The BMW 135i / 335i comes from the factory with a small oil cooler with a core size of 8.75" x 4.75" x 1" (222mm x 121mm x 26mm) which comes out to 41 cubic inches of core. The Competition Series Twin Oil Cooler system features two HUGE identical oil coolers 11" x 8" x 2" (280mm x 203mm x 51mm) with a core size of 9"x8"x2" (229mm x 203mm x 51mm) each. Each oil cooler comes out to 144 cubic inches which is 3.5 times larger than the factory unit each! Since there are two oil coolers, you have a combined 288 cubic inches of oil cooler core, over 700% more core than the factory oil cooler. Through 3 years of development and testing, the Competition Series Oil Cooler has kept the Evolution Racewerks Time Attack 135i piloted by Achilles Motorsports driver VJ Mirzayan from seeing the dreaded limp mode issue due to oil temperatures. Regardless of conditions (ambient temperatures and track lay out), it has never exceeded 259F!!! This is in 110F+ track temperatures and wide open throttle pulls all the way to 6 gear (160+ mph). Through test cars used in their beta testing program, results are getting independently gathered, unbiased data showing the same exact thing.
Each Competition Series Twin Oil Cooler mounts to its own box enclosure. Louvers on the backside of the box enclosure ensures airflow through the oil coolers while protecting the oil cooler from road debris, especially debris kicked up from the front tires. During initial testing, the box enclosure had a big window (open hole) in the back for airflow. However, throughout the race season, it took so much abuse from rocks, tire and other debris kicked up from the front tires Evolution Racewerks redesigned it and replaced the oil coolers on their Time Attack 135i. Thus, instead of a big hole for airflow to flow through, we used louvers instead to protect the back side of the oil coolers. This effectively solved the issue without any affect on performance. Oil temperatures as well as oil temperature deltas stayed the same.
Traditionally, oil lines would typically be routed so that the oil gets split to each of the oil coolers (each oil cooler handling 50% of the oil) due to ease of building the system and lower costs. Our Competition Series Twin Oil Cooler System however are setup in a "sequential" configuration. What this means is that oil travels from one cooler to the other thereby 100% of the oil goes through both oil coolers. Our testing have shown significant increases in efficiency and performance running a "sequential" configuration. Our new CNC machined oil filter housing adapter (included in the kit) makes this possible.
- COMPLETELY SOLVES THE DREADED LIMP MODE ISSUE found on the N54/N55 engines due to oil temperature!
- TWO large 9"x8"x2" (11"x8"x2" with end tanks) Oil Coolers. Factory stock single oil cooler 8.75"x4.75"x1"
- Over 700% larger (combined twin coolers) than the factory oil coolers!!!
- Twin coolers have a total of 288 cubic inches of core! Factory oil cooler has 41 cubic inches.
- Available with no finish (silver) or Type III Hard Black Anodizing (for stealth). Hard anodizing helps improve durability of intercooler fins against damage from road debris (rocks).
- Enclosed box with venting louvers - protects oil coolers from road debris without sacrificing airflow!
- High Quality Goodrich AN Fittings in Black Anodize - NO China made fittings used here.
- High End Goodrich Nylon Braided Oil Lines - much better than Stainless Steel braided Oil Lines
- Optional Carbon Fiber or Aluminum Shrouding to direct airflow through the oil coolers for improved efficiency.
- Includes all hardware needed to install. No need to go hunting for hardware to finish the installation.
- Developed under the harsh racing conditions on the Evolution Racewerks 135i Race Car piloted by Achilles Motorsports Driver VJ Mirzayan.
- Limited Lifetime Warranty.
