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Track Junkies w/ VQs - Is an oil cooler a must have?

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Old 09-28-2009, 08:34 AM
  #61  
XChacalX
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Originally Posted by plumpzz
I think thats water boiling off the oil.

Has anyone noticed increased oil pressure after installing the oil cooler? I used to get 15psi at idle, 60psi at 3000rpm and around 80psi at redline. Now I get 30psi at idle, 70psi at 3000rpm and 110ish psi at redline.

yup I saw some increase in oil pressure after my stillen oil cooler
I have about the same as you right now
Old 09-28-2009, 09:29 AM
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Good to know. Just sounds high.
Old 09-28-2009, 01:50 PM
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Well with the oil cooler and Nismo thermostat installed i had heat issues for the first time this weekend. My car is NA , and never had issues till this past weekend. First time attack session my needle was at 7/8 when i took the flag after 3 laps, second session my needle was just as 3/4 when i took the flag. Past weekend on that track have been hotter , and my temp never went past 1//2.
Old 09-28-2009, 02:18 PM
  #64  
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Put a real temp gauge in the car checking the hottest point on the cooling system (the return to the radiator). Sometimes the reduced airflow to the radiator offsets the addition benefit from the oil cooling.
Old 09-28-2009, 06:39 PM
  #65  
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Originally Posted by betamotorsports
Put a real temp gauge in the car checking the hottest point on the cooling system (the return to the radiator). Sometimes the reduced airflow to the radiator offsets the addition benefit from the oil cooling.
Well i have 2 guages laying around in the garage, time for a pod and mounting. I guess an oil temp guage and water temp will be great. Just need the adapters to run them.
Old 09-29-2009, 06:57 AM
  #66  
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Originally Posted by aloh
hm...reading all this has me worried about doing some track time in my Z... Its the only car i've got and cant afford to have some kind of large failure to the motor. I think I see an oil cooler in my future..
If you do plan on track time with your only vehicle make sure you freshen-up your fluids and I would also suggest a oil cooler or at the minimum a larger oil pan/spacer to cool the oil by adding capacity.
Old 09-29-2009, 07:05 AM
  #67  
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Originally Posted by sk26dett
Possibly, when I opened the oil cap I could see the smoke coming out through the valve cover, could it be oil burning producing white smoke? No one I've been to the track with has ever noticed smoke coming out of my exhaust though, just from the engine. The oil was fresh and coolant had been changed recently
Wow, white smoke out of the valve cover seems to mean you are probably overheating your oil and burning it off. Check the oil, its probably broken down and not doing a good job of lubricating. If I'm right you probably got really lucky you stopped when you did. I can't imagine that would happen below 300 F (oil temp).
Old 09-29-2009, 04:43 PM
  #68  
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I also forgot , my cats are installed, the first time i have ever run with cats on the track. They can cause extra heat , don't really know how much.

Anyone know?
Old 09-29-2009, 06:08 PM
  #69  
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Originally Posted by Zazz93
Wow, white smoke out of the valve cover seems to mean you are probably overheating your oil and burning it off. Check the oil, its probably broken down and not doing a good job of lubricating. If I'm right you probably got really lucky you stopped when you did. I can't imagine that would happen below 300 F (oil temp).
I don't think the oil was broken down though, it had been changed less than two weeks before. I'm not sure what could be causing the oil to burn off, the weird thing is my temperature gauge didn't go up at all when the engine itself was smoking. It wasn't plumes of smoke either just faint white smoke.
Old 09-29-2009, 06:10 PM
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Originally Posted by terrasmak
Well with the oil cooler and Nismo thermostat installed i had heat issues for the first time this weekend. My car is NA , and never had issues till this past weekend. First time attack session my needle was at 7/8 when i took the flag after 3 laps, second session my needle was just as 3/4 when i took the flag. Past weekend on that track have been hotter , and my temp never went past 1//2.
How many miles are on your car? My car never smoked till recently either, I'm close to 70k miles in my 03.
Old 09-29-2009, 06:52 PM
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Originally Posted by sk26dett
How many miles are on your car? My car never smoked till recently either, I'm close to 70k miles in my 03.
97k now
Old 09-29-2009, 06:57 PM
  #72  
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I'd really put an oil temp gauge in.
Old 09-30-2009, 08:00 AM
  #73  
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Originally Posted by mhoward1
I'd really put an oil temp gauge in.
going to do both oil and water temp gauges on it. Oil i guess will be on the pan
Old 09-30-2009, 08:32 AM
  #74  
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If I'm not mistaken, the temp sensor position is on or really close to the stock oil cooler. I think the 35th Anniversity/Track models has a oil temp gauge that all cars maintain but are not functional. However I'm not sure this relates to years prior to 2005.
Old 10-06-2009, 06:41 AM
  #75  
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Picked up the car yesterday from Driving Ambition here in Sac.

