Oil Temps On The Track

[No Crust Racing]

My circumstances are a little different because I'm running a lowly CA S13 with no power but my water temps don't break 90 and my oil temps have only seen over 100 on a handful of occassions.

I'm running the stock clutch fan and shroud, alloy radiator, Greddy relocater, BTR oil cooler thermostat, Just Jap 13row oil cooler (mounted in driver side air damn under the headlight and my front bar is vented to feed it).

I'm just using standard coolant and Shell Helix blah blah 10w40 oil so nothing special.

I expect I'd be running higher temps if the car made more power but I watch temps like a hawk and run a few cool down laps when necessary (I can run 8 or so laps at time without issue, my brakes then become the problem).

As was said above, 130 is in my opinion the upper limit of safe, for me 120 is as high as I'd personally want to go. That does depend on your oil though, different quality oils will handle higher temps without breaking down. I use cheap oil so I play it safe with my temps.

Sustained water temps over 100 is a "no no" in my opinion.

Edited January 21, 2010 by ActionDan

[HKS26T]

i think this is great pin point answers that others getting to the track will need to consider on top of all the tire and susp settings as well top stuff! Cheers steve

My circumstances are a little different because I'm running a lowly CA S13 with no power but my water temps don't break 90 and my oil temps have only seen over 100 on a handful of occassions.

I'm running the stock clutch fan and shroud, alloy radiator, Greddy relocater, BTR oil cooler thermostat, Just Jap 13row oil cooler (mounted in driver side air damn under the headlight and my front bar is vented to feed it).

I'm just using standard coolant and Shell Helix blah blah 10w40 oil so nothing special.

I expect I'd be running higher temps if the car made more power but I watch temps like a hawk and run a few cool down laps when necessary (I can run 8 or so laps at time without issue, my brakes then become the problem).

As was said above, 130 is in my opinion the upper limit of safe, for me 120 is as high as I'd personally want to go. That does depend on your oil though, different quality oils will handle higher temps without breaking down. I use cheap oil so I play it safe with my temps.

Sustained waver temps over 100 is a "no no" in my opinion.

[No Crust Racing]

Cheers mate.

I know what it's like when you're starting out and want to be sure of things before you go thrashing the car so I help out where I can.

Have fun out there

[BBGTR]

I woudn't dismiss the need for "servicing" your intercooler as well. Bent fins and track gunge over a period of time will effectively block any air flow to the radiator and reduce the intercooler's effectiveness as well.

[HKS26T]

I woudn't dismiss the need for "servicing" your intercooler as well. Bent fins and track gunge over a period of time will effectively block any air flow to the radiator and reduce the intercooler's effectiveness as well.

Hi there,

i am very interested in the servicing aspect? can your repair bent fins? there is definately a whole heap of bugs and track gunge over the cooler!

anyway just a quick update - time got the better of my plans to go back to the standard intercooler and i convinced myself that surely the greddy unit would do a heaps better job then the standard unit.

i then got some tips off a drifter, where he suggested some polystyrene to help guide the air through from the FMIC through the A/C and hopefuly through the radiator. This wasnt very sucessful as it was to fidley for my impatient hands. Does anyone have any ideas of helping air flow in this area - im thinking sheet meatal?

looking then at bonnets with vents was the next thing - before i invested in this, i was looking at a HPI mag and noticed a jap 34 had its bonnet lifted with some washers.

only mod i did was lifted up the bonnet slightly and realised that the max track temps got to was 100 degrees and oil 115, and this was after 5-6 laps. Cooling was great as after 1-2 laps it went back down to 90/105

i believe there is definately some air flow issues as Beer Baron stated and i am seriously contemplating removing the A/C and fitting a vented bonnet of some sort.

thanks for the tips guys keep them coming!

Cheers

Steve

[juggernaut1]

I used waterproof foam rubber for cooling guides. Its available from clark rubber in sheets - its black and at a guess about 2cm thick. Becuase its waterproof it doesn't hold water/moisture.

