, now I'm going to sleep cuz I'm exhausted... I just got done retrifitting a 6 cyclinder airbox in my car to fit a 3" MAF without usig a cone filter... Another thing that shouldn't fit... LOL!!!!

nice nice, I like your attitude. I hope iti works out because I also want to add an oil cooler.

Aight fellas, things look not to bad.

It appears the center spindel is slightly different (2mm smaller in the M42 than the M5x/S52). IE thinks they might be able to fit it as is or with some minor modification.

I just mailed them the housing to work on it.

Can we put togheter a list of people who would be interested in this?

1. ZetaTre

All the other parts are really standard (oil cooler, oil lines, thermostat, fittings, etc..) and the only other thing required would be an oil filter housing off of an M42 with metal cap and center locking bolt (I got mine on eBay for $15...) which is a direct bolt on on the M44. And btw, my idea of the motorcycle oil cooler is a bad one: oil pressure on bikes is much lower. You need threadded fittings on the oil lines as opposed to puch on hose & clamps. 19 row oil cooler if what's recommanded for SC, smaller if NA...

Spread the word on other forums, but let me know where so I can keep track and let IE now.

Theis setup would fit both M44 (with the replacement of the oil filter housing... direct bolt on) and M42...

I think the automatic transmission cooler would work perfect as an oil cooler. I mean, that's sorta what it is anyway right? It's an OEM piece, there's already a spot for it, should be able to pick up used ones for fairly cheap.

Well, you got a good point there. I'm not sure if there's any difference. Maybe tranny's pressure is not as high as engine? Dunno...

ahhhh, you're right.