Fits The Following Vehicles:
- 2007 - 2011 BMW E90 E92 E93 335i
- 2008 - 2011 BMW E82 E88 135i
- 2011+ BMW 1 Series M Coupe or 1M Coupe
Available Options:
- Black Type-III Hard Anodized Finish - The oil coolers come standard with no finish (silver color). Just like our intercoolers, we're now offering them with the Type III Hard Anodize Black for guys who want the stealthy look. With the Type III Hard Anodized finish, it is very hard to tell there is an aftermarket oil cooler on the car. Another added benefit of the Type III Hard Anodizing is that it makes the oil cooler fins harder and stronger, which makes it less prone to getting bent/damaged from road debris like rocks etc... We opted for the Type III Hard Anodizing over the Type II color anodizing which is only asthetics for this purpose only (even though it cost us considerably more to anodize Type III than Type II). We started using the Type III Hard Anodized Black finish on our rally car customer's FMICs years ago. Rally cars go through tremendous amounts of abuse and it was quite common to take hits on the intercooler from debris on the course. In fact after 1 event, we would often see a large portion of the intercooler fins bent (killing efficiency) and fixing them after each event was quite tedious. After the Type III Hard Anodizing, we notice a big difference as there was considerably less damage. Even after hits and even accidents, the FMIC could take more abuse than before. Testing has shown no noticeable ill-effect from the Type III Hard Anodizing on performance (regular spray paint etc... has shown ill-effects on performance). Eventually, we started utilizing the same Type III Hard Anodize Black on our street cars and FMIC applications. It's only natural we would offer the same finish for our oil coolers.
- Competition Series Oil Cooler Shrouding Kit - When the oil cooler box enclosures are used in conjunction with our optional ducting shroud kits, the oil cooler box enclosure actually seals and forces all the airflow captured by the ducting shrouds through the oil cooler cores. Improves the oil cooler's effectiveness and efficiency. These are model and bumper specific so make sure you select the correct shroud kit option above.
- Oil Cooler Retrofit Kit For Early 2006 Model 335i With No Factory Oil Cooler - The very first 335i built in early 2006 did not come from the factory with an oil cooler. With the N54 engine running very hot, BMW quickly realized that this was a big mistake. An oil cooler was quickly added the next year. For those who do not have the factory oil cooler, you will need to convert your car's oil filter housing to a later model year that has external ports for an oil cooler. We are now offering these brand new genuine BMW parts to make the conversion. Parts included: Oil Filter Housing, Oil Cooler Thermostat housing, gaskets and hardware.
Everything needed to install is included with the kits. No low quality, cheap fittings and lines made overseas used here. High quality Goodrich anodized black AN fittings and high end Goodrich Nylon Braided Lines are used throughout the kit. These high end Goodrich Nylon Braided lines are the new thing to use for oil lines as they have many advantages and no disadvantages (other than higher price) than traditional stainless steel braided lines. The main advantage is that they are lightweight. Nylon is considerably lighter than stainless steel. The second advantage is that Nylon Braided Lines are stronger than traditional stainless steel lines. Third, is that Nylon Braided Lines do not fray. Stainless steel braided lines will start to fray and those who are familiar with stainless steel braided lines know what we're talking about. The stainless steel mesh in the lines start to "fray" or break and thus you get poked with the broken ends. Saves a lot of bloody fingers. Fourth, they are abrasive resistant. Since stainless steel lines will act like a saw when it comes in contact with anything and will eventually cut anything it contacts whereas the Nylon braided lines are soft and pretty much won't ever do it. Fifth, heat resistance. Nylon Braided lines can withstand more heat and retain the heat inside the line better. Stainless steel lines tends to release the heat inside the lines, thus when you touch the lines, they tend to be hot. With all these advantages of the Nylon Braided Lines over stainless steel lines, it's the obvious choice for an Evolution Racewerks product.
The Dreaded Limp Mode....Those of you who track your cars know what we're talking about. Many nightmares and sleepless nights. Plenty of days, waking up before the sun comes out, loading up your gear and heading to the racetrack (sometimes hours away) to go race only to be ruined by the dreaded limp mode on the very first hot lap. Hundred of dollars wasted on a track day you can't enjoy because your car can't make a single lap under full power. The disappointment. We felt it. We know how you feel. This was our life the very first year (2008) we started racing our 135i. Every single race, we fought it. The dreaded limp mode. Our driver would shift at 4,500 rpm and every other lap would be a cool down lap. Life was miserable. For those who don't know, limp mode is when your ECU detects something is wrong and cuts almost all power to the car in hopes of saving itself. What was causing it? Oil temperatures. We were easily seeing over 260F even on a cold day. By 265-270, limp mode would hit and that was the end of it. We did additional testing on a dyno by doing constant runs and datalogging what was going on which confirmed that oil temperatures were the culprit. Interesting thing was that when the car hit limp mode, power would drop to only 50whp every single time.
