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Oversized oil cooler - Cloud9...68 - 09-04-2011

The key foundation elements (besides safety) of the conversion of my 968 into a mostly-track car are reliability and longevity, so I want to do everything within reason to keep the oil temperature in the optimal range, especially here in central Texas, where we haven't seen a sub-triple digit day since about Memorial Day. So, I'd like to install an oversized oil cooler. Lindsey Racing sells what looks like a very nice unit:



http://www.lindseyracing.com/LR/Parts/944LROILCOOL.html ,



which increases the capacity of the cooler from 67.5 to 202.5 cubic inches. I have a few questions about this:



1. Has anybody on this site installed one of these coolers? I haven't seen any posts about it.

2. Given the sizeable increase in capacity, does installation of a cooler of this size result in a significant drop in oil pressure? If so, is this a big enough concern to do something about it? If so, what?

3. When installing an oversized oil cooler, do you need a new/different oil thermostat? This is a dumb question, but do our cars even come with an oil thermostat? I don't remember ever seeing any posts about it.

4. While Lindsey's cooler really looks to be beautifully made, it is after all just a radiator, a few brackets, and some lines and fittings, so the $750 price tag seems a little steep. Would it be difficult (and any cheaper) to fabricate something like this locally?



Other things I plan to add to maximize longevity are Lindsey's oil pan baffle, a windage tray, an oil temperature gauge, and I'm having the crank cross-drilled. Anything else I should consider? Thanks.

Oversized oil cooler - bva - 09-06-2011

i was looking into the same just last week after watching my oil temp on the Paso Run; ambient temps over 100 degrees and supercharged got me thinking. Just got off the phone with Lindsey - their design doesn't support the 968...yet; but they're working out the hose interfaces now.

Oversized oil cooler - flash - 09-06-2011

yeah - the connectors on our OEM coolers are a pain in the butt

Oversized oil cooler - Cloud9...68 - 09-06-2011

Hmm... I wasn't aware of that. I wonder how big of an obstacle this will be.

Oversized oil cooler - flash - 09-06-2011

stopped me dead in my tracks - i could have gotten the cooler done for about $250 - adapting the AN fittings to the OEM fittings was a different story



of course you could always just hack the line and go with a barbed fitting, but at those pressures, i'm not that confident in them not leaking

Oversized oil cooler - craigawoodman - 09-07-2011

I am running a second oil cooler. This was done for the same reasons, to try and control oil temps and drops in viscosity (along with trying to take some thermal loading off the cooling system as well).

Oversized oil cooler - Lear35A - 09-07-2011

As I look at it, it is not just the fitting adaptation. This is a VERY tight area, so routing of lines with AN fittings would be tough. If I were doing a track only car, I'd eliminate the heater. This would remove the pipe going above the headers and the valve. That would free up space. I'd also look at relocating the power steering fluid reservoir and its hoses. Then your might be able to weld AN fittings onto the oil/coolant heat exchanger housing.

Oversized oil cooler - Eric_K - 09-07-2011

I raced my car for 6 years with the stock oil cooler and never had an issue. Granted, only for a few of those was it above 100 deg F. I think the larger oil cooler is a good idea though. However, I'm not a fan of how that one sits in front of the radiator.



You can switch to a 951 oil filter console/plate. It mounts to the 3.0 block exactly the same. They make metric to AN adaptors that will thread into it and at that point the world of custom solutions is wide open.

Oversized oil cooler - RS Barn - 09-07-2011

This is a topic I have lots of experience with.

I spent two seasons developing a Dual Oil Cooler Kit to lower oil temps on 968 track cars. I tried a few configuations and was sort of in competion with another vendor to make a product that works. The other vendor wasn't sucessful with his large single cooler even placed in a few different locations. He actually had higher temps than single stock cooler.

My Dual cooler setup drops temps 30-40 degrees. It requires some fabrication of hangers and ductwork. Not terribly difficult but time consuming. I have molds for ducts but never moved forward with project as a retail product. We installed 8-10 kits at shop.

What I found on 968 race cars is the high oil temps would actually raise coolant temps to dangerous levels also.

Oversized oil cooler - flash - 09-07-2011

all this talk about oil coolers just made me start thinking (i hate it when that happens - always means my car is up in the air again)



lol - not sure why it didn't come to me before, but i think i just figured out how to nearly double the cooler area and capacity, use the factory fittings, and not have to muck about much



i'll take a closer look when i pull the splitter off to have it duplicated - my guess is that retail would be about $300 for the whole setup, but i'll know for sure when i get in there



just when i thought i was done.....................

