[Fot] Was: Oil Cooler or Oil filter first? Now how to ID flow out the adapter?

Tue Dec 11 01:52:44 MST 2018

A few years back we had the same issue with oil cooler bursting. It 
happened 3 times just after a cold engine startup at the track. We found 
that the fix was to make sure the oil cam up out of the pump, into the 
filter, then past the oil pressure relief valve before it went into the 
cooler. When the oil is cold and the engine is first started, revving 
the engine even a little bit before the oil has warmed up and thinned 
out a bit causes pressure surges that pass through the oil line. this 
surge will exceed the ability of the cooler radiator to hold it. after 
redesigning the oi filter line adapter as stated above, all cooler 
radiator failures just flat out stopped.  This is on a TR-4 engine  in 
Morgan. We generally run 20-50 brad penn 1 oil.  the pressure relief 
valve it set to open at 70 psi with the oil temp about 180 degrees, this 
is at around 2000 rpm, just as called for in the shop manual.

          As far as the oil temp goes.   I also have an aluminum finned 
sump on both my race car and my street car.  I also have an oil temp 
gauge in each pan.  The alloy  pan is quite an effective oil cooler.  
The oil temp can easily get up to 180 or 190 degrees F on an 85 degree 
day in stop and go traffic. once traffic starts to move at over 40 mph, 
within 2 miles or so the oil temp will normally drop right down to 140.  
To get it to run at a higher temp, I have built a leather cover that 
surrounds the pan on the front, both sides, & the bottom to stop the air 
flow over the oil pan fins and sides.. It is held to the engine by 6 
extra long bolts 3 down each side of the pan.    .sometimes, we have had 
to do this while running an engine on a dyno to get the oil hot enough.

On one full race engine that we built, we could see signs of contact 
between the main bearing shell and the crank journals with main bearing 
clearances of .00175.  Opening up those main clearances by .001" to 
.00275 got rid of all signs  of contact and lowered the engine oil temp 
on the dyno 50 degrees F. With a well prepared oil pump, there is plenty 
of oil delivery with that much main bearing clearance.

On 12/5/2018 6:53 PM, Bud Rolofson via Fot wrote:
> List,
>
> Thanks to all who responded about this. The consensus was to go to the 
> oil filter first to catch as much debris as possible before it 
> collects in the oil cooler. Everyone said with an exploded engine 
> (like I experienced) replacing the oil cooler is a requirement.
>
> So I did replace the oil cooler after blowing up the engine, but TWICE 
> I’ve had them ($160 Earl’s oil coolers) blow out and leak all over the 
> engine bay when doing a test and tune day at the track. I’m on my 
> third oil cooler and trying to reduce the oil pressure that on my gage 
> says 85-90 psi to see if that is what is causing the coolers to leak, 
> although they are rated at 150 psi or more. I put an extra copper 
> washer on the oil pressure relief valve but I’m not sure what is 
> really causing two oil coolers to blow out. Bad luck? Coincidence? Bad 
> parts?  I’m getting tired of oiling/cleaning my engine bay. I’ll find 
> out if my washers help on the next track day cause it has happened 
> after 4-5 laps the last two times when I was breaking in new rings. 
> Unfortunately the next track day could be a couple more months.
>
> So the next question I have is how to know which way the flow is out 
> of the adapter on the engine. See pic below and please tell me if the 
> oil is coming OUT of engine from the right or left fitting in the 
> picture. There are absolutely no markings or clues to tell me.
>
> Also do most of you measure oil temp on the oil coming out or going 
> into the engine?
>
> Thanks
> Bud
>
>> On Dec 3, 2018, at 8:39 AM, Kas Kastner <kaskastner at gmail.com 
>> <mailto:kaskastner at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>> Go to the filter first so any junk in the oil does not contaminat the 
>> cooler which is almost impossible to lean completly. If you ever have 
>> any engine serious problem  and the oil goes to the cooler first you 
>> can count on having to replace it also.
>>
>> *Never be beaten by equipment.*
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Dec 2, 2018 at 11:38 PM Bud Rolofson via Fot 
>> <fot at autox.team.net <mailto:fot at autox.team.net>> wrote:
>>
>>     Listerati,
>>
>>     For those of you running a remote oil cooler and remote oil
>>     filter do you run the hose coming OUT of the engine into the
>>     cooler first or the filter first? Just wanted to see how and why
>>     (if there’s a reason) most run their lines.
>>
>>     Thanks
>>     Bud
>>     _______________________________________________
>>     fot at autox.team.net <mailto:fot at autox.team.net>
>>
>>     http://www.fot-racing.com <http://www.fot-racing.com/>
>>
>>     Donate: http://www.team.net/donate.html
>>     Archive: http://www.team.net/pipermail/fot
>>     Unsubscribe/Manage
>>     <http://www.team.net/pipermail/fotUnsubscribe/Manage>:
>>     http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/fot/kaskastner@gmail.com
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> fot at autox.team.net
>
> http://www.fot-racing.com
>
> Donate: http://www.team.net/donate.html
> Archive: http://www.team.net/pipermail/fot
> Unsubscribe/Manage: http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/fot/gregmogdoc@surfnetusa.com
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://autox.team.net/pipermail/fot/attachments/20181211/22121e5d/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: IMG_1213.JPG
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 119873 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://autox.team.net/pipermail/fot/attachments/20181211/22121e5d/attachment-0003.jpe>