You probably already have a pretty good grasp of the differences at this point. Since they use the same core cooler you can pick up the shroud from JR and attach it to the color fittings cooler.

BTR Justin and Kevin Vo came out with youtube install videos of the JR coolers. Maybe if you want a visual on top of the instruction manual that could be a consideration. There are other youtubers who made videos of their colorfittings cooler but I don't know them off the top of my head.

I dislike the fittings on the colorfittings kit. IIRC they use a crush washer at the banjo fittings which I'm not so much a fan of from prior vehicles. CSG Mike also has been on record saying the kit needed safety wire to prevent the banjo bolts from undoing themselves. This apparently has been rectified and is now included in the newer kits.

Biggest consideration for you though is if you'll be driving this car in the colder months in NJ. You're going to have a difficult time getting the oil up to temp regardless which kit you choose during a typical commute. Other 86 drivers I know made block off plates for their front bumper opening to be able to get temps up.

 

That’s very helpful, thank you. I would have figured that with a thermostat plate overcooling the oil in the winter wouldn’t really be an issue. That and what you’re telling me about the fittings has me leaning towards the JR kit.

 

I have the original CF kit.

CF kit uses that banjo bolt style adapters, through my testing banjo bolt's 90° turn is a big limiting factor on oil pressure. I swapped their mocal plate out for HEL plate (straight shot fittings), I saw 5 psi to 10 psi increase in nominal pressure.

Here are my findings:

Banjo bolt 90° fittings @ 230F saw 60psi nominal pressure. (Average)

HEL plate @ 230F saw 70 psi nominal pressure. (Average)

There's problem running JR kit as well, a few users reported JR kit's lines were rubbing against the installation location. Some have reported the lines being punctured, which lead to losing oil pressure instantly (if not starting a fire).

 

There's problem running JR kit as well, a few users reported JR kit's lines were rubbing against the installation location. Some have reported the lines being punctured, which lead to losing oil pressure instantly (if not starting a fire).

Mind linking me to a topic and some pics about this? Also not sure from this post what the hosing is rubbing up against to cause the puncture.

 

I second giving AZP installs a call, they're a JR retailer and they just installed my dual radiator. And I believe they use the JR air cooler on all their race cars (they race a bunch of gen1's in NASA).

While I cannot say much about warm-up for the JR air oil cooler, the dual rad warm-up times (minus the OE heat exchanger) seem to be about the same. Driving around town I've seen temps top out around 190-200*F?

 

The JR kit is likely your better bet. The fittings are 45 degree bends and flow better than the CF kit. They use the same Setrab core. The issue with the JR lines is not the lines fault, but the installation. You REALLY have to be careful (with any oil cooler install) to be sure the lines will not rub against anything. Even though it may not seem "sharp" to you, vibrate the hell out of it and add heat and tension, and pretty much anything will cut through a line. @900BRZ covered this in his videos and I've covered it in my build thread as well. Be careful how you run the lines and use zip ties to hold the lines in place.

Now, even though the JR air to oil cooler says to leave the OE HX in place, I have removed mine. You need to order an oil filter union to get rid of the OE HX and route the coolant hoses back, but I saw 5 to 7 psi bump in oil pressure by eliminating the OE HX. Warm up is slightly longer, but not a concern for me.

 

latapx, thank you for all the build info, very helpful!

I'm getting the JR cooler and plan to remove the OE HX. couple questions:

Where did you get the oil filter union? I see one on the color fittings site but it's out of stock. Looked on the toyota and subaru oem parts sites and it wasn't clear if their bolt for the filter was the correct one.

You show that once the OE HX is removed, the oil filter plate is rubbing on the OE air filter box. Is it usable with that contact or is it required to get an aftermarket intake to provide the room?

The JR kit is likely your better bet. The fittings are 45 degree bends and flow better than the CF kit. They use the same Setrab core. The issue with the JR lines is not the lines fault, but the installation. You REALLY have to be careful (with any oil cooler install) to be sure the lines will not rub against anything. Even though it may not seem "sharp" to you, vibrate the hell out of it and add heat and tension, and pretty much anything will cut through a line. @900BRZ covered this in his videos and I've covered it in my build thread as well. Be careful how you run the lines and use zip ties to hold the lines in place.

