i read that thread.alot of good information.i also think your onto something about the 502efi oil system being smaller than other big block stuff.my 454/370hp motors have a biger oil system comparied to my 502 efi.i may be wrong but the 454 is bigger.

How hard and how long do you have to lean on an engine before you start to see oil temp issues? I am still running the smaller stock cooler on my 489, but I did upgrade to #10 Aeroquip lines, and I also eliminated the stock remote oil filter adapter and went with a sandwich adapter for the filter that has a built-in T-stat. I also made sure the 30 lb bypass was installed. I am taking my oil temp reading from the pan, and I usually read about 195* when just cruising around. The engine only has about 10 hours on it, so I have been going easy on it, but so far I have run it up to about 4500 RPM's for a few minutes at a time, and the highest temp I have seen is around 220*. I think I am all right with this setup, as I am not running any poker runs or extended WOT runs, but I will be watching the gauge closely. I figured I could always add the bigger cooler down the road if I needed it, but so far the bigger lines and less restriction seem to be doing the trick. As I mentioned before, the folks who like to hold theirs wide open for 10 - 15 minutes at a time or longer will almost certainly need a bigger cooler.

Any thoughts are welcome. I too would love to see a larger cooler that would mount in the stock location without the need for fabricating a lot of custom water and oil lines. In the past I have just made up my own water line by rooting through the stock at the local NAPA until I found one with the approximate bends and diameters that I needed. I think I had to put one splice with some clamps to put two sections together. I wonder if someone makes some type of corrugated water line that could easily be flexed and routed that would hold up well.

the article that articfriends wrote is the best ever on this subject..was my instructions for my re-do...and it WORKS !!! thanks again Smitty !