INA oil cooler install

Has anyone installed this? I'm looking for advice on how to mount the oil cooler itself. Issam suggested an L bracket on the frame rail but I have no idea where that is, if there is already a hole or if I need to drill, what hardware to use etc.

Any advice would be really appreciated!

The price is now $500 but he doesn't provide brackets. The parts seem reasonable. Just need to figure out the best way to mount it.

speedster said:

The price is now $500 but he doesn't provide brackets. The parts seem reasonable. Just need to figure out the best way to mount it.

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Silly question, but have you asked Issam to explain? He definitely answers questions assuming a very deep level of knowledge on your end, which can be intimidating - but he's always slowed down and given me all the details every time I've told him I don't know what he's talking about .

Gotta email him directly

I got my kit from Issam through my Spanish dealer.

This is what comes with the kit:



The radiator itself, you can now choose a black Setrab core, but the Mocal is just as good:



Prior to the install I wrapped each fitting with tape to avoid any scratch:



In addition I bought some aluminium hose separators on eBay for a cleaner look, no indications or instructions are included in the kit.

Because I am not running a FMIC and I don´t plan to install one I thought that the best place for the cooler was behind the front lower grill where it receives a huge air flow.

A friend of me designed a U-shaped bracket, which wasn´t included in the kit, that we powdercoated later in black.



It was a tight fit for the cooler, but we wanted that, also on each support from the cooler to the bracket we added rubber to dampen any possible vibration and used nylon nuts to avoid any loosening problems in the future. ANY of this hardware was included, remind this.

Some modifications to the front bar behind the bumper were needed:



And the first test fit, this was just to measure the length of the lines, I didn´t get much left from the lines included, take this into account when thinking about where to place the cooler:



The sandwich plate torqued at 30Nm:



The lines attached to the sandwich plate and the new oil filter installed:



Because of the sandwich plate 1.8 20VT filters are required since they are female type and not male type like the stock 2.0 TSI filters, the good part is that they are cheaper, the part number is Mahle 719/30, this filter WASN´T included in the kit.

Another shot:



Because of the lines touching the frame on some places you will get some kind of whining noise, I got used to it, but at first it was annoying for sure.

Some trimming was required on the engine cover to accomodate the new filter:



And the final pic with it installed:



Hope this helps to any user that is considering this kit and a DIY, there A LOT of things that need to get considered and planned before the install so it all goes smooth and trouble free.

I don´t regret of buying and installing this, the oil temperatures now are perfect and I am much more comfortable pushing the car hard in the summer months. I just wish someone had written a post like this to know all the details of the install before I started mine, hopefully this will help some of you.

Any question please ask :thumbup:

This is fantastic. Thank you. Did you need to drill the car or were there already holes for mounting your bracket?

Did you cut off part of that front rail where you attached it?

speedster said:

This is fantastic. Thank you. Did you need to drill the car or were there already holes for mounting your bracket?

Did you cut off part of that front rail where you attached it?

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If you look at this pic I posted:



You can see that I removed a section of about 30-40cm from the front rail, necessary because of the design of my bracket, if using another one maybe you can keep it but bolting the radiator to the bar could be a bit tricky in that case.

There are many ways you can use to place the radiator in place, depending in which one you choose some modifications would be required to the front bar.

There were no holes, I just measured the bracket and drilled the bar.

Have you logged the difference yet?

Bendover said:

Isn't he providing a kit? Shouldn't he be supplying all required brackets and instructions to fit the cooler?

After hearing several horror stories regarding his components on the NLS TSI cars + one of the high profile TTRS builds, I'd personally stay away.

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Proof?

Mr.President said:

Have you logged the difference yet?

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Quoting myself from other thread

mg_90 said:

I don´t have a K04, yet , but with the stock IHI I could see the oil temperatures going above 130ºC easily, sometimes 135ºC, which also raised the water temperature since they share the heat exchanger and I wasn´t comfortable pushing the car in that situation...

After adding the INA oil cooler, quite expensive kit but very well put together, I really can´t see oil temperatures going higher than 120ºC.

My recommendation if tracking frequently is an oil cooler and like I will be doing a W/M setup to add an extra safe, and an upgraded IC of course.

Panda´s experience helped me to decide to put the oil cooler and I am really happy I did.

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I can see the oil temperatures because my car has an oil temperature sensor from the factory.

Bendover said:

Isn't he providing a kit? Shouldn't he be supplying all required brackets and instructions to fit the cooler?

After hearing several horror stories regarding his components on the NLS TSI cars + one of the high profile TTRS builds, I'd personally stay away.

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Hmm. Did your other account get banned. Are you a competitor?

It looks nice, but I don't see anything specifically INA in the kit. BAT MOCAL core unit, standard fittings, sandwich adapter. You can piece all of this together yourself if you wanted.

Bendover said:

Yeah my crew219 account was banned when I argued that Zach couldn't have gained 2mpg from his Uni DSG flash as claimed.

Never hid behind this name; the first post made on this account made it very evident who I am.

Not a competitor to Issam. Just pointing out that those parts look like very common off the shelf components.

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Yeah. They pretty much are. You raise a good point. You could probably assemble a kit like this for slightly less maybe $50 - $100. I'm not quite at that level of DIY just yet so don't mind paying a little extra for some support and a semi plug and play kit.

mg_90 said:

If you look at this pic I posted:

You can see that I removed a section of about 30-40cm from the front rail, necessary because of the design of my bracket, if using another one maybe you can keep it but bolting the radiator to the bar could be a bit tricky in that case.

There are many ways you can use to place the radiator in place, depending in which one you choose some modifications would be required to the front bar.

There were no holes, I just measured the bracket and drilled the bar.

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Speaking of support, I spoke to Issam and he said a few things. One is that the filter you mentioned is for 1.8T and not recommended for our engine. He said we should just use the stock filter and remove the insert to make it female.

The other thing he said is that the oil lines should run into the top of the oil cooler not from the bottom. Otherwise the pump has to work against gravity to move oil through the cooler.

speedster said:

Speaking of support, I spoke to Issam and he said a few things. One is that the filter you mentioned is for 1.8T and not recommended for our engine. He said we should just use the stock filter and remove the insert to make it female.

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I have several emails from him telling me to use those filters, so now we should use the OEM without the insert? He could tell that to previous customers as well...