Dual oil coolers for serious track duty

[Z Beast]

Originally Posted by wakespeak

So I landed at the C7 forum and a lot of the guys there are ducting air from the front grill right to the factory oil cooler. I may try this as I have already done it for the brakes.

Great article on getting the air right on the cooler but I'm not sure about how they cooled the power steering, it seems like you would be creating a lot of pressure in the engine compartment and reducing down force...I found this clamp on heat shield at Summit I'm sure there are more out there to be found. http://www.summitracing.com/parts/the-11600

[White_SS/RS]

The Corvette guy has a good idea in his approach to ducting for the oil cooler. I may have to look for a way to do this. Since the factory cooler uses water to cool the oil, the oil will never run cooler than the water. First priority should be keeping coolant temps lower, then address supplemental cooling.

[Woodsman44]

Finally had a track day at VIR. Temps were high in the 60's so it was a mild day and oil temps got as high as 274. It never went over 274 no matter how hard I pushed the car and would drop into the 260's quickly on a moderate lap so that was encouraging but I'm a little concerned at how much higher it might go on a hot day. I'm going to try putting a 2-2.5" shroud around each oil cooler to try to force more air through them. My theory is that a lot of air is going around them since they stick out a little from the radiator (just a theory). The shrouds will cause a little turbulence for the air going through the A/C and coolant radiators but my coolant temps were fine so I'm not worried about it. Overall I think I'm safe from any oil overheating issues. Let me know if you guys have any thoughts.

Oh and the car did great on the track! Had quite a few laps near a brand new mustang with a good driver and his car couldn't hang. I'm impressed at how planted the rear-end of these Camaro's are when exiting turns.

[X25]

Originally Posted by Woodsman44

Finally had a track day at VIR. Temps were high in the 60's so it was a mild day and oil temps got as high as 274. It never went over 274 no matter how hard I pushed the car and would drop into the 260's quickly on a moderate lap so that was encouraging but I'm a little concerned at how much higher it might go on a hot day. I'm going to try putting a 2-2.5" shroud around each oil cooler to try to force more air through them. My theory is that a lot of air is going around them since they stick out a little from the radiator (just a theory). The shrouds will cause a little turbulence for the air going through the A/C and coolant radiators but my coolant temps were fine so I'm not worried about it. Overall I think I'm safe from any oil overheating issues. Let me know if you guys have any thoughts.

Oh and the car did great on the track! Had quite a few laps near a brand new mustang with a good driver and his car couldn't hang. I'm impressed at how planted the rear-end of these Camaro's are when exiting turns.

Thanks for the update. I've had similar experience with the giant cooler more, but at up to 85 degrees F ambient temp. We'll probably have to wait until next summer for the real stress test results of all these setups

[Woodsman44]

Had another track day at VIR with the new setup. The ambient temp during the last session was 82* and the highest oil temp reading was 266*. Coolant temp peaked at 207* for a few seconds but was around 200-205 for most of the session and I pushed it hard every lap. Compared to my last run in post #101 above, I went from 274* oil at about 68* ambient to 266* at 82* ambient. If you assume a linear relationship between ambient and oil temp, that's a 22* drop in oil temp because of the setup change. Here's what I did:

1. Installed 180* oil thermostat. I doubt this had a material effect.
2. Installed shrouding around the top oil cooler and the top gap above the radiator.
3. Installed a piece of aluminum sheeting on the bottom of the bumper bar that curled behind the bumper bar and attached to the bottom of the top oil cooler.

I'm fortunate to have a neighbor who is a fabricator for one of the race teams in Charlotte and he helped me with all of this. He said #3 will have a huge effect on getting air to most of the lower oil cooler and the section of the radiator behind the bar since some of the air entering below the bumper bar will follow the piece of curved aluminum behind the bar and accelerate.

[SPCBA]

Looks crazy custom... Very cool. Was there not enough room in front for your setup? I have my oil and trans cooler in front of the coolant radiator and above and below crash bar.

I stopped worrying about temps for that stuff when I finished my setup a while ago, hope the same for you.

[X25]

Originally Posted by SPCBA

Looks crazy custom... Very cool. Was there not enough room in front for your setup? I have my oil and trans cooler in front of the coolant radiator and above and below crash bar.

Ducting made the most improvement on my supercharged Miata, too. There was about 30 degrees reduction for me. The only difference for me was that I did not single out the oil cooler, but made sure all the air has to go through the stack of coolers by blocking anywhere air could leak top, bottom, the sides inside the bumper).

[Woodsman44]

SPCBA - I might be misunderstanding your question but this is in front. Take a look at post #79 for more pictures without the ducting. And yes, I'm done with engine oil/coolant cooling and glad to be. Now what else can I waste money on?

X25 - Yeah, forcing the air where it needs to go really pays off. We also "contained" the air for the coolant radiator as seen in the second picture and also some side ducting in the lower section which isn't pictured. It would be nice to have a full aluminum duct feeding the whole area but we handled about 90% of the leaks which seems to be enough so far.