I bought an oil filter adapter intended for use on a 5.7 diesel back in the 70's when I worked at my hometown Chev/Olds dealership. It was supposed to go on my 66 442. I never did put it on and now some decades later I'm thinking about it again. Is there anything to be gained by using this or will it just add a restriction in the oil flow and leave some residual oil in the system every time I change oil?

 

The only way to know for sure is to measure the oil temperature. Conventional oil shouldn't exceed 250 °F.

However, Olds engines don't usually have high oil temperature unless they are heavily loaded or run at higher rpm.

Even if you have one of those situations, a work-around would be to use synthetic oil, which can take 50 °F higher operating temperature than dino oil without degrading. A lower temperature coolant thermostat lowers oil temperature a bit as well.

Yes, there will be a loss of oil pressure if you install a cooler. A good stand-alone oil thermostat, as made by Canton or Improved Racing, will cost about 2 to 3 psi and an adequately-sized plate cooler will use up about 0.5 psi.

 

Under normal conditions it will add little benefit yet it adds a potential failure point. I used one but was doing a fair amount of towing.

 

That's a cool part that is quite rare. As others said the only reason you would need to use an oil cooler is if you are towing often.

 

Well, only as rare as Olds diesel motors - they were installed on every one built.

 

I'm gonna go ahead and guess that it wouldn't be of much use unless you're going road racing. In the kind of driving most of us do, I can't really see the point.

 

Thanks for the comments. I hadn't thought about needing to use a thermostat to keep the oil from circulating constantly so it can reach the proper operating temperature asap. I won't be pulling a trailer or doing any prolonged high speed driving and for the most part the summer temperature is in the 20's Celsius when I'll be driving. I'm going to put the adapter back in the box and stick it on the shelf.
Jim