Side pod Oil Cooler
Discussion
I intstalled the oil cooler a while back but have only just got round to boxing it in to force air through, here are a few pics of the finished project.
It was one of those jobs that i was not looking forward to and have been putting it off for a long time, but the job was much easier than i expected, everything seemed to fit together easily first time, which was a bonus.
Its just made up of 2mm aluminium plate, all corners have been rivetted together with angles, it is then bolted to the oil cooler and in turn the oil cooler is bolted to the chassis with custom brackets, i then sealed the box scoop to the body with epoxy resin, it turned out to be a quite a sturdy construction.
You cant really see it properly on the picture but it also really makes the side pods look tidy when you look through the mesh.
It was one of those jobs that i was not looking forward to and have been putting it off for a long time, but the job was much easier than i expected, everything seemed to fit together easily first time, which was a bonus.
Its just made up of 2mm aluminium plate, all corners have been rivetted together with angles, it is then bolted to the oil cooler and in turn the oil cooler is bolted to the chassis with custom brackets, i then sealed the box scoop to the body with epoxy resin, it turned out to be a quite a sturdy construction.
You cant really see it properly on the picture but it also really makes the side pods look tidy when you look through the mesh.
Put mine there for my gearbox as well , open up the front quarter panels let's a bit more air through it . Looks good Chris , like Phil's idea of some fans !! Putting a gearbox temp gauge in over the winter , it will be interesting to see what sort of temps the gearbox oil gets up too . Tux
Deffo put them on Chris; as you know not alot of air goes through the sidepods above 70mph so having fans suck air through the cooler is a good thing! I have put slats in the wheel arch liner behind the oil cooler to vent the excess heat and prevent it from finding it's way back into the engine bay.
RobP said:
Deffo put them on Chris; as you know not alot of air goes through the sidepods above 70mph so having fans suck air through the cooler is a good thing! I have put slats in the wheel arch liner behind the oil cooler to vent the excess heat and prevent it from finding it's way back into the engine bay.
..................sorry to be a bore but we ALL know how much flow rate the fans add ( for the those who don't its the equivalent of 4 mph)so having the fans added will be about a usefull as the proverbial flies undone in the "there's not going to be a gale tonight" scenario). What you need having created a pressure building effect of your pre cooler shroud is an extraction system providing for a negative pressure behind the cooler so as to "suck" air through it. And there's the devious art.......................Paul C
paulcundy said:
..................sorry to be a bore but we ALL know how much flow rate the fans add ( for the those who don't its the equivalent of 4 mph)so having the fans added will be about a usefull as the proverbial flies undone in the "there's not going to be a gale tonight" scenario). What you need having created a pressure building effect of your pre cooler shroud is an extraction system providing for a negative pressure behind the cooler so as to "suck" air through it. And there's the devious art.......................
Paul C
So having no air through the oil cooler is better than having fans suck air through it and out into the wheel arch? I don't think so. I have logged a 10C drop in oil temp using fans on track vs without fans present- so I'm afraid I'll stick with empirical data. Agree they are not helpful on the intrecooler where they do restrict air flow.Paul C
Yes i think Andy was working on the same principal, air passing over the vents over the rear wheel arches are to suck air through the side pods.
I'm still not sure which way to go with this one, i did alot of work with the front wheel arches and A panels in order to direct air into the side pods, only trouble is i only tested airflow at 70mph and the airflow into side pods was approx halfed at this speed, i did not think about testing above 70mph at the time i.e. with regards to the faster you go the more air is deflected away from the side pods. I am going to have a good think about this one.
I'm still not sure which way to go with this one, i did alot of work with the front wheel arches and A panels in order to direct air into the side pods, only trouble is i only tested airflow at 70mph and the airflow into side pods was approx halfed at this speed, i did not think about testing above 70mph at the time i.e. with regards to the faster you go the more air is deflected away from the side pods. I am going to have a good think about this one.
Hollowpockets said:
from what im led to believe there is high air pressure in the wheel arch, so venting to there may not help 'suck' anything.
I'm in the 'fans are a waste of time' camp also
Hi Graham,I'm in the 'fans are a waste of time' camp also
Its the air that goes over the wheel arch i.e. over the rear clam, i think you can see a pic of it on Andy's rear clam. If you connect the side pod and this backwards facing vent over the wheel arch then the air gets sucked through the side pod and out. I also think Mike is using the same method to get good airflow through his side mounted Intercoolers.
air sucked out of the rear wheelarch will not suck air through the side pods as the side pods are completely blocked off from the arch?... you need to find a way to ram air in if you NEED it to go through there.
saying that people with them in the side pods do not seem to have oil temp issues so not sure airflow is that important to them and just ambient air cools them?
saying that people with them in the side pods do not seem to have oil temp issues so not sure airflow is that important to them and just ambient air cools them?
