Engine oil temp on race track

Waren k · May 5, 2015

I have seen as high as 300F at oil pan temp in a stock LS7 on track days,not saying what is right or wrong but went the whole summer like that then pulled the engine to inspect and bearings were like new using 15W50 mobil 1. I know bearing clearances and type of bearings are different In a LS7 than a Ls3, steel crank verses cast crank.

Cliffbeer2 · May 5, 2015

The air cooled porsche folks have some keen thoughts on oil temps...after all, their engines are actually cooled by the oiling system to a large degree..... The spectrum which seems to be well accepted for operating street temps is:

210 = warm
220 = hot
230 = damn hot
240 = too damn hot
250 = shut 'er down

Track temps would obviously be higher...I guess the question is: how much higher?

gt40fran · May 5, 2015

The Porsche engines cant be compared to the LS though Cliff.
The LS engines actually run quite hot in general oil and coolant wise.

StuM5 · May 6, 2015

Don, Thanks for the detailed and informative response, that gives me everything i need.

turbodon · May 6, 2015

Stu

A little light reading on Oil, Viscosity, Oil psi & Heat. Read all the Chapters...

Motor Oil 101 - Bob is the Oil Guy - Bob is the Oil Guy

Howard Jones · May 7, 2015

THAT was just what I wanted to know. So here's what I will do. Straight 30W, Then be sure the oil temp is up to at least 200F before I put any real load on the motor.

The worst time is the first startup in the morning at the track. Maybe leave the fans off until the water gets good and hot, 200F. Hopefully the water to oil cooler will get the oil temp up sooner. Then when they both are about 200F I can start to ask for power and increased revs.

Change Oil before the season starts each year.

What's interesting is, that IS what I have been doing. Now I know why. It's good to have dumn luck I guess.

jac mac · May 7, 2015

Howard Jones said:
THAT was just what I wanted to know. So here's what I will do. Straight 30W, Then be sure the oil temp is up to at least 200F before I put any real load on the motor.

The worst time is the first startup in the morning at the track. Maybe leave the fans off until the water gets good and hot, 200F. Hopefully the water to oil cooler will get the oil temp up sooner. Then when they both are about 200F I can start to ask for power and increased revs.

Change Oil before the season starts each year.

What's interesting is, that IS what I have been doing. Now I know why. It's good to have dumn luck I guess.

Howard, with your mindset you would/will be an engine builders dream driver, most seem to nail the throttle as soon as they see a racetrack. Only other suggestion would be a block heater or one of the heating elements they sell for light aircraft oil pans. I don't know how cold it gets in Texas where your planning to move to though. Food for thought.

YerDugliness · May 7, 2015

He'll see some winter temperatures in the freezing range where he's moving....we had a hard winter this year, though...but, having said that, I don't recall a winter here in this east-central part of TX in which we didn't have some freezing temps at night, with warmup times extending those temps into the morning hours. I've been living here for the past 35 years, so I have a fairly lengthy exposure history.

Howard, maybe you ought to consider A/C and a heater for that SLC if you plan on using it for a 4-season ride...or, as I do in the Cobra, a pair of 12V heated overalls during the winter. Even at that, you'll be left to sweat buckets during the dog-days of summer when that summer high-pressure area parks itself to our north and blocks any cold fronts from coming our way until it moves off to the east (which will be well into the fall) or a hurricane blows through to the west and then turns north, as they seem to do, and chases that 'parked" high pressure zone into a different part of the U.S.A.

New Braunfels, as well as the entire San Marcos region, is one of Texas' most beautiful areas, though....so don't think I am saying it won't be worth it!

Cheers!

Doug

Ron Earp · May 7, 2015

I've been monitoring the oil temp in my race cars for years, Datsun inline six and Ford V6. I equipped both cars with a large cooler and generally see 220F hard running for hours on end with say a 90F day. No WOT runs until the oil is over 200F either as Howard suggests. All the motors have had good bearings on disassembly so I think we're doing something right. I don't think I'd want to see over 240F, and if I did I'd look for problems or go for a larger cooler or better airflow through the existing cooler.

Howard Jones · May 8, 2015

Doug, My SLC is going to be a track only car for the first few years at least. I have run my GT40 on 105F+ days in Calif. but with what I am sure was lower humidity. It doesn't have AC (well it does it just doesn't work) and I find that I just don't notice the heat at speed. It's sitting on the pit lane waiting that really bothers me so I wait until people ahead of me have begun to go out on the track and then I get in the car and belt up. Just a wave at the pit martial and off we go.

I have been looking at cool vests but haven't settled on one type yet. Advice? Ron?

