Oil Cooler Shield?

[Mg2015]

Is anybody looking into sources for some sort of shield for the front oil cooler? I have not really investigated it on my car, but I can't believe that something could not be rigged up that would protect the cooler w/o impeding air flow. Waiting for the rock salt to be washed away so I can drive my car again...

[black335i]

A sponser could make a stainless steel guard but if you hit the car hard in that area nothing will likely help. Best thing might be to reposition the cooler to a safer area

[shivaswrath]

Can make a front facing louver shield to protect, but these posts are with straight up road debris.
Drive any sedan over road debris fast enough and something will go wrong...

[apexit]

Years ago I had a dieselgeek skid plate on my 04 jetta. It was like 1/4" and weighed prob 15lbs or so and tied into the subframe. It def did it's job, I remember one time on the highway I hit something hard enough to make the car bounce up a bit and there was no damage.

The key to this will be to tie it into something solid and find a way to keep the air moving.

[afadeev]

This is definitely needed, and I would buy one for my F80 in a heart beat.
Subscribing to this thread awaiting the news.

Originally Posted by shivaswrath

Drive any sedan over road debris fast enough and something will go wrong...

The key is how much damage is road debris allowed to inflict on your car.

I've busted more than my share of fog lights and under-engine plastic bits over 25+ years of driving, but never did any permanent damage to the drive train. The closest I ever got was taking a wrong turn down a mountainous dead-end road that had a few stray rocks challenging the integrity of my E36M3 cross-brace, but it stood firm and protected the oil pan. Evidently, there is nothing of the kind under F80, and the oil cooler is the first to take the hit, spill its contents, and potentially inflict terminal damage to the engine. Not acceptable.

a

[SherM4n]

Originally Posted by apexit

Years ago I had a dieselgeek skid plate on my 04 jetta. It was like 1/4" and weighed prob 15lbs or so and tied into the subframe. It def did it's job, I remember one time on the highway I hit something hard enough to make the car bounce up a bit and there was no damage.

The key to this will be to tie it into something solid and find a way to keep the air moving.

I actually emailed Dieselgeek about this a few days ago, and though they said they currently had no plans to expand to BMWs, Jim was going to go to his local dealer to have a look at a car. We'll see if they think it'll be worthwhile for them to do.

[robbo mcs]

What the car needs is something like this, which is the stock undertray on the mini GP2

http://www.minigenuineparts.co.uk/mi...30_566KIT.html

This is a carbon fibre composite, so it is very strong, but flexible and light. It is hard to see in the pictures, but the slots at the front are actually louvres. This has an aerodynamic effect that effectively sucks air from the front of the car through the louvres.

I have one of these cars as a rally car, and the undertray has taken some massive hits of kerbs, rocks, debris and still is intact.

If someone could design something like this with the louvres properly engineered and placed so it allowed flow through the oil cooler it would work well. Effectively just extend the current undertray forward with and additional section with louvres for the oil cooler.

In fact, BMW designed the mini undertray (as the GP mini is a BMW car), so why couldn't they do something similar for the F80/82?

[Salespunk]

Originally Posted by robbo mcs

What the car needs is something like this, which is the stock undertray on the mini GP2

http://www.minigenuineparts.co.uk/mi...30_566KIT.html

This is a carbon fibre composite, so it is very strong, but flexible and light. It is hard to see in the pictures, but the slots at the front are actually louvres. This has an aerodynamic effect that effectively sucks air from the front of the car through the louvres.

I have one of these cars as a rally car, and the undertray has taken some massive hits of kerbs, rocks, debris and still is intact.

If someone could design something like this with the louvres properly engineered and placed so it allowed flow through the oil cooler it would work well. Effectively just extend the current undertray forward with and additional section with louvres for the oil cooler.

In fact, BMW designed the mini undertray (as the GP mini is a BMW car), so why couldn't they do something similar for the F80/82?

That is a very nice piece.

[nbennettksu]

I had an offroad skid plate made for my beast

[pokerface]

Originally Posted by nbennettksu

I had an offroad skid plate made for my beast

Please elaborate! I'm sure curious minds would be interested.

[nbennettksu]

Originally Posted by pokerface

Please elaborate! I'm sure curious minds would be interested.

lol I was kidding I understand that this (extremely bad ass car) is not a tank, and I can not run over boulders. I also realize it is not a submarine, and I should't drive through deep water

[GrussGott]

Originally Posted by nbennettksu

lol I was kidding I understand that this (extremely bad ass car) is not a tank, and I can not run over boulders. I also realize it is not a submarine, and I should't drive through deep water

wait, what??? COME ON BMW!

You would really think a track-biased car could ford a river - sheesh, at least a tributary.

