Is the oil cooler necessary?

[Cloggy Saint]

As above, and if not, what's the best/easiest/neatest way of getting rid?

[maxfield]

Why would you want to get rid of it?

BMW obviously put it there for a reason.

[Grrrmachine]

It's not necessary these days; it was fitted to cool Eighties oils, and oil technology has progressed significantly since then to the point that it's redundant.

On the other hand, if it ain't broke don't fix it. There's no saving by removing it, so I'd leave it in place. IIRC you can unscrew everything from the block to allow you to fit the oil filter directly on instead.

[Cloggy Saint]

The cooler that's attached to the engine looks as if it could need replacing, it's pretty beaten up and gungy. I figured if I could save some $$ and bay clutter by removing it I would. Any more info' on direct fitting the oil filter?

[DanThe]

IIRC you need an adaptor from a 2.0 engine that screws onto the block

[Grrrmachine]

I've not done it myself, but if you look at the kits for sale you'll see that at present, your oil filter screws onto a housing, which then screws into the block via a big (M14?) threaded sleeve. When you take that housing off, you'll need to find a replacement for that threaded sleeve, which is what Dan is talking about.

My 2.5 engine came from an E34 and didn't have an oil cooler fitted, so there should be plenty around to nick the sleeve off.

[maxfield]

http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?mod ... g=11&fg=30

Basically you would remove number 3 (the housing) and screw oil filter directly to the block.

May need to buy a threaded piece from BMW or might be able to use what's there.

[Cloggy Saint]

Cheers, I'll remove the housing and see what I'm faced with.

[jmc330i]

As above, you remove the cooler take off plate (no.3 in the realoem link above) altogether and use the threaded adaptor from an M20B20, which screws into the block and then the filter screws on to it. I did this on my B25 and have run it fine without the cooler for the last 5 years plus.

[Brianmoooore]

Correct M20B20 part is just a double ended male coupler, and is only a couple of pounds from BMW.
One advantage of removing the cooler is that there is less residual old oil left in the system when you do an oil change to contaminate your new oil.
The 325 E30 system has a thermostat built into the filter adaptor which only ever opens if the car is pushed really hard, so most of the time a cooler is just a vulnerable ornament.
Wasn't fitted on the M50, 52 etc., so not really needed on the M20 either, even if you use the cheapest supermarket oil you can find, which will still be far superior to the oil that the M20 was designed to use.

[Cloggy Saint]

That's good enough for me then, it's going! Does anyone have a part # or realoem link for this coupler, I can't find it. Thanks.

[Brianmoooore]

Hidden away as #5 on here: http://bmwfans.info/parts/catalog/E30/T ... ine_block/