Internal combustion engine oil pan with oil cooler

A combination oil pan and oil cooler for an internal combustion engine having a cylinder block, said oil pan comprising:

• a reservoir adapted for mounting on the lower side of an engine so as to collect oil flowing from said cylinder block, with said reservoir having side panels in contact with both said cylinder block and a bottom panel;
• and
• a heat exchanger mounted within and generally conforming with the panels of said reservoir such that oil flowing into said reservoir will come into contact with said heat exchanger, with said heat exchanger comprising a multi-planar structure having at least one passage for circulating cooling fluid.

A method for making a heat exchanger for an engine oil cooler, comprising the steps of:

• printing a pattern defining at least one fluid passage on a metallic base sheet;
• bonding said base sheet to a mating sheet such that the printed pattern defines areas which remain unbonded after the bonding has occurred;
• forming the passages by forcing a fluid under pressure between the sheets such that the unbonded areas of the sheets are filled with fluid and expanded after forming the expanded sheets into a multi-planar configuration which may be housed within an engine oil pan, said multi-planar configuration conforming to the bottom and sides of the oil pan.