[khanhdom]

I'm picking up my F83 Thursday and my friend who's a machinist says he will be able to fab something up where it's aerodynamic and let more airflow into the oil cooler and also protect it with some kind of shield. I'll keep ya updated.

[Mandi90TT]

Originally Posted by nbennettksu

lol I was kidding I understand that this (extremely bad ass car) is not a tank, and I can not run over boulders. I also realize it is not a submarine, and I should't drive through deep water

Nobody (reasonable) is asking for a car that can run over boulders, or even a car that could survive running over the serious road debris that has caused at least 2 engine failures (12' long pipes, etc...)

However, the oil cooler does seem to be in a pretty vulnerable position, and I don't think anyone will argue that oil is somewhat vital to the engine remaining in operating condition. And by 'pretty vulnerable position', it appears to me that some lesser types of road debris could easily seriously damaged the oil cooler. I'm thinking things like baseball sized rocks, chucks of ice that fall from the back of over cars during winter, etc...

It looks, to my non-engineer eye, that a simple piece of aluminum or steel could be made to go over that area and provide some slightly greater protection, without adding significant weight to the vehicle, nor seriously degrading the airflow over the cooler, and also not allowing the F8x to run over boulders....

[dmk08]

Originally Posted by Dave 90TT

Nobody (reasonable) is asking for a car that can run over boulders, or even a car that could survive running over the serious road debris that has caused at least 2 engine failures (12' long pipes, etc...)

However, the oil cooler does seem to be in a pretty vulnerable position, and I don't think anyone will argue that oil is somewhat vital to the engine remaining in operating condition. And by 'pretty vulnerable position', it appears to me that some lesser types of road debris could easily seriously damaged the oil cooler. I'm thinking things like baseball sized rocks, chucks of ice that fall from the back of over cars during winter, etc...

It looks, to my non-engineer eye, that a simple piece of aluminum or steel could be made to go over that area and provide some slightly greater protection, without adding significant weight to the vehicle, nor seriously degrading the airflow over the cooler, and also not allowing the F8x to run over boulders....

But its been like this on the F10 since what 12? If it was such a bad design causing engine replacements you don't think they would have repeated it? At least thats my thinking.

[Mandi90TT]

Originally Posted by dmk08

But its been like this on the F10 since what 12? If it was such a bad design causing engine replacements you don't think they would have repeated it? At least thats my thinking.

I don't know much about the F10, all I can see is what I see on the F8x, and to me, it looks like an easy, low cost solution to something that may or may not be a problem. Low chance of occurring, but if it occurs, very costly damage, so why not spend $50 for insurance/possible protection?

($50 is a random, wild-ass guess)

[dmk08]

Originally Posted by Dave 90TT

I don't know much about the F10, all I can see is what I see on the F8x, and to me, it looks like an easy, low cost solution to something that may or may not be a problem. Low chance of occurring, but if it occurs, very costly damage, so why not spend $50 for insurance/possible protection?

($50 is a random, wild-ass guess)

Because I pay monthly for insurance and they can fit the bill if it happens.

[JoeFromPA]

Originally Posted by GrussGott

wait, what??? COME ON BMW!

You would really think a track-biased car could at least ford a river - sheesh, at least a tributary.

I have forded what I would consider to be minor tributaries in my m3. The trick is to carry momentum and use high revs but no throttle input to create a negative intake vacuum so no water is sucked in.

[Mandi90TT]

Originally Posted by dmk08

Because I pay monthly for insurance and they can fit the bill if it happens.

I'm sure it won't affect your rates....

Plus, you'll be w/o your M for a good few weeks, at least.

[dmk08]

Originally Posted by Dave 90TT

I'm sure it won't affect your rates....

Plus, you'll be w/o your M for a good few weeks, at least.

Well.. in the 1/10000++ chance I hit the debris I have accident forgiveness brah!

And I'm sure my dealer would give me a nice loaner.

[Mandi90TT]

Originally Posted by dmk08

Well.. in the 1/10000++ chance I hit the debris I have accident forgiveness brah!

And I'm sure my dealer would give me a nice loaner.

Yeah, I've been that route, when one of the wastegates blew on the turbos on my brand new M4, 10 miles from picking it up from the dealership, and they had to source a new turbo (yes, a new turbo, for a broken wastegate, b/c the wastegate is integrated into the turbo) from Germany. 1.5 weeks later, I finally get to drive my brand new M4. And I spent the majority of that time driving around a 328 b/c that was all they had as loaners. Blah.

Anyways, I don't understand why anyone would be against this, but whatever.

[Kevlar]

They used to have one of these for the E36... it was meant to reduce the chance of debris doing damage but if you run over a parking stump, you are still SOL.