oil cooler

[SydneyChris]

The plan was to simply assist with the engine cooling process via the separate oil cooler.. who knew how multifaceted it was.

Mike.. look forward to a schematic if it can be found or scratched out easy enough.

Will test oil pressure pre and post cooler installation as per Gary's advice in the first instance and have the Improved Performance thermostatic unit fitted on the LS3 block.

Will.. thanks for the heads up.. I understand the thermostatic unit with min 10% flow will manage start up pressure, thermal shock and bypass requirements... as long as the pump can keep up with the resistance to flow for the entire system with the cooler in place.

The coil I have is 300PSI rated.. cost 3x the price of your ebay 'equivalent', but there is a good reason..

PS Bob.. it does look cool.. !!!

[Morris]

Originally Posted by bobcowan

Oil has a minimum operating temp, too. It's really hard to find out what that number is, as manufacturers are not willing to let that be known. But it seems to be around 180*F. Perfect operating temp seems to be right around 200-210*. In a race car, it will usually be between 300-350*.

Bob

The ideal Temps for any car much less a race car is 195*degrees on the water and 220*degrees on the oil.

If the oil got up to 300-350*degrees, there would be a failure coming with conventional oil .... at 270* regular oil tends to start coking and loses it ability to lubricate and keep parts away from each other. That is why Synthetic oils have become big in the market..... because race cars and street cars are operating their engines at much higher temperatures especially with Turbo's that generate tremendous heat.

All of our Race motors run at the ideal temperatures above and we never use or need a oil thermostat because it requires to much additional plumbing and fittings that will restrict the oil flow to the motor.

Like you said, cover the oil cooler to get more heat into the motor if needed.

And BTW .... the oil we use is 0w50 Mobil 1 Synthetic in our GT cars as well as our Indy Motors.... has the best Clingability, Lubrication when first start up especially if a motor sits for many weeks at a time, and has a lot of ZDDP for the tight tolerance's we use in specific situations, along with the ability to handle the Heat of racing conditions with Turbo's as well as Normally Aspirated motors.

Just some Thoughts

Morris/KMP259

[bobcowan]

Interesting thoughts.

Race engine vs. street engine makes a big difference. Old vs. new also makes a difference. Most LS street engines seem to best around 200-210* water temp. But Fords seem to be around 190-195*.

I race with mostly stock/street type engine components - cheaper that way for my kind of racing. So I certainly would not argue with you about race engine components. Mike Pettiford told me his Corvettes run 300-350* in oil temp, which I found pretty amazing. My oil temps never get that high; I rarely see more than 210*. I hear some of the new Corvettes are running near 300* as well.

Non-racing Mobile 1 oil is not a true synthetic. Meaning that it does not start with a PAO base stock. What about the racing oils? I looked at the info on their web site and a few other places, but couldn't really find the answer. What have you been able to find?

Considering the heat and abuse that the engine gets on the track, I would only recommend a true synthetic oil to anyone; from a stock Honda to a full tilt racer. Just seems like cheap insurance to me. As you said, dino oils will die a quick death at those temps.

I use Royal Purple. It works well, and the UOA's show that it holds up well. And it's easy to come by around here. Other synthetics are tough to find locally.