Birddog

I have an '03 Z06. During aggressive driving on the track, my oil temperature stays slightly above 270 degrees which seems a little too hot. Do I need to be concerned? Has anyone installed an oil cooler and if so what product do you recommend?

c5chris

Change your thermostat and lower your fan settings. This should help your elevated oil temps.

Bill Dearborn

Changing the thermostat and the fan settings will do nothing for you. If you check your coolant temp you will find you are already above the point where the stock thermo opens and getting one that opens earlier will not help. You have a lot of high speed air coming through the radiator and the fans will not move it any faster. Actually, if the fans come on it may actually be a detriment since when they are running they may hinder air coming through the radiator.

Actually 270 degrees isn't too bad. I was regularly seeing 299 oil temp and 230 coolant temp on my 97 until I put in a DRM radiator w built in oil cooler. Then my oil temps dropped to 230 and my coolant temps dropped to the high 190 range. I kept the stock thermo. It really depends on how much time you spend at WOT.

If you want to get the oil temp down I would suggest an oil cooler that mounts in front of the radiator. I was just talking to DRM the other day and they have a new hook up that uses holes located in the block just above the oil filter. All you have to do is mount their adapter and run the lines to a cooler in the front.

Bill

gary brown

You might want to check out Ron Davis Racing for their radiator built for the C5. It has a built-in oil cooler. You can then mount a B&M racing tranny cooler to the front of the condensor and you'll be done.

Since doing this, my coolant temps have never been over 215 while drag racing and never over 207* of oil temp after WOT...AND all of this in over 100* plus temps!

The tranny fluid is also cooler with the use of a B&M deep tranny pan. I have not seen tranny temps over 201* since using this setup.

Keep us posted on how you are progressing! :thumbs:

Gary


[Modified by gary brown, 9:14 PM 8/9/2003]

Bill Reid

We carry Ron Davis rads in stock... they are just across town so whatever I don't have I can get in a day or 2. We also carry a one piece billet oil cooler adaptor along with all SS braided hose and hose ends. The oil cooler adaptor mounts just above the oil filter and will clear most if not all headers. Lines used are -8AN. No need for anything greater than that. Our oil cooler adaptor has provisions for the oil temp sending unit as well as oil feed for any forced induction applications requiring it. Oil feed can be plugged. The correct GM gasket,bolts, hose ends, and hose are included. I hope to the entire setup on our website soon. FYI, the adaptor on our website is not the same unit I am talking about here. For more info please feel free to give me a call.
Thanks :cheers:

Birddog

Thanks for the advice. It sounds like either the Davis or DRM oil cooler is the way to go. I've never noticed an elevation in engine coolant temp so a radiator is not the problem.
:thumbs:

Bill Dearborn

The DRM cooler uses the Ron Davis Radiator. DRM has recently changed to the style hookup described above. Previously they had an adapter that attached to the oil filter mount and then ran the lines forward to the lower radiator cross bar where a remote mount oil filter was located. Then they ran lines from that to the cooler in the radiator. This is what I had in my 97 and am getting ready to install in the Z.

One thing to remember. This radiator really cools. If you are running in 30 degree weather the oil temp will never go over 90 to 100 degrees unless you really open the car up. This is bad for two reasons, 1) you shouldn't open it up until oil temp hits 150, 2) the cops don't like people racing around at 140 to get their oil temps up.
Bill

JakeL

Isn't that what your car's thermostat is for? Stat will be closed until 19x (or whatever your stat is), and no coolant flows to the radiator. Am I crazy here?

Secondarily, do any of you folks know offhand if the DRM oil cooler (only) setups included a thermostat with them? I live in Colorado, and encountering 30* (and lower) temps during the winter are definitely a possibility.

But, I'd hit 280* oil temps in my C5 after only about 2.5 hard laps at Second Creek this past weekend. Coolant seemed pretty steady though, similar to how the original poster seems to have noted.

Any solutions to cover all the bases? Keeps the oil warm enough on cold days/warmup , and cool enough on hot days/racing?

-Jake

Mr. Jones

i remember reading about a thermostat controlled engine oil cooler.
This prevents the cold weather/oil problem. sounds like some more research
is required.