Once, we figured out it was oil temperatures causing the limp mode, we went straight to work trying to solve the issue. We started off first by adding a small auxilary oil cooler in conjunction with the factory oil cooler. This was a laughable attempt. This did absolutely nothing noticeable. The next race, limp mode just like before. Our next attempt, we thought maybe the factory oil cooler just wasn't really efficient. Thus, we changed that out to a new, larger unit. With the new oil cooler with the small auxilary oil cooler, we finally saw a slight drop in oil temperatures. However, it wasn't much and again, at the next race, limp mode. Our next attempt saw us building ducting shrouds to channel cold air to the oil coolers. Again, this saw another drop in oil temperatures and better ability to fight off "heatsoak" but still, not enough. The car would still limp at the track. Fustration was setting in for us. Many long days going to the track being ruined by limp mode. This was our 2008 race season.
With the 2009 race season looming, we decided to go all out. We were tired of limp mode. Tired of trying to get the car to do 1 lap under full power. Tired of finishing in the middle of the pack. This was when the twin oil coolers was born. We scrapped the small auxilary oil cooler and added an identical oil cooler on the driver's side. Thus, we had 2 large oil coolers, one on each corner. The first race, everyone though we were crazy running 2 large oil coolers., yet SUCCESS! Oil temperatures had dropped significantly. We were now able to do more than 1 lap under full power.
Yet, this was not the end of the limp mode journey. We're located in Southern California and thus, we frequently see ambient temperatures over 100F. Our race tracks are also all located in the high desert region. Perfect for some extreme testing. Even though the limp mode issue was now under control with the twin oil coolers, on very hot days, it would rear its ugly head. Also, on certain high speed tracks where we would be at WOT for long periods of time, like Autoclub Speedway's oval configuration (think Nascar), we would occassionally hit limp mode. Thus, we spent the entire 2009 season refining the twin oil cooler system. Originally, we had routed the oil lines so that the oil split at the oil filter housing. This originally started because of our earlier attempts to keep the factory oil cooler. Yet it dawned on us that this was not efficient. In essense, since the oil was being split in half, each going to one of the oil coolers, we weren't cooling all the oil with both coolers. Granted, it still worked since each cooler is now only charged to cool down half the oil in the system but it was inefficient. Thus, we devised a new system to run the oil lines sequentially to take full advantage of both oil coolers. Oil now runs from the oil filter housing to the first oil cooler. Then it runs to the second oil cooler and back to the oil filter housing. Basically, now 100% of the oil was going through both oil coolers. With the new oil line system, we saw a big change come race day. The oil temperatures again dropped but what also changed was how much longer the oil cooler fought off "heatsoak". Temperatures were more stable and stayed lower longer throughout the whole race session. And the best thing of it all? We completely SOLVED the dreaded limp mode problem! By the end of the 2009 race season, limp mode was a thing of the past. Regardless of temperature or track, we NEVER again experienced the dreaded limp mode!
The 2010 race season was monumental for Evolution Racewerks. With all the refinements made in 2009 to the twin coolers and solving the limp mode issue, they were FINALLY able to really work on making the 135i fast. Instead of spending time and energy trying to fight off limp mode, they spent it making tweaks and upgrades to their 135i. The first race of 2010 saw a podium in 2nd place. That was the beginning. Every single race after that was a podium finishe. July 4th, 2010 saw the first victory with a first place finish in Street RWD as well as Street Overall Class and setting a new class track record at Willow Springs Raceway. Every since then, we have claim a 1st place Street Overall victory at every single event and even recently set another class track record. All this happened because of oil coolers... the Competition Series Twin Oil Coolers that solved the dreaded limp mode.