BryanPendleton

Looking for options on where to mount engine oil cooler on my C5. It appears a lot of the kits mount the oil cooler in front and parallel with the AC condenser. I have also seen some coolers mount near perpendicular to the AC condenser, such that the cooler points more towards the ground. I have also seen people mount it behind the front license plate. Are there other options (for a street/track car)? What are the pros and cons of the available options.

waddisme

Seems like I saw one back when I was researching mine, that mounted behind the fans but before the block - kind of like the ps cooler. They had a mounting plate specifically for there. Just can't remember the name or vendor. I remember it being a pretty clean install and setup for one of the members who tried it. Maybe someone can recall.

Soma07

That's the Lingenfelter kit. It mounts to the engine crossmember and the cooler is positioned right in front of where the stock PS cooler lives.

The good thing about this setup is that the oil lines are relatively short and the oil temps on the street still get up to the 180-190 degree range without a thermostat.

The bad is that the install is really, really tight. There is barely enough room for the cooler and the oil lines provided have no extra slack in them at all. I ended up modifying the lines and mount substantially to make them fit better.

Also because there isn't much space the cooler itself is only a 13 row which is a lot smaller than most other kits. I haven't run it on the track yet but if it can knock ~20 degrees off the oil temp and keep it under 280 I'll be happy with it.

Bill Dearborn

One way to do it is to get a DeWitts or Ron Davis Racing Radiator with built in EOC. I had the RD Radiator in both of my C5s and it did a fantastic job of keeping the coolant temps and oil temps in check. With a stock thermostat the coolant temp would run right at 200 all day long and the oil temp would run at 230. The RD oil cooler was in the passenger side end tank and the radiator was so efficient that it kept that side of the tank very cool which resulted in issues getting the oil warm enough when driving on the street in cool ambient temps of 50 degrees or lower.

All in all a great setup and a way to keep the car reliable.

Bill

mgarfias

++++

in phoenix stop and go traffic in the summer (115 out) my oil temps with the RD EOC would stay around 180-200.

0Anthony @ LGMotorsports

Because of the space required, fitment, and just overall air flow of the C5 we had ours built into the radiator itself just like what we do on the race cars.

This is not only a more efficient way of cooling the oil and gives you a more stable temp, and quicker oil warm up in colder weather as well.

Like Bill said, a number of us all do it like that and it makes for a nice clean install and you don't have to worry about air flow blockage in front of the radiator. A properly sized unit up there will block a good portion of air flow going through the nose of the car.

BryanPendleton

Why do you say its "more efficient at cooling"? I would think a stand alone has a much greater capacity for releasing BTU's, than something integrated. Now I do like the quicker warm up, as my car does serve a dual role of track and street. . . for now.

So you guys are getting away with the integrated engine oil coolers. Everyone I have talked to at the Houston area HPDE's run's stand alone and recommends standalone. *shrug*

Bill Dearborn

Stand Alone will be cheaper. You can piece one together from parts you buy from Jeg's or Summit. If you go with the RD the radiator you are adding cooling capacity for both the coolant and the oil. It really does a great job of cooling. For me it took longer to heat the oil with the RD than it did with the stock radiator and no oil cooler. I could drive at 70 mph for 40 miles in 6th gear in 45 deg weather get out of the car and the passenger side radiator end tank felt like it was the same temperature as the outside air. With the RD you don't have to worry about plumbing the hoses out to a cooler in front of the radiator. You do it all from behind the radiator. It also gives you the room and cooling capacity to add trans and diff coolers plumbed to the front of the car. As I said before I could run a stock thermostat and the coolant temp would run at 200 degrees all day long. To my mind that is the perfect temperature for the engine.

Bill

BryanPendleton

What about at the track? That's where I need the cooling performance. That is were my temps are out of hand. I had 280+F oil temps in a cool-Texas day (ie. ~70F). A 20-degree drop is not going to cut it. I want to see 40 or 50 degree drop.

mgarfias

The C5R/C6R used an oil/water heat exchanger.

mgarfias

Outside the radiator that is.

RX-Ben

They used something like the Laminova setup, and probably something similar to the $750 version. A little different than the typically restrictive and thermally limited radiator endtank setups that are being discussed.

mgarfias

kinda.

