ERA 753 - Final Assembly in Progress

[RedBarchetta]

Originally Posted by patrickt

I agree with Chas. and I think he's right. Redbarchetta had a nice thread about mounting the thermostat about two and half years ago. I can't find any pictures of it now but I remember thinking what a nice job he did. In fact, I remember thinking that if I ever drove my car when it was below mid-50s I might do the same.

Thanks for the kind words, Patrick. Pics are in my gallery. Not sure if Fred would mount his the same way, as it sounds like he wants a more stealthy look. I mounted mine where I thought it made the most sense, that is all.

Fred, you have told us how great the EFI is. What about the active suspension controls that you installed?

Regards,

-Dean

[fkemmerer]

Thanks everyone for the advise on the oil thermostat/teperature. I think what I will do next is make a cardboard block for the oil cooler and drive the car in cool weather with it for a day. This should give me an idea on whether the oil thermostat will be effective or not. I will let everyone know what I find.

Dean, I have not yet had a chance to really play with the electronnic traction controls on my car. I want to get all of the little problems relative to the egine (like oil temperature) straighten out, then do a full dyno tune to get the engine at peak performance, then I will calibrate the ETC. I am not having alot of problems with rear wheel spin (I am running the Goodyear gumballs which stick pretty good and my cam is radical enough to limit the low end torque somewhat). I will post the results of all of this as I work my way through it.

- Fred

[Bobcat]

Fred ... my car is ERA 757 , .... I blocked off the oil cooler this summer and ran oil temps in the 140 to 180 degree range when just cruising . If I get on it , they will go to the 200 degree range .... and our ambients down here in summer are in the mid 90 to upper 90 degree range . Since we haven`t seen any cooler weather yet ( still in the upper 80`s ) , I don`t know what the oil temperature will do in cold ( for us ) weather. Our typical winters are lows in the low 30`s and highs in the mid 40`s . I made a cardboard template and then cut a piece of 1/8" Lexan out for the shield so the oil cooler could still be seen . I followed Doug`s advice and put a small piece of tape on the oil temp. gauge to remind me the cooler was blocked .

Bob

[fkemmerer]

Originally Posted by Bobcat

Fred ... my car is ERA 757 , .... I blocked off the oil cooler this summer and ran oil temps in the 140 to 180 degree range when just cruising . If I get on it , they will go to the 200 degree range .... and our ambients down here in summer are in the mid 90 to upper 90 degree range . Since we haven`t seen any cooler weather yet ( still in the upper 80`s ) , I don`t know what the oil temperature will do in cold ( for us ) weather. Our typical winters are lows in the low 30`s and highs in the mid 40`s . I made a cardboard template and then cut a piece of 1/8" Lexan out for the shield so the oil cooler could still be seen . I followed Doug`s advice and put a small piece of tape on the oil temp. gauge to remind me the cooler was blocked .

Bob

Thanks for the suggestion Bob. I like your approach and will see how things work out when I block the oil cooler inlet and drive the car.

- Fred

[ERA Chas]

Originally Posted by Bobcat

Fred ... my car is ERA 757 , .... I blocked off the oil cooler this summer and ran oil temps in the 140 to 180 degree range when just cruising . If I get on it , they will go to the 200 degree range .... and our ambients down here in summer are in the mid 90 to upper 90 degree range . Bob

Bob,
That's a reinforcement of what I described with my testing. If highway speed in 90 ambient only permitted 140-180 with it blocked, you can expect 50 deg lower when the ambient is 50 lower. Keeping the oil in the engine only, is the only help you'll get when it's 40 outside-and not much at that. Remember, there's a quart and a half in the cooler and lines of an ERA, plus the bottom surface area of a Canton pan-all are a heat sink which is exposed to 70 to 100+ MPH, 40 deg wind.

Coolers are excellent on the race track and worthless any other time. They are a defining component for the S/C look which we all love, so many of us tolerate their bad points.

200 deg oil is a wonderful thing for power and longevity but you'll never see that in winter, even with a fur coat on the cooler.

[fkemmerer]

I am also considering running a lighter wt. oil in the cooler weather in the fall. I am using 15w50 racing oil in the summer and I'm thinking of dropping back to 10w30 or something along those lines in the cool weather.

- Fred

[Bobcat]

Chas ... no argument at all ... in fact , that is what a friend of mine who used to be a NASCAR engine builder told me . 200 degree oil makes power and longevity . Since I haven`t driven my car in a deep South winter yet , I`m planning on waiting to see what the oil temps are then . If I run into what you did , I`ll probably end up doing exactly what you did .... however , I`m hoping our winters are mild enough to not have to do that .
When I have the time , I may run through some hp/heat rejection calculations on the reservoir ( oil sump ) , cooler and lines just for giggles . I used to do that on the hydraulic systems I worked on ( a pain to do ) .... and you are correct , we used the reservoirs to help get rid of system heat . But we found that the line losses were negligible unless they were in the 25 foot or more range .
BTW , we used 180 to 190 degrees as a goal to shoot for on mobile equipment .... but it didn`t run 70 to 100 mph !!!

Bob