Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 oil cooler installation

I had been asked about my oil cooler installation. I still had a temperature activated filter bypass from a Harley cooler on my wife's heritage softail (I replaced that set up with a JAGG fan assisted cooler. I like the fact it is temp activated because I really do not want cold oil being pumped out to a cooler. The cooler is from Ultracool.
So my first thought was to fabricate a couple of "L" brackets and hang off the cross tube under the engine.
When I got this together I realized.... BAD IDEA

My next thought was to use flat stock to make a ledge for the cooler. The bolt holes were originally 1/4" but I drilled out to 3/8 and used grade 8. This seemed to be better.

it took some work to finally get it attached to the bypass. I also slide vinyl tubing over the hose where it would rub against the cross member. I turns out at this point I discovered that it was impossible to see the gasket where the adapter mounted on the engine and I had a bad leak. All apart and some gasket sealer to hold it in place with adapter and back on with no leak

finally I made a couple of side plates and then bridged the middle with some aluminum screen. Fittingly the screen pattern is Union Jack,

This summer I may fiddle with it moving the cooler further forward and a little higher. I then just ran a wire up to the wiring box where I found a unused plug for the power.

I'm curious as to how many folks have installed a cooler of one type or another....?

Thanks, Rodger. There's a lot of knowledge to be gained and tricks to be learned from devout HD owners. It makes logical sense to keep oil temperatures within a lower, stable range. I've spoken to Emil about his version and claims it keeps temps consistently in the 170?-F range. But I don't believe his is thermostatically controlled nor does it include a fan. I'm wondering, how long does it take the oil in this X-Wedge to reach optimum operating temperature....and then how likely is it to fall below that on an average drive. In other words, is the added complexity of the fan/thermostat a clear advantage?

Another interesting thing which I believe you have done - or could do - is to flush mount the cooler into the licence plate ('tag') mounting plate. Without knowing the dimension of this cooler, not sure if it's possible. But it would give the front a cleaner profile than attaching a unit to the front of the plate as typically done.

Any way I look at this, it seems like a cooler makes sense, either in an urban setting or for touring. I'll be following this thread!

What I have found is that my wife's heritage softail runs hotter than my road king. On a summer day the oil temps in the summer run 230-240 whilst my road king is 220-230. My '17 road king has the added fan assist which cuts off between 35-40 mph, so is for lowers speeds and especially traffic. Her JAGG cooler is simply thermostat controlled, but once again no advantage at speed. I just installed her Jagg set-up so we will see this summer about the temps in the sump.
Since I have only tested my M3W this winter the fan never kicked in on the cooler, but the oil got warm enough to bypass to the cooler.
The cooler is 4-5 or so inches deep, but you also need to have space for the oil lines to come out the back. the choice was either lower and under the engine (which I did) or forward and in front.
I also toyed with the idea of mounting it under the bonnet. No air-flow from driving, but when the fan kicks on that is not an issue. Of course that would also mean oil flowing to the cooler whether it is hot or cold.
The other down side of cold oil to the cooler is that the cooler is 3/8 ID versus the 1/2 ID. 1/2 ID has 50% more capacity over 3/8 ID (2rPI). As I also mentioned the fan cooling the jugs is essential especially the bigger the V-twin becomes.
There is an often heated debate (pun intended) on whether one should cool the oil or cool the jugs. I think the answer is "yes".

I might add, we had lived in Oklahoma for years and the summers are HOT! But here in the mountains there is a lot of going uphill which can be hot as well. Driving about 25 miles down the New River for a Sunday brunch when the temp was about 50-ish the bypass did shunt oil to the cooler.
I saw where there is an aftermarket oil temp sender and gauge but rather $$$. I will probably see what I can fabricate from parts from J&P cycle.
The fun is in figuring these things out

I live up here in the Rockies at just below 9000ft and it can get into the 90s in the summer months with steep mountain roads. In my opinion oil coolers are needed. All air cooled cars have oil coolers most motorbikes with big engines, such as ours, have oil coolers, I wonder why? Here is a picture of my set up.

it looks like yours is forward and higher than mine. I have thought of redoing that way come summer.... well maybe after I finishing restoring my '78 gold wing (original owner)

Rodger,

It has 9 inches ground clearance and sits 3 inches forward of the number plate.