I'm completely with Paul on how effective (relatively) fans are. However, when I had a think about how I used the car, there were significant times when the car would be hot and at standstill. Regardless of the relative speed of air fans produce compared to a moving car, stationary they do move some air.
Let's face it, you wouldn't remove the water rad fans on a road car would you?
Let's face it, you wouldn't remove the water rad fans on a road car would you?
Ye i thought we had discussed how it works in theory but i remember now it was mikes car we were discussing to get airflwo through the side mounted intercoolers. so the same principal as what you have done on the GTT. Any progress on the GTT?
Are oil temperatures still an issue when the car is stood still and ticking over Phil?
Are oil temperatures still an issue when the car is stood still and ticking over Phil?
we need some fat wide scoops - problem solved
yes there will be more drag - but if there is little airlfow there in the first place the drag will be minimal
also i think most of those with oil coolers are running more than enough power to overcome a little extra drag
(i can get a model wind tunnel tested if somebody wanted to come up with some designs)
alternatively fit a water/oil cooler and use a radiator up front !
qu - does the m400 still have the water/oil cooler as well as the pod mounted oil/air cooler ?
yes there will be more drag - but if there is little airlfow there in the first place the drag will be minimal
also i think most of those with oil coolers are running more than enough power to overcome a little extra drag
(i can get a model wind tunnel tested if somebody wanted to come up with some designs)
alternatively fit a water/oil cooler and use a radiator up front !
qu - does the m400 still have the water/oil cooler as well as the pod mounted oil/air cooler ?
I removed my water to oil cooler when i put this.
with the oil/water cooler coolant temps would creep above 100 if i was giving it some welly on a very hot day, now the job of cooling the oil has been removed the temps have never crept above 98, and motorway cruising sees coolant temps of 95, so the fans never kick in until i been stationary for a while (as it should be) and that is in 45deg ambient temperatures.
From when i first brought the car to cyprus with a leaky coolant system, the car was not handling the hot climate very well, but slowly slowly one mod at a time, the temps kept dropping and that is while increasing power.
Fixing pressure leaks in the coolant system(replacing pipes) dropped temps by a few deg.
Fitting a new 50mm core pro alloy radiator dropped temps by a couple of deg.
Sealing the radiator properly to the clam dropped temps by 1 deg.
flushing the system and using a 70% water/30 coolant mix dropped temps another deg.
Removing the water/oil cooler dropped it by a few deg.
Lots of other little mods like moving number plate, bigger mesh, removing heat from engine bay also helped a little aswell.
But the end result is this car is now handling the hot climate better than any other performance car i have come across who have spent millions on development, i.e F360 run at 106, Lotus Exige run at 115, Tuned EVo's and subaraus dont even come out during the day because of heat issues.
Unfortunately i do not know what my oil temps are but i do not track the car and acceleration is only in short bursts so i dont think it will be too much of a problem, if i were tracking the car with prolonged periods of high revs it would be a different matter. I also have a habit of changing the oil every 2000km, sometimes less, as soon as i can see the oil start to deviate from the golden colour on the dip stick it gets changed.
with the oil/water cooler coolant temps would creep above 100 if i was giving it some welly on a very hot day, now the job of cooling the oil has been removed the temps have never crept above 98, and motorway cruising sees coolant temps of 95, so the fans never kick in until i been stationary for a while (as it should be) and that is in 45deg ambient temperatures.
From when i first brought the car to cyprus with a leaky coolant system, the car was not handling the hot climate very well, but slowly slowly one mod at a time, the temps kept dropping and that is while increasing power.
Fixing pressure leaks in the coolant system(replacing pipes) dropped temps by a few deg.
Fitting a new 50mm core pro alloy radiator dropped temps by a couple of deg.
Sealing the radiator properly to the clam dropped temps by 1 deg.
flushing the system and using a 70% water/30 coolant mix dropped temps another deg.
Removing the water/oil cooler dropped it by a few deg.
Lots of other little mods like moving number plate, bigger mesh, removing heat from engine bay also helped a little aswell.
But the end result is this car is now handling the hot climate better than any other performance car i have come across who have spent millions on development, i.e F360 run at 106, Lotus Exige run at 115, Tuned EVo's and subaraus dont even come out during the day because of heat issues.
Unfortunately i do not know what my oil temps are but i do not track the car and acceleration is only in short bursts so i dont think it will be too much of a problem, if i were tracking the car with prolonged periods of high revs it would be a different matter. I also have a habit of changing the oil every 2000km, sometimes less, as soon as i can see the oil start to deviate from the golden colour on the dip stick it gets changed.
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