For track use, I'd replace the factory radiator too, because of cooling. Reliability will hit eventually, but cooling will hit right now.

SPAL fans too.

 

DRM's route is sound advice. Any sort of disaster situation, however infrequent, will have serious repercussions on any correlated links in the cooling system.

However, this increases complexity of solution, aka LG's! Looks like you would have to go through tons of reading to really figure it out, it's not a one-size-fits-all method.

 

Both work rather well for a dual purpose car. If you spin a rod bearing ,damage a cam bearing , or eat a lifter for instance usually you don't get debris in the cooling system if the head gasket does not blow or you crack the block but metal does go through the oiling system. If you search you can find posts of members who dropped a new motor in and didn't clean the cooler after replacing a damaged motor. They later find debris in the oil filter.

As posted above, My car has the oil cooler integrated in the radiator. A close friend has the DRM external cooler option. We plumbed both in together and have been through motor swaps on both cars. I don't see one as more complex than the other.

Also the topic I linked is rather old and back then Improved wasn't making adapter blocks with thermostats and as such warming the oil with the coolant was an advantage for a street car which might see cold weather.

http://www.improvedracing.com/oil-co...ter-p-369.html

http://dougrippie.com/category/produ...-2004/cooling/

 

Well, I would not call these solutions simple. Forget about the packaging constraints fitting in one supplemental cooler, think about all the routings of lines of oil back and forth - certainly not for the faint of heart! Better left to professionals as far as I'm concerned, for installation. The last thing you need on Track is any sort of gremlin rearing it's ugly head.

This is one reason I would like to see LG's solution in action - Implementation Simplicity. I do not know which one they would suggest for oil cooling, yes potentially hybrid, however in fluids, their success in Racing must have paid off. This particular implementation seems to harness the best of both worlds. I'm going to call!

 

Here's LG's two different solutions, for oil cooling:

1). LG Motorsports C5 Super Cool Radiator



'Modified engines need a modified cooling system, not to mention cooler engines make more horsepower. Our radiator comes with an integrated oil cooler to keep your block at the right temperature for the best horsepower possible. Made to fit your C5. This is an all aluminum unit with race quality TIG welds. Optional custom steel braided lines and fittings to make your C5's complete cooling system bullet-proof.'

2). LG Motorsports Oil Cooler

 

LG isn't marketing a 'full kit' either, for stand-alone oil cooling solution, hmm.

 

Indeed. And if I am being honest, there is no "kit" out there that makes sense to me for the C5. Here's why:

1)

Most of the obvious "kits" are just radiators that have a separate area for the engine-oil-cooler. Some, like DeWitts, sell a hard line that goes from the oil port above the filter to the cooler. If you look at it that way, it's basically a kit: install rad, install hard line, prime, go.

But I'm not a fan of integrated solutions. I am also not even remotely a fan of not having a thermostat, which brings me to:

2)

The actual "kits" that come with a cooler, mount, lines, fittings, adapter, etc -- they're kinda few and far between, there's DRM and there's lingenfelter, there's rev9, there's pcm of nc ... well, frankly, there's a bunch of ebay kits and a lot of them look like the latter two.

None of them provide a thermostat to control the oil temperatures. They all use the cheaper adapter plates without thermostatic control. Problem is, you really don't want to run an oil cooler without a thermostat unless it's a pure race car, and even unless you're pre-heating the oil, I'd prefer the engine warm up as fast as possible.

Also, they don't tend to include things like: sleeves (for heat, for abrasion, for protecting the lines); high temperature / pressure hose; crimped fittings; mounts that isolate/dampen vibration; hose separators; hose mounts / clamps to suspend the hoses ...



Finally, neither integrated oil coolers nor standalone kits offer particularly _large_ coolers. If you can mount them with excellent airflow that might not be an issue, but they seem like they're undersized. Running forced induction? Not big enough. NA, but upgraded? I'd worry. Even stock, I'm thinking of what's gonna happen when you're at Thunderhill and the pavement is reading 115F. Not to mention, if you're gonna solve the oiling issues and stay higher in the revs in sustained turns, that's yet more heat that'll be generated.

After considering all my options, I went to Improved and asked for feedback on what I eventually put together from what they offer. Their biggest cooler (with a 2Q capacity no less), prefab BMRS lines with crimped fittings (high temp, high pressure, with firehose) that hold 0.5Q by themselves, their thermostatic adapter plate, various odds and ends like the mounts and separators and clamps.

Plus decided to do baffles, pickup tube brace, and crank scraper. Really it was just the baffles I wanted, but the labor to pull the entire pan off is so high (plus almost a hundred bucks worth of gasket) I decided I may as well splurge a little. Added a catch can and I feel way better about running a bit overfilled and running harder. 10Q system capacity also means it takes longer to heat soak, and of course the big fat cooler means, well, not only cooling of the oil where there previously was none, but hopefully enough to make it comfortable to road-course a supercharged setup.



Note that the fine folks at ImprovedRacing told me they are in fact working on a C5 corvette kit that, I assume, will actually be worth buying all in one go! No need to spend two weeks emailing back and forth and doing measurements, they will probably offer something turn-key. It will likely be twice the price of the DRM or Lingenfelter kit, but it'll actually make sense to buy, so I figure it's a win.

 

I can say with the DRM engine oil cooler kit at Road Atlanta in the summer heat, temp have not been a problem.

The install is not hard if you are patient and pay attention to detail, I would wrap the lines in heat wrap not just for temp but paying attention to where the lines come near wires. AN lines will checw through wires/hoses I know numerous guys who aren't mechanics and spend more time in a cube than a shop which have successfully installed an engine oil cooler.

If you want a thermostat the Improved adapter puts the lines in the same orientation of the DRM adapter. Randy at DRM will sell you what you need. If you do want to go bigger on the cooler the bracket mounts a Setrab oil cooler and you could likely find a bigger cooler with the same width.

LPE makes quality products however for track use, in my opinion I don't like the placement of their oil cooler in terms of airflow and I would think it limits size.

I have and would recommend searching this site using google for both topics and picture searches, read and read some more to understand the compromise which come with modifying a car.

If you are tracking a car should check torque values on suspension component regularly as well as look for leaks unusual wear etc. What better way to have an idea of where to look that to do your own work as much as possible?

An engine oil cooler would be one of my early mods in prepping for track use. We have tracked the car with the DRM cooler for multiple seasons with good reliability.

 

Andy did the heads, cam, supercharger and other work on my C5. I highly recommend Andy and his crew.