BryanPendleton

I don't think I need a solution that will remove enough heat to cool 500+hp 24 hour endurance race cars. Perhaps, I should ask my question differently. . . What is are my fellow track rats doing to control heat of coolant and engine oil? And how successful has your solution been?

0Anthony @ LGMotorsports

Because fluid to fluid is always more efficient than air to fluid. There is more contact area and more conduction of heat transfer in this situation vs fluid to air.

Think about it this way, how much surface area do you have to have on an air cooled engine vs a water cooled one? Any time you had to have a dedicated engine oil cooler, the cooler itself has to be so large to do a good job of it, that you begin to reduce the air flow to the radiator...now you end up buying a radiator to make up for the loss in air flow. Do it once and just do the radiator with an oil cooler in it and you not only drop oil temps, but water temps as well and keep both in check. Less clutter, less weight, and more air through the nose of the car.

BryanPendleton

I would definately agree that your liquid to liquid cooler is more efficent, but in application which solutions yields the lower oil temperatures and still maintain sufficient coolant temps?

Integrated you are cooling 280F-300F oil with what 220F-240F coolant?
How much temperature drop can you expect?

An "adequately sized" stand alone EOC you are cooling 280F-300F oil with ~ambient air, a much larger difference. The stand alone EOC will sacrifice effectiveness of our radiator, but if you have plenty safety room with regard to radiator cooling capacity, then I would not think you would be concerned the loose in radiator cooling.

Believe me, I love the idea of a combo radiator for reasons which have already been mentioned, but I am not convinced that the resulting lower oil temps are "low enough". I would love to hear/see some data on people tracking their C5/C6's with integrated and standalone engine oil coolers.

redtopz

Liquid to liquid is technically less efficient if you look only at cooling the oil because air still has to cool the water, which then cools the oil in a heat exchanger. Two steps instead of one decreases efficiency. However, if you look at cooling the engine as a whole system, it doesn't matter.

Don't get hung up thinking about cooling the water and oil separately and what temperatures you want for each fluid. Instead, think about cooling the engine as a whole. Remember, air is the only thing cooling the engine. You can improve overall cooling with a DeWitt's radiator with EOC or with a standalone oil cooler. Both work well if sized properly. I raced T1 for 2 years in a C5Z using a Dewitt's radiator with EOC had no temperature problems.

Here's what I would do. If you have a stock radiator and no oil cooler, then I would get a Dewitt's radiator with EOC. Clean, simple and effective. However, if you already have a larger capacity radiator then I would get a standalone oil cooler. Most important, make sure air is forced through the radiator and oil cooler. Seal off any gaps that let air pass around the radiator. I have a brake cooling duct going directly to my oil cooler.

ZedO6

I had concerns about the restriction in the oil line plumbing but I was assured by DeWitts that the system runs in bypass and cannot starve the engine for oil. That is, the oil is not 100% flowing through the cooler but is split between the normal circulation with only part of it flowing through the cooler. Looking at the factory Z51 oil lines, it looks like the oil can take either path, cooler or back through the block at the oil filter.

I have the DeWitts radiator with IOC but have not plumbed the oil yet. Undecided on that system for the track vs a stand alone.

RX-Ben

I had a DeWitts on my car but the bypass system broke and oil temps would immediately shoot to 300 and pressure would not go beyond ~30psi at 6000+ rpm.
This is a pretty rare failure, as they adapt the OEM C6 piece.
But yes - that setup is ideal b/c you aren't trying to run the full oil flow through the 3/8" lines.

0Randy@DRM

Running a Ron Davis with right side oil cooler, here is the numbers that we normally see and here about. Hot, track and 400-500 rear wheel horsepower.
200-210 water
240-270 oil (measured from the engine going to the cooler)

It seems like the only time it doesn't cool them enough is in big power cars, high rpm cars-drivers-tracks. Lots of built engines are built on the loose side of things and that can cause similar cooling issues.

We jam all the oil into the cooler without a bypass. Thousands and thousands of street and track miles without problems. Oiling issues are normally found straight away, so I'm very sure that it's a good setup.

http://dougrippie.com/products/ron-d...-and-line-kit/

Randy