GTM oil cooler is now installed and ready for track duty! It will have its first real test at Thunderhill on Oct 16.

An interesting tidbit... I was talking Oil w/ Shad Huntley @ Driving Ambition. He was telling me that they've done Used Oil Analysis's (sp.) coming out of their psuedo famous red NSX that won SCCA Pro SP class this season. He was telling me they run Motul exclusively in the car now. It naturally runs at a lower temperature (good for our Zs) and is the only oil they've tried that doesn't completely breakdown. I was surprised to learn the Redline Oil they were using was completely breaking down under race conditions and leading to problems with heat and gumming up passages.

I think I'll be running Motul from now on too.
Old 10-06-2009, 07:04 AM
  #76  
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By chance are the sponsored by Motul? I ran the oil from all of my racecars over the years through regular analysis and never got a report back that the oil had "broken down." The additive package eventually goes away and the oil itself usually becomes contaminated with fuel and other combustion byproducts but it doesn't become something other then oil.

FYI... I've used Castrol, Mobil 1, Redline, Motul, Swepco, and Silkolene in 1/2 hour, 3 hour, and 6 hour races. None have ever turned into gum, sludge, clogged passages, or contributed to an oil related failure.
Old 10-06-2009, 07:20 AM
  #77  
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Originally Posted by M1r4cL3
Picked up the car yesterday from Driving Ambition here in Sac.

GTM oil cooler is now installed and ready for track duty! It will have its first real test at Thunderhill on Oct 16.

An interesting tidbit... I was talking Oil w/ Shad Huntley @ Driving Ambition. He was telling me that they've done Used Oil Analysis's (sp.) coming out of their psuedo famous red NSX that won SCCA Pro SP class this season. He was telling me they run Motul exclusively in the car now. It naturally runs at a lower temperature (good for our Zs) and is the only oil they've tried that doesn't completely breakdown. I was surprised to learn the Redline Oil they were using was completely breaking down under race conditions and leading to problems with heat and gumming up passages.

I think I'll be running Motul from now on too.
These are the types of posts that I think contribute to the confusion - not that you're doing intentionally, but it is worth pointing out.

You cannot compare oil analysis from one type of engine to another. The result of the test is driven by alot of things - not all of which are properties of the oil itself. Instead, they are more the results of the interaction between that engine and that oil. In other words, if an engine builder uses bearing brand A, and sets his engine with a particular set of tolerances, then that oil is going to exhibit some properties after a test that another brand of engine using that same oil may not show. If one car is forced induction and another is not , again, that can show up in the test results. The point of the oil analysis is to try a sample of stuff from a bunch of brands, one one engine, change them at the same intervals using the same filter, take those results, and find what oil your particular engine gets along best with. Taking someone else's word for it when they don't even have your engine, is like buying a Buick because Tiger does their commercials.

Motul makes fine oil - hell we sell it and I've used it myself on some cars that we own. But beta is right - I'd love to see an example of an oil that did "break down" (I'm not sure what that means either), on that particular car as well.

Last edited by Z1 Performance; 10-06-2009 at 07:28 AM.
Old 10-06-2009, 08:42 AM
  #78  
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I notice that the GTM, Stillen and other kits I've seen use -8AN fittings and hoses. I was going to piece together a kit using -10AN fittings and hoses just to be on the safe side.

-Could the -8AN sizing be contributing to the increase in oil pressures people are seeing?

-Is piecing together a kit with -10AN fittings an overkill?
Old 10-06-2009, 08:46 AM
  #79  
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For a mostly street driven car -8 is fine. In the race car world -10 is generally considered the minimum because the engine is almost always running in the upper third of its rpm range.
Old 10-06-2009, 08:59 AM
  #80  
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Originally Posted by betamotorsports
By chance are the sponsored by Motul? I ran the oil from all of my racecars over the years through regular analysis and never got a report back that the oil had "broken down." The additive package eventually goes away and the oil itself usually becomes contaminated with fuel and other combustion byproducts but it doesn't become something other then oil.

FYI... I've used Castrol, Mobil 1, Redline, Motul, Swepco, and Silkolene in 1/2 hour, 3 hour, and 6 hour races. None have ever turned into gum, sludge, clogged passages, or contributed to an oil related failure.
Negative. They aren't sponsored by anyone. As far as I know, Kip Olson (owner of the race prepped NSX) comes outta pocket for all of his race activities.

As far as I can tell, everyone there at DA is straight shooters. They are just trying to do what is best for their race car and passing along the info to their customers. I can tell you that their UOA's come from Blackstone Labs. I've ordered a kit from their for myself just for curiousity sake.


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