Cooling Fins On Sump

[GTR81]

Ok guys i've done a bit of searching but can't really find much info.

I'm extending the sump on my GTR and want to know if there would be much benefit in having cooling fins on the sump?

Would there be much air flow down there?

I realise that the oil is moving around alot but surely if you can get the sump a bit cooler it will take a few degrees out of the oil.

Thoughts anyone

[R31Nismoid]

No other big 8-10lt sumps run fins as everyone with larger sumps, have oil coolers

[GTR81]

Yeah i've got an oil cooler, just thought if it got a bit of extra cooling it's got to be a good thing

[luke gtr]

As long as it doesn't sit too close to the road, I don't think it can hurt....

How about a before and after comparison, then we can all know...

I've often thought of this with the gearbox as well, pretty sure you can buy the stuff like heat shielding, but it helps cooling.

An acl product if I'm not mistaken.

If you give it a go, please share your results.

Good luck.

[GTSBoy]

An example in the right direction is the old ALFA engines from the 105 and 116 chassis. They had big cast aluminium sumps and the outside of the sumps were completely finned. So you had the combination of a better material for heat conduction (aluminium), plus a better surface finish for convective heat dissipation (as cast rather than painted smooth steel) and fins on top of that.

On that basis it would be easy to argue that you couldn't possibly provide too much heat dissipation off a sump.

To achieve anything really useful though, you'd want to be welding on 6-8mm deep fins every 6-8mm I'd suppose. And it would end up looking bloody ugly.

There is talk though that for cars that are road driven it can be hard to warm up a large sump full of oil as it is. If the car is hard thrashed every time it is driven then this isn't a concern, but even a dual purpose track/street car might suffer from low oil temperatures if you make it too hard to warm the oil up. A thermostatically controlled cooler would be smarter in that case.

[R31Nismoid]

There is talk though that for cars that are road driven it can be hard to warm up a large sump full of oil as it is. If the car is hard thrashed every time it is driven then this isn't a concern, but even a dual purpose track/street car might suffer from low oil temperatures if you make it too hard to warm the oil up. A thermostatically controlled cooler would be smarter in that case.

Even then with a thermo, mine with 9.5ltrs takes a solid 10mins (5mins before seeing boost and then more heat) to warm up before the gauge even moves off it's pin.

Generally tyres/brakes run out before the oil cries enough as well with that much oil in there.

[GTR81]

Some good info there GTSboy, i was thinking it would be getting a bit messy with all that welding. So i was thinking about milling some slots in 12mm flat bar.

I didn't really think about it being too cool, i guess if i did it i could cover up or bypass the cooler for the street and drags and then use the cooler on the track.

So nismoid how long on the track are you driving for without having the oil get too hot?

I'm not to worried about warm up time as the car is not driven daily.

[N1GTR]

Why not make the cooler more efficient and make air guides for it - most dont have that. Or even get a larger core if it's really that bad

[GTR81]

Ok the car is fine now, doesn't get hot as it's only got basic upgrades. i'm mounting the oil cooler now with proper ducting.

I'm about to do the sump extension now for my new engine so while i'm at it i thought i would ask what people think of it, cause now

is the time to do it.

[Piggaz]

RIPS in NZ does this if you want when you buy one of his sumps. It 's a few hundred bucks extra. Is it needed on a street car? I doubt it!