Most use the stock cooler. However, do a search as there is a boat load of prior discussion in this regard. For some, the stock cooler overcools. For others, the stock cooler is inadequate.
Mine overcooled, solved with Van's shutter.
 
What engine are you going with? Seems that oil temps tend to be on the warm side for folks like me with an ECI IO-360 (parallel valve), although I have gotten by with it. Wouldnt cut it for summertime in Phoenix however.

erich
 
erich weaver said:
Seems that oil temps tend to be on the warm side for folks like me with an ECI IO-360 (parallel valve), although I have gotten by with it. Wouldnt cut it for summertime in Phoenix however.

erich
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Except me...Superior IO-360. Way overcooled except on the hottest days. Not sure there is any hard theory as to why. Weird.
 
+1 with Erich Weaver (EDIT Oops meant JonJay). IO-360-M1B from Van. Stock cooler. Overcools, even through summer. Never seen above 190F.
 
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rzbill said:
+1 with Erich Weaver. IO-360-M1B from Van. Stock cooler. Overcools, even through summer. Never seen above 190F.
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I partially blocked the cooler with a piece of .025 stuck on with a dab of RTV. I would install it in the winter and remove for the summer. The shutter made it a lot easier.

My advice, for what that is worth, is for folks to stick with the Van's standard and see how it performs.
 
On my friend's ECI IO-360 RV-8, the stock Vans NDM 7-row cooler was so extremely inadequate, it was almost like having no cooler at all. We installed an expensive, large Stewart Warner cooler to solve that problem, and even after that it still runs pretty warm on hot summer days (220's).

On my factory stock Lycoming O-320, the stock 7-row NDM cooler works perfectly fine, even in Texas summer heat (highest temp I observed was 210 on a long climb on a hot day). Now that cooler autumn temps have arrived, I'm going to have to fashion some kind of shutter/door control to block off some airflow.

It really matters a lot which particular engine you're attempting to cool with the NDM 7-row cooler. For some engines, it's perfect.... and for others, it's woefully undersized.
 
Thanks to everyone for their expert commentary. I'm installing a Superior XPIO-360, will be flying in the northeast, and I think I'll use the Van's cooler. I won't have to modify the baffle, and if it's inadequate, I can upgrade later. Unless of course someone talks me out of it.

Regards,
 
I'd recommend an Aero Classics 9 or 10 row cooler for that engine.

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/eppages/aeroclassiccooler.php

If you stay with the Van's-supplied NDM 7-row, just make sure you cut the opening on the rear baffle for it as high up, and as far outboard as you possibly can while still barely having just enough clearance between the cowl and the oil cooler. That way if you have to open it up larger for a bigger cooler, you can go further inboard with the hole, and the outboard bolt holes you make for the 7-row cooler will still be able to be used for a larger cooler. On a -7, the oil cooler space limit is really caused by the engine mounting tubes on the inboard side conflicting with the oil cooler, so you want to get the cooler as far high and as far outboard as you possibly can. Don't be afraid to cut away at some of the oil cooler mounting flange material to make clearance either, virtually all installations need some of it cut away. I used a belt sander (the round roller outboard edge of the sander) to make nice smooth rounded cutouts in the cooler flanges.
 
I have an ECI IO-360. I used Vans stock cooler and it was inadequate. I switched to an Stewart Warner 10 row and it fixed the problem. I have friends with Lycoming engines and they seem to be too cool but they can block the cooler. If I had to choose, I'd risk picking too much cooler and block it off if needed than too little cooler and cooking your oil or not having the climb performance these planes are supposed to have because you have to step climb to keep temperatures under control...
 
Oil Temp is a function of several things ...

Baffling integrity or the use of a plenum are just as important in oil temperature as the oil cooler. That's why the responses to the initial question vary from "too much cooling" to "insufficient cooling", even on the same model with the same engine. I have a Sam James plenum with the standard Vans oil cooler (Niagara?) and so far it appears my oil temps are too cool. I never see anything above 172F in OA temps of 65F and below.
 
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