firebraid over goodyear blue hose, what's the temp to the touch?

Well, that oil is on its way to a filter and cooler, right?

Insulation keeps the heat from transmitting in our out, so if your exhaust heat is hotter than you want the oil line to get, then it's a good thing. However, I find heat wrapped headers the better approach - invaluable for controlling exhaust heat. Keep that heat in the pipe and away from your engine and everything nearby! So, wrap your exhaust system and be happy. You won't likely need the Firebraid.

Just my x0 bits worth. It works for me very well. Nothing is free - the heat that doesn't escape from the wrapped part will hit the nonwrapped part(s) hard, so wrap it with that in mind; where do you want the heat to exit? Out the back, far back away from the engine.

John,

Thanks for the advice, but you're off-topic somewhat. The headers will be wrapped, but the lines I'm running will be going through the tunnel forward to the cooler located in the front. The problem I'm trying to solve is the heat dissipated into the tunnel, not heat acquired by laying next to the exhaust components for this run.

My options are looking like blue with firebraid for $13 a foot, or earl's stainless for $7 a foot with an unknown method for insulating it. I could even wrap it in the header stuff.. Hmmm..

The oil lines from the engine to the filter and oil therm bypass located under the left fender will need firebraid anyways as one of the silencers is under the fender as well and I'm not wrapping the entire exhaust system. Clearances will be a bit tight around there.

Couldn't tell that by your post.

Solve all your problems by insulating the tunnel. Lay insulation under the carpet, across the tunnel. That way any heat 'lost' from the tubing is a good thing because it is cooling the oil.

Kinda silly, IMHO not to wrap the exhaust. That heat is effecting your engine. Why go to the crazy extent you are with a front-mounted cooler if you don't care enough to take care of first-things first? Do you realize how much that the exhaust system radiates to the engine?

Did you stop at the first paragraph?

And let the grease in the clutch and accel tubes get watery?.. Warm the gas line, too? No thanks.

All of the exhaust goes quite far. The collector ends under the right side apron pointing into the right side fender. First silencer is there. Then it runs under the transaxle to the left side wheel well to the second silencer then back under the apron and out the left-side cut-out. Just the headers to the collector get wrapped.

Yeah, I screwed up. First day off vacation. Sorry about that.

David Gravereaux wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Stupid question follows:

You are running your oil cooler all the way to front of your VW, through the tunnel, right? Stupid question is, How do you know when you are at the full level on oil? How do you fill the lines and cooler each time you change oil and for that matter how do you change all the oil?

Told you it was a dumb question.

No, not dumb.. I'll pressurize it first before starting the motor with a hand operated "pesticide sprayer". First, I'll fill the lines that feed the cooler. Then I'll connect the output of the sprayer to the line the pump output is connected to and fill the filter. That'll get most of the air out of it.

Have you considered a dry-sump system? How about installing a reserve-pressure tank? Seen those?

No and wouldn't want to.

Nope. What would it do?

At the filter, I'll be using a therm bypass so I don't get a pressure loss pushing cold oil through the cooler and those long lines that feed it. When cold, the whole system can see up to 250psi. There's no problem pushing hot oil. I doubt there will be much of a pressure drop with even

Any particular reason?

Two things. First, it can pre-oil: pressurize the oil system before startup, and second it maintains oil flow when/if a sudden drop occurs, for example during a hard turn when there's no oil to suck into the takeup pipe (suitable to a wet-sump system.)

The engine already has an oil pump.

Oh, like those bladder tanks used in home hot water lines to alleviate pressure build-up and water hammer.