A couple of months back I picked up a used oil cooler which was previously used on one of the Pacific German cars. I really liked their oil cooler placement in the fog light area, so when it was time for me to install it, I decided just for fun to do something similar.
Sure, that would mean losing a fog light, but the entire country is a well lit city; it's usually bright enough that people sometimes forget to turn on their headlights, so there's really no practical reason for having functional fog lights.
Started first with mocking up the position of the core, using bendable metal strips for ease of adjustment. Once everything was firmed up, proper brackets could then be fabricated
Fog light removed from bumper, and some safety mesh mounted at the opening to protect from any stray stones.
The fender liner had an existing access panel, so that was removed to aid air flow, and safety mesh was also placed at that end.
New brackets made from a more rigid material.
Cooler coil mounted on in its final position.
Here's the view from the front with the bumper back on. Air guides were also fabricated from sheet metal to channel the air from the open toward the core.
And here's the view from the wheel liner.
Overall, a very clean install, hardly noticeable unless you bend down and shine a torch into the fog light opening.
I have not driven too much since the install, but initial impressions aren't too promising. My oil temps have already been very much lower than stock or Unitronic since the is38 map from Steath Tuned was loaded in (average driving 95-96 degrees Celsius, hooning 99-103 degrees Celsius), so the addition of this oil cooler doesn't seem to have done much.
Peak temps when driving hard are no lower than before, and while I don't have numbers to back me up, based on gut feel, oil temps during normal driving are at most 3-5 degrees Celsius lower than before, hovering around the 85-95 degrees Celsius mark depending on the length of the drive. Oddly enough, I feel the oil temp seems to climb up faster now, from 50 to 60 degrees, so I'm really not sure if the oil cooler is helping or hindering.
On the flip side, there is a very audible whine from the oil pump which makes me uncomfortable. This can be heard even at idle, and gets louder when the engine is under load.
The installation of the iABED take off plate also required the remove of a intake manifold support arm, which also makes me nervous.
Will drive a little more to evaluate, but will most likely either:
1) add an auxiliary fan to the cooler to aide with cooling
2) relocate the cooler front and center
3) revert to stock