G37 Oil Cooler & Transmission Cooler
Stillen Transmission Cooler
In our last article we finished installing our upgraded transmission from Level 10 and we unlocked more power with some tuning from UpRev.  During our tuning session, we were able to get three runs on the dyno before we had to shut things down due to the oil temps exceeding 240 degrees. Additionally our new transmission was subjected to 220+ degree temps (as measured by our new Autometer trans temp gauge) in stop-and-go summer traffic on our drive home after the install.  Granted, the back-to-back dyno runs might be an abnormal condition for most street driven G37’s but stop-and-go traffic is a certainty, so we’d like to address both issues with an oil cooler and transmission cooler.
Stillen Oil Cooler
Stillen’s in-house 19 row x 11.25″ oil cooler core; it’s part of their Gold series kit and a necessity for our project.

When Stillen was in the testing phase of their Supercharger systems for the 370z and G37, they absolutely flogged their test mule on the El Torro airbase to ensure OEM reliability.  To achieve that durability, they installed external oil and, for the automatics, a transmission cooler . We’re going to do the same with our build.  To keep an eye on those temps, we’re going to add an oil temp gauge for real time data and finally, mount both the new oil temp gauge and the trans temp gauge we installed with our prior cooling upgrades.

Stillen oil cooler thermostatic sandwich plate
The thermostatic sandwich plate adapter feeds oil through the factory oil filter location and is held in place with a sleeve nut that both secures the adapter and is the new mounting location for the oil filter.

Stillen offers three different oil cooler options for the 370z/G37. Two are made by Swedish manufacturer Setrab who works with OEM’s like Aston-Martin, AMG Mercedes, Lamborghini and Ferrari.  The third kit is Stillen’s own in-house design using a private-label core with 19 rows and its 11.25” they call their Gold series kit (Part #: 400632).  For our street purposed project, we opted for Stillen’s Gold series kit. It should provide more than enough cooling for that extra margin of safety for those dyno runs and south of the border speed tests.

The oil cooler works by tapping the oil fed through the oil filter using a thermostatic sandwich plate adapter.  The hot oil is fed through the supplied Goodridge stainless lines and A/N hardware to the cooler mounted in front of the radiator using Stillen’s vehicle specific bracket. The cool oil is then fed back to the engine through the same sandwich plate.  The thermostatic sandwich plate also has a bypass to prevent over-cooling the oil since over-cool oil has the negative effect of delaying engine warm-up and excessive wear.

A quick summary of the coolers from Kyle Millen:

Autometer transmission temp gauge
From our last article on cooling: Autometers Elite transmission temperature gauge measuring from 100-260 degrees. For more information on the install of the temp sender and gauge see our other cooling article by clicking the image of the gauge above.

1 comment

  1. It’s a very helpful blog to know how to cooler engine oil and transmission fluid works. thanks for explaining.

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