runt9
Probationary Member
- 8
- 3
- Jun 27, 2026
-
Texas
Hey everyone, I know oil coolers are a common topic here but I'm consistently running into out of date information (notably the Evo 3 OFH being discontinued in 2022). I just recently picked up a 97 Talon TSi AWD with a ton of existing mods and after getting some gauges installed, my oil temps just driving around the neighborhood for 10-20 minutes are getting up into the 250F range and oil pressure is dipping down to the 12-14psi range. While this is fine for street driving, the end goal is to be able to get this car out to an HPDE or two per year reliably, and living in Texas I don't always get the benefit of doing chilly track days.
The car still has the stock oil to water cooler and the stock OFH, which seems like it should be deleted anyways given that after 30 years I can't imagine the rubber seal separating the two fluids is holding up that great and I'd prefer not to mix those two fluids anyways... But for track use, given that the car is sitting at about 300whp (from the previous owner's most recent dyno) and is getting fairly high oil temps on light street driving, my thought is that I would like to go external oil cooler to just... not have to deal with oil temp problems anymore. Living in Texas, I'm not too concerned about the car's oil not getting up to temp, and I want to make sure I have plenty of cooling capacity (especially since that'll help get the oil pressure up a bit alongside some slightly heavier oil).
All that said, the previous guidance seemed to be: delete the factory cooler, get the Evo 3 OFH, and run a Mishimoto or Setrab cooler behind the driver's side headlight (given that this car has a FMIC so there's plenty of space there). With the Evo 3 OFH gone, and it looks like the Evo 8/9 OFH gone, the only remaining OFH I can find that might work is one from Wild Evo that fits Evo 8/9 but it's like $470 for a billet aluminum part and that seems like it might be unnecessary. From some extra googling, I found info stating I could maybe do the Might Max OFH from STMTuned and a Mishimoto sandwich plate but I'm not 100% sure that's going to work either given I can't find any posts or build threads (from my searching, doesn't mean they don't exist) from the past couple years that show that process.
So given the limited availability of previous solutions, is the modern recommendation to go with the Might Max OFH + Sandwich Plate + Setrab Cooler + various hoses and fittings and just get it all working happily together? Or is there some other solution staring me in the face and I haven't searched for the right things yet?
The car still has the stock oil to water cooler and the stock OFH, which seems like it should be deleted anyways given that after 30 years I can't imagine the rubber seal separating the two fluids is holding up that great and I'd prefer not to mix those two fluids anyways... But for track use, given that the car is sitting at about 300whp (from the previous owner's most recent dyno) and is getting fairly high oil temps on light street driving, my thought is that I would like to go external oil cooler to just... not have to deal with oil temp problems anymore. Living in Texas, I'm not too concerned about the car's oil not getting up to temp, and I want to make sure I have plenty of cooling capacity (especially since that'll help get the oil pressure up a bit alongside some slightly heavier oil).
All that said, the previous guidance seemed to be: delete the factory cooler, get the Evo 3 OFH, and run a Mishimoto or Setrab cooler behind the driver's side headlight (given that this car has a FMIC so there's plenty of space there). With the Evo 3 OFH gone, and it looks like the Evo 8/9 OFH gone, the only remaining OFH I can find that might work is one from Wild Evo that fits Evo 8/9 but it's like $470 for a billet aluminum part and that seems like it might be unnecessary. From some extra googling, I found info stating I could maybe do the Might Max OFH from STMTuned and a Mishimoto sandwich plate but I'm not 100% sure that's going to work either given I can't find any posts or build threads (from my searching, doesn't mean they don't exist) from the past couple years that show that process.
So given the limited availability of previous solutions, is the modern recommendation to go with the Might Max OFH + Sandwich Plate + Setrab Cooler + various hoses and fittings and just get it all working happily together? Or is there some other solution staring me in the face and I haven't searched for the right things yet?
