330 GTC twin oil coolers

One of my Coventry/Mocal oil coolers appears to be leaking (not from the pipe fittings themselves). Is there a source for these little coolers? I haven’t checked with any suppliers yet, thought I’d ask here first in case anyone knows of a source. I have no idea if these can be re-cored like water radiators? Certainly there’s more pressure in the oil coolers that a normal water radiator. I have heard that these same coolers were used on MGB’s at some point (?), so I may look at Moss Motors.

I suppose I could use this as an excuse to re-plumb the car with a later system where the oil cooler was integrated into the bottom of the radiator, but what’s the fun of that? Besides, I can’t imagine that would be anything other than prohibitively expensive.

Anyone have any experience with these little coolers?

Thanks,
Kevin

 

Yes, I have low oil temps with this set up. Am toying with the idea of simply removing the leaking cooler from the circuit. Easy way is to simply block off the lines at the oil cooler fittings. That way the cooler is still in place for aesthetics. Early 330 GTC’s apparently had one cooler, then they went to two coolers, and eventually went to the integrated cooler for the later 330 GTC’s. This is per the 330 GTC As-Built configuration guide by Clete Gardenhour:

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Thanks Ed. Will give you a call.

 

I fabricated a hinged plywood flap for the radiator on my MGB (lived in Massachusetts at the time and it got cold in the winter). I simply slid it down in front of the radiator and air flow kept it in place. It covered about 80% of the radiator. On warmer days, I could flip the top flap down to open up more of the radiator to the air. That got me through many, many cold winters. Never failed. Sometimes the simplest solutions work the best.

 

After Ed Montini confirmed that the coolers are the same as used on MGB’s, I then started wondering about the fitting sizes on the coolers and hoping they were standard 1/2” BSP, but knowing Ferrari wasn’t always consistent with parts on these old cars, I wanted to be sure. Should I just go ahead and disconnect the leaking cooler to check fitting type/measurement? As I was looking more closely at the coolers, I realized near the top of the non-leaking cooler (with a Mocal sticker on it), there was actually still a barcoded tag on the side. And guess what…the two part numbers on the tag correspond exactly to the 13-row oil coolers stocked by every MGB/British Leyland parts supplier out there. So I picked the one that could get me the cooler in one business day (we all like instant gratification, right?), and so I will be able to replace the leaking oil cooler this coming week. And based on the date stamped on the tag on the Mocal cooler, it was replaced back in the early 2000’s so hopefully it won’t need attention any time soon. Looks exactly like the one that is leaking that has the old Coventry tag on it. So, for $65 including shipping, I’ll hopefully have this little oil leak resolved. Damn cheap for a part for a Ferrari! And virtually identical to the original factory-installed coolers.

Oh, and I found a blanking cover plate for these coolers for only $20 on another site, so ordered that as well. Snaps on and off so will be useful to get the oil up to higher temps (especially in cooler weather) while still having both oil coolers connected and operating as per factory installation. So, total cost to fix leak plus allow higher oil temps will be less than $100….if I manage to not screw up the removal and replacement operation which is never a sure thing.

Thanks everyone for your comments and advice.

 

https://clarkandclarkinc.com/catalog/detail/oil-cooler-shroudblanking-plate

 

Oil cooler and blanking plate both arrived. The blanking plate is actually plastic/vinyl with foam on the inside surface. Very easy to install on the cooler and the foam will keep it from rattling around and should keep 99% of the air from going through the cooler. Really nice pieces and all for under $90 including shipping!

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Well, I am just now finally getting around to oil cooler replacement (long story for another time) and have decided to pull the cooler oil lines and redo them and also clean up the "t-fittings" connecting the coolers to the oil lines. So...some questions for those of you with the twin oil cooler setup.

1) What is the proper finish/color on the steel "T-fittings" pieces that connect the upper and lower oil lines to the coolers? Black? Clear Zinc? Cadmium plating? I'm having a hard time finding photos at that level of detail and have no idea how these are supposed to be finished.

2) Should the oil lines themselves be stainless aeroquip-type lines or simply black cloth covered lines? I'm trying to make it look like a factory installation, so if anyone has an unmolested or correctly restored 330 GTC with twin oil coolers, I'd love to get some photos of your installation. My current oil lines are heavy duty black rubber with MADE IN USA on them so pretty easy to assume those aren't factory correct.

And in removing the steel fittings from the existing coolers, I discovered that the newer oil cooler has a stripped lower fitting, so I'll be buying another cooler as well. Not expensive and then I'll have two brand new oil coolers, so hopefully won't have any issues for at least a few years.

And I bought the correct "Coventry Radiator" stickers for them, so if I can get the oil line hose type and steel fittings finish/color correct, I'll be all set....at least on this issue.

Thanks in advance for your help/advise on these items.

Cheers,
Kevin

 

Thanks, Ed! Much appreciated.

 

Thanks Ed. Yep, those are the tags I bought for the coolers….from your recommended source, I believe.

 

Ed - Any idea where I can source the rubber bushings for this installation? I have two that are still OK, but the other six are shot. They are a strange design with the bolts on each end embedded into the rubber….and needless to say, they shred pretty easily when trying to remove them after decades. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login