[TR] [6pack] TR6 Oil Cooler

[Andrew Uprichard]

Another consideration is blowing the oil cooler on a cold day if you don't
run it with a thermostat.  The coolers aren't meant to deal with the high
pressure of oil on a cold day.  Plus, the first thing you may notice is when
that oil warning light comes on.......

Andrew Uprichard

-----Original Message-----
From: 6pack-bounces at autox.team.net [mailto:6pack-bounces at autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of Robert M. Lang
Sent: Monday, August 27, 2012 3:46 PM
To: robert rudolphi
Cc: triumphs at autox.team.net; 6pack at autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [6pack] TR6 Oil Cooler

Hi,

Whether you need an oil cooler is subject for debate. Going out on a limb
here, a street driven motor would probably never see critical oil temps,
hence the oil cooler is not needed. If, on the other hand, you have a race
motor that sees high-rpm, heavy load operation, then the oil cooler would be
called for. The one exception for a street-driven car would be if you tow or
you plan to sit in traffic all the time.

As a single data point, I have a 12:1 motor in an autocrosser and I do run
an oil cooler. With no oil cooler, I would see oil temps in excess of 210 on
a hot day. With the oil cooler I do see up to about 180 when it gets really
hot and I have two drivers and there's an occasional spike to 200-ish. So
the delta T with a 13-row cooler is 10 - 30 derees oil temp. I have a 13-row
cooler and I have a thermostatic bypass valve.

But to the point - with an oil cooler and the old-style oil (20w50), you're
giving up horsepower due to parasitic drag from the oil. There are other
side-issues that are related to the oil being too cool.

I guess the point is, there's not much to be gained by the oil cooler except
possibly the ooh-ahh factor. In any case, if you do run an oil cooler make
sure that you have one of the thermostatically controlled bypass thingies
because if you don't run one of those and you run your car when it's cold
the oil will NEVER get to operating temps and you'll be bypassing the
pressure relief valve all the time because the oil pressure will STAY at
100+ psi all the time. This is patently bad, IMHO. Also note that you are
adding a maintenance item to your system...

regarding maintenance of an oil cooler, with a thermostatic bypass, you need
to test the thing to make sure it's actually working, so add that to your
monthly to-do list. You also need to keep a sharp eye on the cooler and
hoses for problems. The oil flows through the system at line pressure, so a
tiny crack in the cooler itself can turn into a gusher at (usually) the
worst time. There's also the issue of purging the oil cooler during oil
changes so that you get a full, fresh charge of new oil during oil
changes... which is one of the points of doing oil changes.

But that's my two cents on the matter. Like I said, I have one on the race
car. I don't have one on the street car.

c ya,
rml
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Lang              Triumph TR6!!            |  This space for rent
Former NER Solo Chair                          |
Voice:617-253-7438                             |  Cell: 339-927-4489
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