Jac, It's easy really..............I pay for everything............and I treat my stuff like it's my money. If I break something I don't go back to the crew chief and grin, I sit down and wonder "how in the fuck and I going to pay for THAT stupid move".

jac mac · May 8, 2015

Howard Jones said:
Doug, My SLC is going to be a track only car for the first few years at least. I have run my GT40 on 105F+ days in Calif. but with what I am sure was lower humidity. It doesn't have AC (well it does it just doesn't work) and I find that I just don't notice the heat at speed. It's sitting on the pit lane waiting that really bothers me so I wait until people ahead of me have begun to go out on the track and then I get in the car and belt up. Just a wave at the pit martial and off we go.

I have been looking at cool vests but haven't settled on one type yet. Advice? Ron?
********************************
Jac, It's easy really..............I pay for everything............and I treat my stuff like it's my money. If I break something I don't go back to the crew chief and grin, I sit down and wonder "how in the fuck and I going to pay for THAT stupid move".

********************************
Howard I really think that type of events you intend to run in are better off for lack of sponsorship and having to work on your own car, once sponsorship & paid drivers enter the fray the 'need' to win without regard to other competitors or their cars becomes a factor, I remember at a final round in a saloon series where I won the last race another competitor asked why I didn't drive like that for the whole series--simple I said, I wouldn't be here as I would probably have run out of tires & talent about two meetings ago.

Ron might have a good deal on his old cool suit, he might be upgrading to a super dooper version given the amount of extra bodywork he has been generating for himself lately!

Ron Earp · May 8, 2015

Howard Jones said:
I have been looking at cool vests but haven't settled on one type yet. Advice? Ron?

Make your own. I know I've posted a "How To" here and on other forums. Get the shirt from Ebay, buy a cooler from Walmart, and get a live well pump to pump it. Thus far you're in about $85. Get dry break connectors from McMaster or other outlets, and you're done. Absolutely needed for maintaining performance on long 2 hr stints, nice to have on shorter stints.

Big-Foot · May 9, 2015

On my SCCA American Sedan Camaro (310 CID SBC running 7200 RPM / 390 HP) we ran sump temps as high as 300f and cooler output temps of 270-280f. We found that sump temps were highly influenced by blow-by gasses and you had to take the temps close to the bottom of the sump to get accurate readings.
The oil we ran was Mobil1 10w30 and was changed every weekend. We ran the same oil through my truck with no issues.
I never had any bearing issues with my engines. Rings, however, were a constant problem because the blocks were so thin the cylinders would distort. We could get a half dozen sprint races in before we had to re-block the engine. Pistons would make it a couple of rounds. The cranks we were running were supposed to be cast iron - but like everyone else - we cheated and ran steel..

Big-Foot · May 9, 2015

Oh yes, and one thing we always did was preheat the oil on days below 40f before we even started the engine. Oil temp would be at least 180 before the green flag. Otherwise RPM was held below 4000.

Big-Foot · May 9, 2015

Cool suits really belong in another thread, but as long as it's already out there I will just offer this - before putting your cool suit up for more than a few weeks, run a 20% bleach solution with your water in order to kill off any crud that will otherwise start growing in the system.
I probably need to start thinking about selling all that stuff off since I have retired from competition...

Matt White · May 20, 2015

Stu.....Come on bud, how about something. Photos, video just a little something will go along way. Now that Bilstein built you your shocks, will shocks be offered to other SLC owners? I'm sure they were not cheap! Are you enjoying you car?

StuM5 · May 20, 2015

Thanks Joe!
I spoke to the blokes at Heasmans Steering & Suspension who did the custom Bilstein MDS shock build and they said they could certainly build sets and ship them to the States. It might be easier if you buy the Penske race shocks from Fran though. The Bilsteins are certainly not cheap!

The only work performed recently on the SLC was an alteration of the exhaust systems as it ran to close to the transaxle CV boots, like a fingers width, and was damaging the CV boots. Pics attached of a new bend in the exhaust and heat shielding installed. Plus a couple of shots from a drive last weekend.

The only video's of my car are the ones below, some of which you will have seen...ie the Bilstein build and perhaps the car at idle and a dyno run. I've included a short clip of the car coming down the road too:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mIv7WOdTAQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju__hkaAnrw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8HJelNcLwk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOU1wc6zZRw
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There will be some high quality footage of my SLC soon as i was at the race track again this week for more filming for an Aust TV show. here is a promo of the show and you'll notice the SLC flash up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d1DKyh604k

cheers
Stu

Engine oil temp on race track

Warren kreyer

Cliff Beer

Fran Hall RCR

Stu Coleman

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Howard Jones

Jac Mac

Doug S.

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Ron Earp

Howard Jones

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