z gazm

iTrader: (1)

Hey Guys,

I have read quite a few posts and have some of the basic tricks covered (water wetter, 1.3 Radiator cap, vented hood) but i am looking for any tribal knowledge that you guys may have used on the track, specifically the FI guys.

Background:

Prety well prepped track/auto x car

Vortech SC and IC (this problem presented with the FI of course). Pretty conservative/reliable tune with 8.25 lbs of boost and 390 WHP with 95 Octane.

At Thunderhill @ 75F i couldl do about 5 laps before needing a cool down lap

At Laguna @ 85F i could do about 4 laps. here is also spiked oil temp to about 255-265 until i cooled down.


I'm not looking for devine intervention just things that have worked well for you. I will get a new Koyo soon but beyond that any suggestions??

THanks in advance -

INTIMAZY

iTrader: (15)

I don't see an oil cooler on your list but that really should be first on even bone stock Z owners lists. A proper Mocal/Setrab setup will drop oil temps significantly over our lovely OEM cooler/warmer setup. This is especially important since the oil does something like >50% of cooling anyway.

If you covered the oil cooler/radiator/heatwrap bases you may need to look at your tune again. I know you mentioned you have a conservative tune but that can be either conservative with AF or timing. Running a bit more rich can do miracles for EGT (not really a concern for you) and noticeably reduce temps.

z gazm

iTrader: (1)

Absolutely - and yes, I forgot to mention i have a GTM which is a Setrab core for cooling the oil.

In terms of Heat wrap, i have done nothing but i thought this was usually more charachteristic of a Turbo application.

Good advice on the A/F though - i will see what my tuner says. I know he backed out a bit on timing at high RPM's but i dont know the AF ratio.

realist alive

I have no personal hands on knowledge of these just some reading that I have done
this is a must for most FI guys, it is also known as the nissan pathfinder cooling mod.
http://www.conceptzperformance.com/C...173.171.214.13
here is some reading material on it
https://my350z.com/forum/engine-and-...ification.html
What about upgraded thermostat like this one or a racing one. Some people even eliminate the thermostat all together.
http://www.conceptzperformance.com/C...173.171.214.13

z gazm

iTrader: (1)

All good stuff - thanks man. I always like easy and cheap...

Hopefully with the new hood, radiator, thermostat and cooant bypass i can keep this under control.

INTIMAZY

iTrader: (15)

I agree.. heat is exponentially increased with turbos or anything that sits in the exhaust stream.

I don't know if you have headers or not. Many blower cars do since they tend to complement blower setups nicely but if you do have them, and they are not coated or wrapped, they will give off probably just as much heat as sticking a turbo under the hood.

MUZZY

iTrader: (28)

cheap:

1- heat wrap your headers, aftermarket.

this will prevent heat sinks and push off more heat downstream.

2- install oil cooler away from radiator and intercooler.

I installed mine in the winshield washer fluid area and it works great

3- do the pathfinder mod.

somone posted above about all that.

4- leave your radiator fan on all the time or set to high always.

there are 4 wires for the fans (oem) 2 low 2 high get rid of them and hook high to 12v with switch

RandomHer0

iTrader: (9)

Im Greddy TT (G35) and my car sees alot of track.

I did this;

Turbo hot sides Cermakromed
Kuruma Z Bumper (large opening to allow air flow)
53mm Koyo Rad /w Water Wetter and 1.3kg Nismo Rad Cap
GTM Oil Cooler located in passanger side opening of bumper.
Nothing blocking rad but my FMIC.
Bottom splash guard removed (due to laziness more than anything lol)

I don't record or look at temps but have never had issues either. Even on 1hr Enduro type races.

betamotorsports

iTrader: (1)

You should look at the behavior of the temps. When you say some temp spiked, did it suddenly jump to that number or was it a steady rise? Did the temp stabilize at that level or continue to rise? The answers to those questions will determine what needs to be done (if anything). data logging is important to diagnose and correct any heat issues. Even just looking at the temp gauge and noting the number once each lap at the same place on track helps a bunch. If you're only looking and noting temps every few laps or at the end of the session then the numbers are of much less value.

FYI... 265 oil temps on a synthetic oil is fine, as long as it stabilizes at that number.

SE5spd

iTrader: (17)

Is 265f the highest you want your oil?

betamotorsports

iTrader: (1)

Its not about "want." I've run oil temps over 300+ plus in a race because I was tucked in behind a guy for 3 laps trying to figure out where to make a pass. It didn't' matter what I "wanted" the oil temps to be, that's what they were and I had far more important things to concern myself with at the time. It also didn't' matter what size oil cooler I had, how big the radiator opening was, what hood vents I had, etc. There was no airflow through the front of the car because I was 6" behind the car in first place with 5 laps to go. The engine survived this use just fine and ran for the rest of the season with less the 2% leakdown at the end.

There's no fatal oil temp number where the oil suddenly vaporizes and your engine explodes. That's just BS marketing. Very, very few engines fail from out breakdown due to temperature. I know of absolutely zero in 25 years of racing. The vast majority of engine on a race track fail from running lean, oil starvation in a corner, cooling system failure, and/or driver stupidity.

When is comes to oil cooling, the diagnosis steps are:

1) Does the oil temp stabilize or continue to rise?
2) If it stabilizes, then there's enough BTU capacity in the system and you just need to adjust to get the oil to maintain the desired temp (whatever that might be).
3) If it just continues to rise, then there isn't enough BTU capacity and you must increase that. The first (and cheapest) step is to look for airflow problems at the heat exchanger.

Shamu

Nothing like voice of experience! I agree. I have seen very few thermal breakdowns at temps under 275 cause catastrophic failure. Most failures on track are from lack of oil. Good Oil does fine at temps upward of 275

To OP have you considered converting car to run E 85? There are some nice benefits to running ethanol in forced induction car on cooling side. I'm looking into running Ethonol on my blown VQ.

z gazm

iTrader: (1)

All good info guys and I agree that more analysis is needed. At this point the FI system is fairly new and with only a couple of days with it on the track i have limited data points.

As for the thermal capacity, I'm not quite sure at this point either. I dont have experience with any car getting up to above 260 oil temp and i do trust my tuner at ZCG stating that is pretty high. The problem is that when i see this temp for more than a couple laps i cool down rather than trying to figure out if it will continue to climb. I have also heard that internal components in the DE engine may begin to break down at 300 so i was doing my best s=to stay away from this figure.

Beta - What type of temps do you generally run in testing and qualifying where you have adequate air flow?

Does anyone have any insight on the labor involved with the Pathfinder modification?

thanks guys -

SE5spd

iTrader: (17)

My car usually hits 240-250

This last track day it hit 260 but didn't get higher then that. That was in 90+ weather.

Stock2Autocrozz

iTrader: (6)

subs for later reply

laze1

iTrader: (17)

I run up to 280 - 300 range...in the oil pan

betamotorsports

iTrader: (1)

I generally like to see oil temps between 250 and 275 and steady. Cooling system temps should be around 210 and steady. But a lot depends on what we learned on the engine dyno. Sometimes hotter is faster, sometimes colder is faster - but modern engines (OBD1 and later) are generally designed to perform better at higher temps.