remote oil coolers and T-Stats
 

While awaiting my engine (Southern) and the body KMP 174), it occured to me that most (?all) of these cars came with remote oil coolers; but then again, they were racing. If I put on a remote cooler, is there a thermostat that will allow the oil to heat up on short trips. I am afraid that without one, the oil will never really reach ideal operating temperature on these short jaunts. Does anyone run their car without the remote coolrer? My car will be mostly driven for cruising, no racing (done with that exercise for now). Thanks for your advice and expertise.

Steve-
Anxiously awaiting some responses because I have the same concerns as you. I think I may install a t-stat in mine, if I can figure out the plumbing:eek:

The other option is to not hook up the cooler and just have it for looks.

Steve,

I have never seen an oil cooler with a thermostat. I have several friends that run a SO and I run a 428 CJ and none of us need a thermostat.

Clois

Have one, but..
 

Did not install it... at this point I do not plan to, since the oil heats up pretty quickly to 180, then right up to 210 in less than 5 minutes of run time, this in cold (30-50 F) weather.

If I was in a colder clime I would add one. A better, easier solution to a quicker warmup would be to have a manual fan switch or automatic fan thermostat, so the WATER heats up more quickly.

Steve: best to put an oil thermostat between the filter and the cooler. You want the oil temperature to stay above 180 degrees. Do a search on oil thermostats. The oil cooler from Finish Line is one by Mocal. You can purchase an oil thermostat by Mocal as well. It has a built-in 180 degree opening temperature. Until the oil gets to 180 it will find the least resistance back to the engine because the oil in the cooler will be less than 180. I got my thermostat from Pegasus Auto racing supplies. Roscoe gave me the heads up on this. It was $93.00 and I got it within a couple of days. You can contact them online at www.pegasusautoracing .com or 1-800-688-6946.
This has been a winter project for me. It turned out great, looks pretty cool too!
Good luck
Jim

Steve - I use the oil take off plate with the built-in thermostat from Mocal. Works fine, but I had to go at it with a die grinder to open up the internal passages before I judged it Ok to fit. It was pretty poor beforehand.

HTH

thanks everyone for your great assistance (and fast too!). steve meltzer

I am using the Canton oil thermostat. It doesn't open until 215 degrees. You want to make sure your oil is hot enough to lubricate properly and get rid of any condensation.

http://www.cantonracingproducts.com/...ermostats.html

Mine will be run with an Accusump as well.

In Canada you want an oil thermostat because of the cool spring and fall temperatures. Without one, there is a chance that the oil would never reach proper operating temperature with an oil cooler.

being compulsive about engine oiling, and minimzing flow resistance, i re-did my SPF's external oiling with a full AN 12 system, including new oil cooler. I run a big Ex NASCAR filter mount, off of one of the Evernham Dodges. Huge Wix racing filter.

I have rigged up a winter and a summer oiling system, so i by-pass my oil cooler until the weather temps warm up, then in about ten minutes i can switch one AN 12 line, and hook up the cooler. If it is cool out, i have a nice aluminum cover i have i pop on the cooler.

I think this is much less complex and allows the shortest hose length, and offers less resistance to oil flow, than adding an oil thermostat to the system.

I have also found that moving the oil temp sensor from the filter mount to the Aviad pan gives a very different oil temp. My oil temps are much cooler in the sump than at the artificially elevated temps in the oil filter, due to the heat added to the relatively small amount of oil (by the oil pump) at any one time going out of the engine.

My engine oil temps, unless i am hot-footing it, or idling in traffic, rarely get up to a sufficent temp even with my cooler totally out of the system. I think my pan radiates a lot of oil heat, so it actually hinders my oil coming up to temp, even without the additional cooling of the front cooler. So just going out and back to the filter doesn't let my oil get warm enough. I have tested my oil temp gage, it is accurate.

So by and large, a thermostat would not make much differerence, except for shortening the warm up time. My engine runs at 180 degrees.

I also suggest that you not rely on your temp sensor to be an accurate temp of your sump's temp, if you have the sensor in the filter mount. Big difference in my engine.

Thermostats also available from:

http://www.racerpartswholesale.com
http://www.pegasusautoracing.com

Roscoe

once again, thank you everyone for your good help and info. steve meltzer