Oversized oil cooler - Cloud9...68 - 09-07-2011

For reasons I've never been able to figure out, my car runs fairly hot, even on the street. It used to run cooler, but all of a sudden, its baseline operating temperature increased by maybe 10-15 degrees (from just below the 8:00 'clock position, to just below about 9:00 o'clock). it's never come close to overheating, it's just warmer than it used to be, even after replacing multiple thermostats, the fans work, radiator is clean enough inside to drink out of, etc. So, an oversized oil cooler may be a bandaid (or who knows, maybe when I'm done with the rebuild, it will magically run cooler), but I'm afraid that on the track on a central Texas summer day, it's going to get REALLY hot. So, I feel that a larger oil cooler would be very valuable insurance.



Craig - what type of set-up are you running?



Flash - I'll be your first customer for sure! No rush - just have it ready by next May or so <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/laugh.png" class="smilie" alt="" /> .



I also wonder if an oversize coolant radiator is in order...

Oversized oil cooler - RS Barn - 09-07-2011

My Dual kit runs $650 and is proven. I looked into many options and tested a few without same results.

What's great is anyone can spend some money and time to try something. Just don't always expect the results to be exactly what you aimed for. Usually new products take on a life of their own and evolve.

.

Oversized oil cooler - flash - 09-07-2011

yup - been there done that



i'm not sure why i never thought of this before, but i'm pretty confident i can nail it. it just took throwing away all previous concepts and starting over with something entirely different. once i did that, the idea came to me rather quickly.



i'll get in there as soon as i'm ready to start on the splitter. the weather will determine that one, and likely it means late october or so. the project will go quickly though, as i will want to get it back together.



i have a secondary motivation for doing it too. i will include pre and post tap points for oil temp senders, so no more mickey mouse adaptor plates and such, which means i can finally clean that mess up.



lol - as i type this, i'm actually getting a bit excited about the project. clearly i REALLY need help. time for a glass of cab.

Oversized oil cooler - Cloud9...68 - 09-08-2011

I've been too busy to take a look at the oil cooler and its connectors to see what you guys are talking about, so I don't know if this is relevant, but just to throw something else into the mix, here's an ad I saw in Grassroots Motorsports:



http://www.flocool.com/Flocool_Billet_spin-on_adapter.html



Would something like this help, or just complicate things even more? I do like the way the thing is finned, to offer some additional heat dissipation.

Oversized oil cooler - flash - 09-08-2011

relocating the oil filter, and utilizing something like that could work easily enough. it would be pricier than what i have in mind, and would add a lot more plumbing, but it would work somewhat. one problem with our car is that the filter is post cooler, so with that gadget you would be adding a cooler after the cooler. I'm not sure how effective it would be, but it would probably take off a few degrees.

Oversized oil cooler - pmcrespo - 09-08-2011

I can attest to Pete's design by experience at the track. #68 (RIP) had the setup, and in a few 100+ degree ambient temperature track days I never saw the needle move beyond normal. Same with the Firehawk at VIR during 2010 UTCC. 106 degrees (felt like 500), some serious punishment with little time between sessions to kool off, and the Hawk never showed signs of even attempting to get outside its usual temp range.

Oversized oil cooler - flash - 09-08-2011

i'm quite sure it work. doubling the cooler capacity and surface area by means of adding one on the other side of the car would absolutely work. pete and i talked about this quite a bit. i'm really glad that he worked it out. the cars with it are definitely benefitting by the setup.



i'll post pics as soon as i mock up the setup i am talking about. i have a puppy arriving next week and a few house projects to wrap up, all of which pretty much nail me down for the rest of this month, but october is looking really good at this point. the project won't take long either. i have most of the design already worked out in my head, and will be poking around in there today working out some of the details.

Oversized oil cooler - Cloud9...68 - 09-08-2011

"relocating the oil filter, and utilizing something like that could work easily enough. it would be pricier than what i have in mind, and would add a lot more plumbing, but it would work somewhat. one problem with our car is that the filter is post cooler, so with that gadget you would be adding a cooler after the cooler. I'm not sure how effective it would be, but it would probably take off a few degrees."



Ah, so this gadget only connects between the block (or I'm guessing the contraption that the current filter sits on that attaches to the block) and the new filter. I was hoping it could somehow be made to fit between the cooler and the block. It was many months since I removed the oil cooler, and I can't remember how attaches to the engine, and I can't find any drawings, either in the workshop manual, or in the PET, that show it.

Oversized oil cooler - Lear35A - 09-08-2011

Ah, but I'm sure you have pictures :-)

Oversized oil cooler - Cloud9...68 - 09-08-2011

Well, unfortunately, this was something I removed early in the process, and I wasn't nearly as disciplined about taking pictures at this stage as I was later on. I'm counting on those who have endeavored before me (hint, hint...) to fill in the gaps <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/wink.png" class="smilie" alt="" />