VetteDrmr

Jake,

Remember, that's just the coolant going through the radiator. The oil cooler is either running through the coolant radiator or it's own radiator: in either case it's running at full flow, unless you put an oil thermostat in-line.

I'm real interested in this new setup (didn't see it on their website yet), as I haven't done any tracks yet (only autocrosses where I'm still seeing temps above 260 at the end of a set of 4 laps) because of this reason.

You said you had to cool off after 2.5 laps. How did you go about this, and what temps did you let your oil get down to before you got back up to speed?

Thanks, and have a good one,
Mike

JakeL

So it appears I'm not crazy...just stupid :lolg:

I believe I recall reading that in the DRM radiator, the proximity of the coolant to the oil in the radiator has a normalizing effect, i.e. it will help bring up the temps when cool, and bring them down when warm. But, if the 'stat is closed, then I suppose that's just going to be a lot of really cold water next to the oil.

I'm really hoping an oil cooler with a proper thermostat installed would give the best of all worlds. Seemed to work great on my DSM, so I hope somebody's figured it out for C5's.

I'd just stay out of the throttle mostly, and poke around the track in 4th and 5th gear for 2-3 laps. With no oil cooler to cool things back down, it took *forever* to get temps back down in the 250* or so range, which would give me about another 1.5 laps before they were back to 280, and at that point I usually came off, since there was no point in done one fast lap for every four I spent out there :(

-Jake

VetteDrmr

Jake,

I know there are folks on this forum (AX & RR) that have done just that, with excellent results. Do a search and you should be able to find something. I think the t-stat assemblies were about $100.

Have a good one,
Mike

Dylan Savage

Is the radiator/oil cooler offered on your site the Ron Davis radiator? If so, does it include any lines or fittings to attach the oil cooler?

Also if so, you are about $550 cheaper than DRM.... congrats. :)
http://www.xmotorsports.com/cooling/




[Modified by Dylan Savage, 5:50 PM 8/11/2003]

John Shiels

270 is OK when running track events I was seeing 310 on hot days now with the DRM rad & internal oil cooler never above 234 and I was doing 160 at Pocono on the long course. I like the setup. In the winter I just took 15 minutes to by-pass the oil cooler with the addition of one fitting. Now when I come in my motor is not making all kinds of dink'in noise form heat.

thefly

for those concerned with oil temps being to cool, i believe earls makes a thermostat for the oil coolant lines which can be used to help regulate temps

Birddog

I also have a '96 Viper GTS Coupe, which I run at the track. All Vipers come from the factory with a large oil cooler in front of the radiator. There are quite a few out there, and I've never heard any comments regarding problems with the oil being too cool. I doubt it's an issue.

John Shiels

In the winter if you drive the street mine never got over 130 even crusing in 5th at 30-40 degrees. I bypassed the cooler with one fitting and 15 minutes for the winter.

Redline Motorsports

Great thread going here! I was concerned last time I went road racing to Watkins Glenn as my 418 was pushing oil temps in the 298 range! :eek: It was amazing how fast it would cool down on the slow down laps just by keeping my boot out of it. Can't seem to make up my mine with which way to go. My coolant temps where never over 195 with that high oil temp. Has anyone noticed a drop in oil pressure after adding a cooler?

Mr. Jones

try this line it has good info on a oil cooler that was installed
in a camaro with ls1. http://www.xse.com/leres/ss/oilcooler.html

kromberg

I ended up getting these parts for my oil cooler.

LQ4 6.0L trcuk oil filter bypass adapter; 15765439 : $63.34 GMPartDirect.com
10' Earl's Pro-Lite hose, 361-350310 : $29.99 jegs.com
(2) Earl's 3/8" pipe hose ends, 361-820166 : $12.99 jegs.com
(2) Earl's -6an hose ends, 361-300106 : $5.99 jegs.com
(2) Earl's -6an tube sleeves, 361-581906 : $1.69 jegs.com
(2) Earl's -6an tube nuts, 361-581806 : $1.99 jegs.com
Perma Cooler cooler with fan, 771-12311 : $131.99 jegs.com

For about $270ish, I have an oil cooler that is much better than any radiator combo.

Keith