Oil cooler in feed or return

Oil cooler in feed or return

Author
Discussion

AceRockatansky

Original Poster:

2,411 posts

34 months

Tuesday 12th March
quotequote all
So where do people plumb their oil cooler? Seen arguments for the various positions.

Currently getting too much over cooling, so fitting a canton thermostat. Engine is dry sumped.

Oil cooler is currently fitted on the return to the tank, but figure I'll get more heat on the feed.

GreenV8S

30,481 posts

291 months

Wednesday 13th March
quotequote all
If it's getting over cooling in its current location then I don't see any incentive to try to optimise the layout to improve cooling.

AceRockatansky

Original Poster:

2,411 posts

34 months

Wednesday 13th March
quotequote all
GreenV8S said:
If it's getting over cooling in its current location then I don't see any incentive to try to optimise the layout to improve cooling.
Well the idea is to reduce thermostat opening on the feed. Oil on the return will be warmer and open the stat sooner right?

Or will deaerated oil cool more on the feed line?

stevieturbo

17,530 posts

254 months

Wednesday 13th March
quotequote all
Just remove the cooler ?

GreenV8S

30,481 posts

291 months

Thursday 14th March
quotequote all
AceRockatansky said:
Well the idea is to reduce thermostat opening on the feed.
Still not following you. What are you trying to achieve?

Haltamer

2,554 posts

87 months

Thursday 14th March
quotequote all
Cardboard over the heat exchanger.

Trim it down until you've got just the right amount of cooling.

Problem solved, no plumbing needed smile

Tony1963

5,331 posts

169 months

Thursday 14th March
quotequote all
Will it still over-cool in the higher ambient temperatures of summer?

Yes, fit a thermostat.

richhead

1,658 posts

18 months

Thursday 14th March
quotequote all
AceRockatansky said:
So where do people plumb their oil cooler? Seen arguments for the various positions.

Currently getting too much over cooling, so fitting a canton thermostat. Engine is dry sumped.

Oil cooler is currently fitted on the return to the tank, but figure I'll get more heat on the feed.
coolers are most offten on the return to prevent heat build up in the tank. If you have too much cooling then as said either use rad blanking or a thermostat,
Or is the cooler too big?
In racing we look for around 110-120 deg, although alot of modern oils are happy at higher temps now.
Eitherway you want it to get over 100 regularly to remove moisture

Chris32345

2,116 posts

69 months

Thursday 14th March
quotequote all
How's it getting fed oil?

You could restrict the amount of oil flowing through it as well

But blanks part of the fins would be my fire try

LastPoster

2,715 posts

190 months

Thursday 14th March
quotequote all
In my dry sumped rally car with the tank in the boot I never needed an oil cooler at all. All that pipe (twin scavenge and return pipes) must have given off so much of the heat anyway. Link it out and see how it copes.

AceRockatansky

Original Poster:

2,411 posts

34 months

Thursday 14th March
quotequote all
richhead said:
AceRockatansky said:
So where do people plumb their oil cooler? Seen arguments for the various positions.

Currently getting too much over cooling, so fitting a canton thermostat. Engine is dry sumped.

Oil cooler is currently fitted on the return to the tank, but figure I'll get more heat on the feed.
coolers are most offten on the return to prevent heat build up in the tank. If you have too much cooling then as said either use rad blanking or a thermostat,
Or is the cooler too big?
In racing we look for around 110-120 deg, although alot of modern oils are happy at higher temps now.
Eitherway you want it to get over 100 regularly to remove moisture
I've gone for the canton stat as it's straight through when closed with minimal restriction and opens at 215 degrees F. Tank is in the front, but the oil cooler is actually quite large and difficult to block off but has been running successfully for a few years by the previous owner, I assume in warmer weather.

I'll put it in the return as before.


richhead

1,658 posts

18 months

Friday 15th March
quotequote all
AceRockatansky said:
richhead said:
AceRockatansky said:
So where do people plumb their oil cooler? Seen arguments for the various positions.

Currently getting too much over cooling, so fitting a canton thermostat. Engine is dry sumped.

