3.0 RS / RSR Behr 23.014 Front Central Oil Cooler

Authentic reproduction of the 1974 Porsche 911 3.0 RS & RSR Front Central Oil Cooler

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Manufactured in the UK by one of the worlds leading suppliers of racing radiators, oil coolers, charge air coolers and motorsport fabrications these are fully functioning motor sport quality coolers, each pressure tested and built to perform at the highest level.

Built to the correct dimensions of an original cooler with end tanks cast using CAD scans from a genuine 74 item, these match the original Behr 23.014 cooler exactly in shape and dimensions both externally and internally. Complete with the correct oil pressure relief valve, internal spring and ball bearing and finished in the original Aluchrom 407 protective coating, I believe these are about as close as you can get to an original NOS item.

Available at GBP £2,350 + Shipping

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I never intended to start producing these coolers however having searched everywhere I concluded there is nothing available today that remotely resembles an original 74 RS/RSR cooler and with used items (with unknown cores) selling for £10K or more I set about trying to fabricate my own. I was fortunate to be guided and helped in the process and then stumbled across amazing luck enabling perfect end tanks to be cast and meeting brilliant professionals to help fabricate the end product ensuring the highest of quality and performance.
A few Porsche specialists have expressed an interest in these coolers and I think this is where most will end up with a number already spoken for, however I wanted to post them here first in case there's anyone, like me, that's in need of such a cooler.
This is a limited production run for a limited market however, once this batch has sold, I could produce more if there's enough interest and with the required commitments with a lead time of 5-6 months.

Thanks for looking.

Necessity is the mother on invention..........so my mother used to tell me over and over. Greta job Darren.

Awesome stuff Darren. I sooo wish the 73 RSR came with the same oil cooler, so I could use one on my replica.... shame :(
The 73 RSR oil cooler had similar dimensions in width (~63cm) and depth (10.8cm / 4') but was only 4' high, whereas I believe your 74+ cooler is much higher.
May be good to specify the exact height with and without the bracket for comparison? GLWS!

Thanks Patrick, should have included height pics.....

....similar but taller as you say and with oil in/out pipes at the end on the 73 RSR as opposed to the rear on this one. I believe this is much closer to the 934/935 coolers that followed. Brackets would never be an issue as they can simply be cut off and re-welded.

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Cheers,

What do you do if you want to order one ? Any chance you will make one for the 1973 RSR ? Have you actually got one made yet ? Pay with PayPal ?

Mike Curnow

Hi Mike,

I've had an initial batch of 10 made of what you see above, these are the actual cooler. Just let me know if you'd like one and we can go from there although I'd prefer a bank transfer please.

Unfortunately I'm not in a position to produce 73 RSR coolers.

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Many thanks,

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mike curnow

Any chance you will make one for the 1973 RSR ?

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If you do, looks like you'd have two buyers already :)

I’m in for one. My 73 RSR Outlaw has an original 3.0 cooler custom fitted, I will put it aside or have a perfect fitting replacement. G

Three. I’d buy a ‘73 too…

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Originally Posted by gled49

I’m in for one. My 73 RSR Outlaw has an original 3.0 cooler custom fitted, I will put it aside or have a perfect fitting replacement. G

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Many thanks Gordon, those are neat brackets you've fabricated for a 73 fitment.

I've replied to your PM and will be in touch soon.

Cheers,

To answer a question regarding shipping to this USA, I can include this via UPS (insured and tracked) for £100.

Payment can also be made in US Dollars - with the Pound currently sliding it's becoming cheaper for you guys! ;)

Cheers,

For information - first cooler just arrived in the States with import duty/taxes/fees etc being charged at $110.53.

Many thanks,

Second cooler landed Stateside with only $39.75 duty to pay, go figure? :confused:

Not sure if that's a West/East coast thing or just pot luck?

Cheers,

I've been asked various questions about the coolers such as how they were fabricated, who built them, weight, core used etc. etc. I'll try to cover all these questions here.

From the outset this was never a commercial venture and I was simply looking for a cooler for my 3.0RS build, which can be seen here - https://www.early911sregistry.org/fo...?147548-Flares

I had an initial batch of 10 coolers fabricated which meant I had 9 for sale. I have 3, possibly 4, still available. I've retained the moulds for the end tanks and can produce more however the market is limited, I'd have to do a minimum batch and it's a large outlay. Therefore without committed orders a second batch is unlikely.

