Optimal placement of oil cooler
 

I have been working on finding the best set up for my oil to air oil cooler. YES, I know that there are those folks out there that believe an oil cooler is unnecessary and that temperatures up to 270* are ok but I'm not (yet) one of those folks.

I started out with a Jackson Racing dual rad but found it caused excessive loss of oil pressure. I installed a Setrab Series 134 oil to air cooler but I still get oil temperatures higher than I like. After I first installed it, I ran at VIR with ambient temps in the 70*s I was getting to 250* and my pressure was dropping into the low 40 psi range. I added shrouding and switched from Mobil 1 10w30 to Motul 5w40. Next event at summit Point, my temps were still in the upper 240* range but my op stayed in the upper 40 psi range.

In March, I remounted my cooler so that it is "flush" with my condenser and ran at VIR again. Ambient temps in the low 70*s. (Perfect weekend at the track) My oil temperature didn't go over 245* and op was in the upper 40's at 7k rpm.

Given the size of the cooler, I feel my temperatures should be in the 220*-230* range which would push my op up and make me feel better. My cooler is mounted to the right side of grill opening.

I can add shrouding again and/or move the cooler to the center of the grill.

Any other thoughts?

240ish is not bad. I don’t think it is going to get much better without going bigger or shrouding and sealing to the ducting.

It seems that in regard to oil cooler sizing , Setrab recommends a specific cooler size for a given hp. Do our engines run hotter than other configurations? The Jackson Racing (oil to air) system uses a Setrab 915 cooler, which is about the same area as my Series 134 and from their ad would, would provide similar cooling characteristics.

Maybe like @Ultramaroon, I need to go bigger.

After breaking something in my AC while swapping blocks, I finally removed the heat exchanger for it and it has helped all my temps a decent amount. Not sure if you can do that but it has seemed to help my setup which is the JRSC setup that mount with the rotrex cooler on one side and the oil cooler on the other.

NA I noticed almost no difference with the AC condenser removed. Oil or coolant temps.

I have a Blitz oil cooler (230×173×50 mm - 12 row) that's mounted off to the side but has a shroud/duct. I don't think I've ever seen more than 250F on the pre-cooler oil temperature even in 100F+ ambient.


Usually I'm seeing peak of 240F pre-cooler.

What wt oil and what kind of pressure are you seeing at 240*?

Do you have hood vents? I think that the combo of the 2 is what did it for me

Yes.

I hate the HP recommendations because it's such a blanket statement, it's slightly triggering really.

It only comes down to btu/hr, that's how anything should be decided.

The issue with a 134, IMO is the minimal width of each row, that is simply going to reduce the cooing effect.

Even if you look at the 134, it's a 34 Row Cooler but listed at 21-27kBtu

A 915, even though "rated" the same HP Wise is rated at 27-37kBtu

You can even see it in the pressure drop across each core. Lower pressure drop is less effective fin area for the oil to travel and transfer heat.

RE: The HP Rating - IDK how you can market the 50-172 core as 600+ HP when effective BTU/hr is 40-60k

A comparative Series 9 that is 400-475 HP is 42k to 60k Btu/hr

Anyways, I ended up going with a 50-920 Core similar to Harrop's design. No thermostatic oil adapter so I constantly flow through the core regardless of temp. Depending on that adapter you can see a large oil pressure drop.


https://scontent.fosu3-1.fna.fbcdn.n...Ag&oe=6605C666

I gather the more restrictive the flow, the better the cooling. That's probably part of the reason the oil to water units seem to be so effective. Higher pressure with slower flow means more time to lose heat.

When I bought my cooler from Peagsus the sales guy seemed more worried about over cooling. Even being na, I don't see over cooling happening on the track even if I were to nearly double the size of the cooler.

0W20. I don't have a CANBUS data logger, but when I have happened to glance the gauge (probably an unreliable metric) I usually haven't seen anything under 60psi

The Setrab 72-row 1-series tucks in perfectly on the cooler stack. Wide open, the thermostat actually regulates temp as designed.

It's too much for a daily but easily covered partially with some aluminum tape, or fashion a cover for the adapter and leave it disconnected until fun time.