Homebrew Oil Cooler (Setrab/Mocal)

[F1point4]

Originally Posted by Vracer111

Looks like you had a good time and great first track weekend...which direction did you run MSR-H, clockwise or counter-clockwise? Did you take any video? I had signed up for this event too late and was on the waiting list - of course there were no openings made and I received the 'sorry try again next time' email on Friday. Guess I'll keep on trying to get a track day at MSR-H this year....

Hey! We ran counter-clockwise. The oil cooler was definitely worth it.

I got video up at this link
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...&postcount=270

I plan to sign up for TWS for September when that opens up.

[F1point4]

@AdamVR4 asked a great question in my journal

Originally Posted by AdamVR4

Are you happy with the oil temperature data or do you think you should have used a larger oil cooler?

Also, how much did the oil cooler reduce your oil pressure?

For me I'm happy. Without the oil cooler I was regularly seeing 240F just cruising 95 mph on the expressway in all conditions on 5W-30 (about 4k rpm in 6th). So to see 240F on 0W-20 in just about the most extreme condition I could subject the car to (tracking in 105F heat), I would be happy with that.

Some have told me my temps are still too high. Still have to factor in that we are reading the temperature through a custom PID in torque and the fact the sensor calibration is unknown, I personally just have to have faith that my engine will be okay. I believe I saw the max temperature for the Amsoil Signature oil I use is 300F. Hopefully I'm no where close to that.

I have no idea about oil pressure so I cannot quantify. I kept the lines as short as possible to minimize this logical reduction.

[swift996]

I really need to get on this but so many things to finish with my supercharger.

Oil staying so hot, hot, hot:

[F1point4]

Originally Posted by swift996

I really need to get on this but so many things to finish with my supercharger.

Oil staying so hot, hot, hot:

You are still NA in this picture? Looks like you were tracking your car, how hot was it outside when you did this?

Thanks @swift996 for the data

[swift996]

Originally Posted by F1point4

You are still NA in this picture? Looks like you were tracking your car, how hot was it outside when you did this?

Thanks @swift996 for the data

Yeah still N/A. It was the first session around 10AM, so I think the ambient temp was 75-80 degrees. It warmed up to the upper 80s/low 90s through the day.

[F1point4]

Working too well?

I noticed this in the morning when I was driving to work...My oil temp seemed to say very low (<180F) even though I drove a reasonable amount and a fair distance.

The setup

I decided to log my trip home. It was 94F outside according to the in car thermometer. When I start the car, I always let my car's idle drop to 800 before moving it to let the Cam Angles set in. My car is parked in a parking garage all day. Today it sat still for 8 hours while I worked.

Torque logging was started a little bit after I turned on the car so that data is missing. The commute in all was 18 minutes. Each vertical line on the chart represents one minute.

The question

It looks like it takes nearly 10 minutes for the oil temperature to reach 180. The coolant stabilizes after 6 minutes. I didn't totally baby the car, just reasonable driving on the street.

These may be some dumb questions
> Is it normal for oil temps to take this long to settle?
> What about driving it hard? Maybe we should wait 10 minutes before taking it above 5k RPM. I normally stop babying the car after 4-5 minutes.
> I was making the assumption that the thermostat was working. Maybe its stuck open?

Too bad I wasn't smart enough to do these kinds of graphs when I was NA and when I was boosted pre oil cooler.

Hopefully this graph can help people what our cars may be doing during normal driving

20130701-OilTemp-CommuteHome-001 by VictorN07, on Flickr

[F1point4]

Originally Posted by swift996

Yeah still N/A. It was the first session around 10AM, so I think the ambient temp was 75-80 degrees. It warmed up to the upper 80s/low 90s through the day.

If you were 265F while N/A and 80 degrees outside, I probably would have hit 300 if I wasn't oil cooled down here in Texas. Sheesh!