In my hunt to get these produced I was lucky to be introduced to someone who had CAD scans of original end tanks, this was the key to this project and meant these could be produced exactly both externally and internally. Drawings were produced from the scans and a leading casting company were commissioned to produce moulds and casts....

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....the castings turned out perfectly and better than I'd ever thought possible....

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....the castings were then machined as required to original specification....

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....at this time I was also put in touch with Dockings Engineering based at Silverstone in the UK. They're seasoned professionals in this kind of work, they had the advantage of working for a number of Porsche specialists on a whole range of race cars including 962's etc but also had the advantage in that they were currently in the process of re-coring an original Behr cooler from a genuine RSR.
Fortunately Dockings took a keen interest in my project, they agreed to carry out the fabrication and produced drawings using the original cooler as a reference...

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....the core for this project was the tricky bit. The originals used a 15-row bar and plate core however there's very few companies that produce cores and getting them made in small batches in a custom size is impossible. There was an option to go this route with something similar although it still wouldn't have been 15-bar and the end cost would have been three times the price. Someone had mentioned a number of cores are manufactured in China although Dockings strongly advised against this as in their experience the quality of aluminium used is poor meaning the weight is nothing like what it should be and super heavy.

Ultimately Dockings wanted a known core of the correct size, from a reliable source and something they could pressure test both before and after fabrication. I went with their advice and they supplied a tube and fin core to the correct dimensions which is the same core as fitted to the original RSR cooler they were recently working on.

The finished result is a quality, light cooler that's fully pressure tested and assembled comes in at circa 3.8KG....

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I was also fortunate to be able to obtain all dimensions for plug/relief valve from the original RSR cooler. These were then reproduced exactly with springs manufactured of the same dimensions, wire size, number of coils etc so they matched perfectly. The plugs are also anodised....

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....finally, rather than use a modern corrosion protective coating on the coolers which is now the norm, I was introduced to a company who could still carry out the original Aluchrom 407 protective finish giving the coolers that old school greenish NOS appearance :cool: ....

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I think that pretty much covers the whole process but please let me know if you need any more information.

Many thanks,

Unbelievable attention to detail. Love it. Thanks for sharing

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Originally Posted by 718RSK

Unbelievable attention to detail. Love it. Thanks for sharing

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Kind of you to say so, thank you.

These are awesome, good on ya for taking it on. We have a properly biffed 73 RSR cooler in the shop now, so i know how hard it is to get one that isn't complete junk.

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Originally Posted by AlexHershey

These are awesome, good on ya for taking it on. We have a properly biffed 73 RSR cooler in the shop now, so i know how hard it is to get one that isn't complete junk.

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Thanks Alex, was pure necessity on my part and I'd much rather have just picked one off the shelf - totally agree about the rough original coolers that get offered. I would have happily purchased one to have it re-cored if they were available at a sensible price but having to pay $10K and then do the same just doesn't make sense! :confused:

I had a query regarding the weight of the coolers and why something heavier would be detrimental to performance....

....as was explained to me - poor quality aluminium is thicker than a higher grade material which obviously leads to a heavier core, as such the very narrow oilways become even thinner restricting the flow of oil resulting in a poorly performing inefficient cooler.

A friend has recently acquired a NOS 2.8 RSR Behr cooler which he kindly weighed for me at 3.5KG. The cooler for sale here is a larger item yet still only weighs in at a light 3.8KG.

I've seen other reproductions that come in at close to 5.5KG or more, although they don't look too bad that weight is lurking within the core and I'd be concerned about the ultimate performance of the cooler.

If a cooler is well constructed yet remains lightweight it's a sure bet the core is of a good quality :)

Cheers,

One of the benefits with this project has been talking to other enthusiast and learning about the awesome cars these coolers will find a home in. With permission I hope to share a few details along the way....

....one thing I never expected was to be contacted by a true Porsche Racing Legend.

Many here will know the name George Dyer and that in 1977 he won the Sebring 12-Hours driving a Porsche 911 3.0 RSR #9048 :cool: .....

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....George is currently building his own #9048 in incredible detail and to exacting standards back to it's 1977 Sebring livery :cool:

He thinks these coolers are the best reproductions he's seen and I'm honoured one will be fitted to his amazing build...

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....a truly amazing experience for me..... George really is quite a guy....

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Huge thanks George, can't wait to see your car finished :)

Cheers,

Three coolers still available.

Cheers,

In other news, due to a number of people asking about a 2.8 RSR cooler and how well this project has gone, a friend and I have been discussing producing the earlier RSR cooler.