Oil cooler is currently fitted on the return to the tank, but figure I'll get more heat on the feed.
coolers are most offten on the return to prevent heat build up in the tank. If you have too much cooling then as said either use rad blanking or a thermostat,
Or is the cooler too big?
In racing we look for around 110-120 deg, although alot of modern oils are happy at higher temps now.
Eitherway you want it to get over 100 regularly to remove moisture
I've gone for the canton stat as it's straight through when closed with minimal restriction and opens at 215 degrees F. Tank is in the front, but the oil cooler is actually quite large and difficult to block off but has been running successfully for a few years by the previous owner, I assume in warmer weather.

I'll put it in the return as before.
That temp sounds about right.
reminds me of my first time engineering a car in the us, the brake guy handed me a slip of paper with the brake temps on after a pit stop, i shxt a brick, as the temps were in the thousands, bloody gave it to me in f not c.

AceRockatansky

Original Poster:

2,411 posts

34 months

Saturday 23rd March
quotequote all
richhead said:
AceRockatansky said:
richhead said:
AceRockatansky said:
So where do people plumb their oil cooler? Seen arguments for the various positions.

Currently getting too much over cooling, so fitting a canton thermostat. Engine is dry sumped.

Oil cooler is currently fitted on the return to the tank, but figure I'll get more heat on the feed.
coolers are most offten on the return to prevent heat build up in the tank. If you have too much cooling then as said either use rad blanking or a thermostat,
Or is the cooler too big?
In racing we look for around 110-120 deg, although alot of modern oils are happy at higher temps now.
Eitherway you want it to get over 100 regularly to remove moisture
I've gone for the canton stat as it's straight through when closed with minimal restriction and opens at 215 degrees F. Tank is in the front, but the oil cooler is actually quite large and difficult to block off but has been running successfully for a few years by the previous owner, I assume in warmer weather.

I'll put it in the return as before.
That temp sounds about right.
reminds me of my first time engineering a car in the us, the brake guy handed me a slip of paper with the brake temps on after a pit stop, i shxt a brick, as the temps were in the thousands, bloody gave it to me in f not c.
That's the thermostat opening temp.

Oil temps are 60 degrees with the current setup.

I'm also fitting a Peterson remote oil filter with priming pump, saves removing the plugs and priming it when the oil drains to the sump.

E-bmw

9,976 posts

159 months

Saturday 23rd March
quotequote all
IIRC oil temp should be over 80 deg C to ensure water entrained can evaporate.

540TORQUES

6,480 posts

22 months

Saturday 23rd March
quotequote all
E-bmw said:
IIRC oil temp should be over 80 deg C to ensure water entrained can evaporate.
80+ is what you are looking for, it's not just water content you are burning off, which is minimal, it's unburned fuel contaminants that dilute the oil over time that need to be evaporated off.

It's always nice to have circa 10 degrees higher oil temp than water, with water around 80-90 degrees on a conventional engine. Modern racecars can be run hotter mainly for aero benefits.

Oil coolers in the scavenge return have benefits, they help deairate the oil before it reaches the dry sump tank and you have no pressure drop in the oil fed to the bearings. The cooler also sees much lower pressure, so is less likely to fail, if you have a viscous cold oil and a high pressure oil system, a cooler in the pressure side can burst.

AceRockatansky

Original Poster:

2,411 posts

34 months

Saturday 23rd March
quotequote all
Well my opening post did say it was overcooling, that's why I'm buying the thermostat. 60 is far too low.

215F = 101 Celsius. Most seem to open at 80 which seems low and have small openings. This thermostat is pretty big.


E-bmw

9,976 posts

159 months

Sunday 24th March
quotequote all
540TORQUES said:
E-bmw said:
IIRC oil temp should be over 80 deg C to ensure water entrained can evaporate.
80+ is what you are looking for, it's not just water content you are burning off, which is minimal, it's unburned fuel contaminants that dilute the oil over time that need to be evaporated off.
Hence why I said over 80 deg C. thumbup