[brillo]

I figured the thermostatic plate would allow the car to warm up normally, 18 minutes seems a little long to me. Ill have to time my warm up tomorrow morning on the way to work

[F1point4]

Installation Pictures

Car is apart

20130628-HomebrewOilCoolerInstall-002 by VictorN07, on Flickr



Front

20130628-HomebrewOilCoolerInstall-010 by VictorN07, on Flickr

Since I didn't buy a kit, I had to create my own mounting solution. I needed to remove the black tray to effectively measure placement. I stuck the tray into the bumper so I know how far forward I can put the core.

20130628-HomebrewOilCoolerInstall-043 by VictorN07, on Flickr

My chosen placement. The two light grey hashes are where my Vortech intercooler stops. note I took out the two air scoops that screw into each side of the space invaders grille.

20130628-HomebrewOilCoolerInstall-051 by VictorN07, on Flickr


20130628-HomebrewOilCoolerInstall-051 by VictorN07, on Flickr


20130628-HomebrewOilCoolerInstall-058 by VictorN07, on Flickr



How close to the front

20130628-HomebrewOilCoolerInstall-062 by VictorN07, on Flickr


20130628-HomebrewOilCoolerInstall-070 by VictorN07, on Flickr




Still has clearance

20130628-HomebrewOilCoolerInstall-074 by VictorN07, on Flickr




I used a unibit to drill my holes for my 1/4"-20 bolts

20130628-HomebrewOilCoolerInstall-086 by VictorN07, on Flickr




I had to be mindful of the supports

20130628-HomebrewOilCoolerInstall-094 by VictorN07, on Flickr


20130628-HomebrewOilCoolerInstall-096 by VictorN07, on Flickr


20130628-HomebrewOilCoolerInstall-113 by VictorN07, on Flickr



I bought a polyurethane tube to use as my mounting point. I didn't have the correct tools to cut the polyurethane tube; I ended up using a boxcutter. It wasn't clean but when you clamp it down, it is tight. I chose polyurethane because it provides some vibration dampening. I added some on each side of the core tabs.

20130628-HomebrewOilCoolerInstall-119 by VictorN07, on Flickr


20130628-HomebrewOilCoolerInstall-132 by VictorN07, on Flickr


20130628-HomebrewOilCoolerInstall-139 by VictorN07, on Flickr


Final placement

20130628-HomebrewOilCoolerInstall-153 by VictorN07, on Flickr


20130628-HomebrewOilCoolerInstall-159 by VictorN07, on Flickr


Inside the core

20130628-HomebrewOilCoolerInstall-168 by VictorN07, on Flickr


20130628-HomebrewOilCoolerInstall-180 by VictorN07, on Flickr


Clearance to the intercooler

20130628-HomebrewOilCoolerInstall-206 by VictorN07, on Flickr

Through the grille

20130628-HomebrewOilCoolerInstall-211 by VictorN07, on Flickr


Enjoy!

I'll take some pictures of the sandwich area soon. Exhausted by all the action

[xxscaxx]

Like usual, its always a pleasure reading your DIY's and viewing your photos. I'm going to take this route myself. Thanks for the parts list! Luckily I have a shop near my house with everything I need minus the sandwich plate/adapter, they even list setrab oil coolers on their site so I'm pretty sure they have them in store

[brillo]

Originally Posted by brillo

I figured the thermostatic plate would allow the car to warm up normally, 18 minutes seems a little long to me. Ill have to time my warm up tomorrow morning on the way to work

My car (no oil cooler) took ~7 minutes to warm the oil to 181 degrees. This was relaxed city/hwy driving, mid 70s morning temps keeping the revs under 4K. My car is also N/A for the record.

[F1point4]

Another one from this morning when it was cooler.


20130702-OilTemp-CommuteWork-001 by VictorN07, on Flickr

[Dezoris]

I will be curious how you get your aeroquip lines run down past the airbox and piping without rubbing on the vortech airbox/bracket and abs module Mine are horribly tight. I am considering switching to stainless because of it.

[F1point4]

Originally Posted by Dezoris

I will be curious how you get your aeroquip lines run down past the airbox and piping without rubbing on the vortech airbox/bracket and abs module Mine are horribly tight. I am considering switching to stainless because of it.

It is tight. I'll get some pictures during the holiday break.