My friend just happens to have a NOS cooler (not for sale) to use as a template.....

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Production time would likely be 4-6 months and currently gauging interest.

Please let me know if you'd be a buyer?

Many thanks,

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Darren65

In other news, due to a number of people asking about a 2.8 RSR cooler and how well this project has gone, a friend and I have been discussing producing the earlier RSR cooler.

My friend just happens to have a NOS cooler (not for sale) to use as a template.....

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Production time would likely be 4-6 months and currently gauging interest.

Please let me know if you'd be a buyer?

Many thanks,

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Yep! I would... Out of curiosity, what are the captive nuts for?

I would be a buyer also for a 2.8 cooler.

Mike Curnow

. . . especially all the effort you've gone through to do these bits right . . . design, suppliers, execution

Amazing efforts, Sir! --- also for you to share what you've come up with, here with us


Almost wanna buy one of these 'just because' . . .



. . . I mean --- when would I ever come across something like this again?



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Hi Darren,
I would definitely be a buyer for the 2.8 oil cooler. (How could I say no after my earlier comments eh? :D)
thanks for following up on this!

Hi Darren - I would also buy a 2.8 cooler. Great work on the 3.0 cooler.
Bruce Young

Thank you for the kind comments and interest.

The plan is to proceed with the 2.8 cooler and I'll start a separate thread and share details once the original has been scanned and we have a few drawings etc.

As for the far sexier 3.0 cooler, I still have three available ;)

Cheers,

Fantastic work and thanks for going through the process!

A couple of pics of the cooler in situ....

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With the value of Sterling on the floor these coolers have never been better value!

Payment can be paid in USD and £2,350 + £100 delivery currently work out at only $2,628 :)

Fresh batch of these coolers now available........

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...this time beautifully fabricated and welded by Bob at Concept Racing.....

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...freshly protected with Alocrom 407 (please excuse my previous misspelling) and ready to go....

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....

...I hadn't planned to make any more of these as the market is pretty limited but the last one I was holding for a friend was needed for an original RSR running at this years Rennsport Reunion :cool:

All bar one of these coolers has been sold to US, every customer has been extremely happy with one commenting that it matches his original RSR cooler exactly......as previously stated these are an authentic reproduction of the original Behr oil cooler and are a fully functioning, pressure tested motorsport item.....

....now priced without VAT in the UK and available at only £2,350 + postage....

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Cheers,

Congratulations Darren, beautifully created. Can't beat the current price 👍 at just around $2,600. Considering the results of such a faithful recreation, of a rare RSR factory part 😳

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Originally Posted by Darren65

...I hadn't planned to make any more of these as the market is pretty limited but the last one I was holding for a friend was needed for an original RSR running at this years Rennsport Reunion :cool:

All bar one of these coolers has been sold to US, every customer has been extremely happy with one commenting that it matches his original RSR cooler exactly......as previously stated these are an authentic reproduction of the original Behr oil cooler and are a fully functioning, pressure tested motorsport item.....

....now priced without VAT in the UK and available at only £2,350 + postage....

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Cheers,

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Originally Posted by 914-6gt

Congratulations Darren, beautifully created. Can't beat the current price 👍 at just around $2,600. Considering the results of such a faithful recreation, of a rare RSR factory part 😳

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....thank you Armando, I appreciate the kind words and endorsement although I'm afraid the exchange rate isn't quite that kind at the moment. Still great value though ;)

All the best,

It's taken a while however end tanks castings and cores are now in production and fabrication of the 2.8 RSR and 914-6 GT oil coolers will commence in a couple of months.

As with the 3.0 oil coolers that are available these will come complete with oil pressure relief valve, be alocrom coated as per original units and will be to the exact dimensions. They will be fully pressure tested and a super light weight, fully functioning motorsport quality item.

To be certain that castings would be accurate we had 3D prototype samples printed of the end tanks and brackets and they match the original perfectly as you can see below.

I'll start a separate for sale thread once these are ready to go - a few 3.0 RSR oil coolers are still available. Thanks for looking.

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Cheers,

Thanks for the update Darren. I’m really looking forward to the 2.8 RSR cooler.

Not that it's ever applied to coolers being exported to the States however I have update the price on the 3.0 coolers as VAT is no longer applicable on the second batch.

Cheers,

An update on the 2.8 RSR oil coolers being manufactured can be seen here....

https://www.early911sregistry.org/fo...20#post1181120

Cheers,