I used an electric carving knife to cut/shape. The beauty of this stuff is that it retains its shape because of the thickness but will give enough to almost create a firm sealed fit between the panels and fit around wiring looms and other imperfections.

It also doesn't rattle/vibrate and as it is black.....has a stealth look about it. Because I oversized it, it wedges in between the relevant panels/cooler/etc so it doesn't require any dedicated fixing....however, this would depend on the span as the larger the span the more likely the need to specific fixing. Which I would imagine could be achieved with aluminium strap.

[HKS26T]

I used waterproof foam rubber for cooling guides. Its available from clark rubber in sheets - its black and at a guess about 2cm thick. Becuase its waterproof it doesn't hold water/moisture.

I used an electric carving knife to cut/shape. The beauty of this stuff is that it retains its shape because of the thickness but will give enough to almost create a firm sealed fit between the panels and fit around wiring looms and other imperfections.

It also doesn't rattle/vibrate and as it is black.....has a stealth look about it. Because I oversized it, it wedges in between the relevant panels/cooler/etc so it doesn't require any dedicated fixing....however, this would depend on the span as the larger the span the more likely the need to specific fixing. Which I would imagine could be achieved with aluminium strap.

This sounds like an awesome idea! any chance you could take a couple of snaps and upload - what i imagine things to be are never what they are!

Cheers

Steve

[juggernaut1]

Will do

[BBGTR]

Hi there,

i am very interested in the servicing aspect? can your repair bent fins? there is definately a whole heap of bugs and track gunge over the cooler!

Cheers

Steve

It's a matter of straightening the majority of the bent fins manually as it is usually only the front of them that is bent. Track gunge is a bastard of a job as it gets baked on with heat etc. I'll be asking the guys that work on the car to have a look at it as I have no idea how to take my front bumper off. I still run the factory grill in front of the intercooler so that saves it from most big stones/bugs etc.

Regards

Andrew

[bubba]

i've got head bleeds, breather tank and modified pump. my water and oil temps don't go past 90/100. if the other things don't work you might want to try some of these.

More info/pics please

[DRIFTER]

Here are some pics of my set up. The bleeds are tapped into the 3 bungs in between the exhaust ports. The water pump is a OEM housing with a John Bennett built impeller.

Edited January 29, 2010 by DRIFTER

[?UESTLOVE]

Throw away RB, and install 2J...profit?

[boxheadmr]

I actually have problems with not getting enough heat into the engine and around town would only see max of 70deg on the engine oil during the summer months with the sensor measuring in the sump. On the track it doesn't get above 90deg and i am doing some pretty quick times.

Do get higher intake temps which i want to fix by some ducting around the intercooler to front bar and radiator as well as a cold air intake of some kind becasue this would be having a fair bit of an affect on power levels.

I have had to make up a panel to block off the airflow to the oil cooler when driving around the street (until i tookit off at the track and lost it) to try and get heat into it, the thermostat seems to be working corectly and even replaced the spring just to be sure.

The oil cooler is an Earls type and sits on the passenger side utilisling some of the old std intercooler brackets and mounting points which is right in unobstructed air flow. I think this is the main reason it works so well and perhaps something for other people experiencing issues with oil temps on the track.

Matt

[juggernaut1]

Matt,

I used to have my temp sensor in the sump too (greddy pan on SR) and found the temps weren't representative.

For instance it would drop back to 30 degrees when cruising on the highway and saw about 60 degrees max. I then shifted the sensor to the grex relo block and instantly I get oil temps at or slightly more than water temps which seems more legit.

[boxheadmr]

my water temps only hit 90deg as well, might be worth logging it to show the differences between the two (in sump vs exit from block). The majority of people tend to say the differences are only minor between measuring in the sump to the block but would be good to see the two compared on a hot track day.

[juggernaut1]

I think some sensors work better when they are in the flow rather than just being submersed.

[DRIFTER]

Here are some pics of my set up. The bleeds are tapped into the 3 bungs in between the exhaust ports. The water pump is a OEM housing with a John Bennett built impeller.

I really should have washed my car before posting those pics.

[BezerkR32]

i run my sender in te oil filter re-locator block.