Now, even though the JR air to oil cooler says to leave the OE HX in place, I have removed mine. You need to order an oil filter union to get rid of the OE HX and route the coolant hoses back, but I saw 5 to 7 psi bump in oil pressure by eliminating the OE HX. Warm up is slightly longer, but not a concern for me.

 

Regarding the winter months, even with the thermostatic plate, your temp on highway cruising will probably drop to like 160-180, I just tape a sturdy cardboard piece infront of my oil cooler and I have no issues

 

This happened on some brackets under the headlight. Like I said...even if it feels smooth, it can cause damage...mine was caused by the head of a bolt and a bracket. Should have been obvious but I wasn't "looking for it".

 

Scary! I’ll take a look through your build thread. I’m guessing you used something to shield the lines when you replaced them?

 

In city driving...stop and go...oil temps can go over 200 which is fine. Once I just on the highway and hit a steady cruise of 70 to 75 the temp will drop to the 180s. I've never had the temp drop below that on the highway.

 

I sent an email to AZP. I talked to them briefly about oil cooling when they did my alignment a couple weeks ago. I know they use JR oil/air with the OE heat exchanger removed on their car. I didn’t really consider the dual radiator/cooler initially but that’s something I’ll look into also.

 

If you're dailying it in the winter, I'd suggest doing either
1. air-oil cooler w/ OE HX
2. dual radiator w/out OE HX

 

 

@latapx that’s interesting on the lines. It is definitely tight under the headlight… I positioned the sleeves on each line such that they start before going under the headlight and end on the other side… I.e. the whole “under the headlight” area has the sleeve.

I took my bumper off and inspected the lines a couple months ago, but didn’t remove the headlight. Everything looked fine, but now I’m wondering if it has rubbed through the sleeve and line potentially….

 

The spot where my lines were rubbing is obscured by the windshield washer filler neck in the photo above. There is a bracket and bolt...those 2 pieces are what did it. By only having 1 line under there it helps also.

 

 

I talked to the folks at AZP. Their recommendation was to RUN Jackson oil to air cooler without the stock, heat exchanger, and then block off cooler using corrugated plastic in the winter. Their opinion is that removing the HE is both removing a potential point of failure and boosting the oil pressure to possibly improve reliability of oil delivery. Their experience was that oil will get up to temp just fine in the winter with the cooler blocked off.

Their opinion was that there was some extra inherent risk with the oil to water combo cooler because in the unlikely event of an internal failure, the odds of catastrophic damage were high.

I’ll have them order me what I need and install it sometime over the next couple weekends. I’ll try to document the HE delete because I’ve never seen anyone post photos or vids of installing a JR cooler with the HE removed.

 

Agree with that route 100%!

 

Can anybody confirm whether the Jackson Racing air/oil cooler kit will work with the OEM heat exchanger removed?

 

It does, bit clearance between oil filler neck and back of air box is TIGHT.

 

I have mine removed and it def still works. I also found that the oil fill cap is a bit snug without the OEHX

 

This is how tight it is...I had dents in the back of the airbox...was afraid of breaking fittings. Installed perrin intake

 

Perhaps shaving down the outer edges of the oil fill cap will allow you to rotate the assembly away from the air box...but it was too tight for my liking.

 

Looks like an aftermarket oil cap would help.

The one from Apex’i seems to be a bit smaller and would provide some additional clearance.

https://www.86worx.com/a-pexi-oil-filler-cap.html

 

Added the GR intake for line clearance and removed the factory heat exchanger.

Getting a bit of oil seeping from under the filter though and I feel like it’s as tight as I would normally tighten in.

Did I do something wrong here? Lol

 

Take off filter...wipe surface dry and reinstall. Any tiny bit of oil left behind will work it's way out.

 

Bumping an old thread. Does anyone have experience with the latest version (allegedly updated) of the CF cooler? I’m kinda leaning toward that one myself.

 

That would be great if you could provide which OEM oil filter union you used!

Gotcha, is it doable to remove the OE HX in the future, after the initial JR kit installation with the OE HX left in place? I have a GR intake that is backordered but I'd like to install the JR cooler now.

 

I did it after the fact...not a big deal. You can go to my build thread and see the info there.

 

That's great to know, I'll take a look at your build thread and leave the OE HX in place until I get my intake

 

Subaru Genuine 15018AA090 Union... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071NVNGCH?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

Thank you much latapx! 🤩