Oil temperature?

What oil temps are you guys seeing? Drove the car today and it was fairly cool out. I never saw the oil temp go much over 50 degrees celsius. Is that normal? I would've at least liked to see a temp near 100 degrees celsius.

Thanks in advance
Rich.
 
I am not certain that the temp senders supplied by CAV were correct for the VDO gauges installed in the pre 100 cars. My oil pressure read backwards, my coolant always reads very low, oil temp did get pretty hot in a track session early on but I have since installed an oil cooler with a thermostat and now I don't see much oil temp either.
I did contact VDO and was able to get the correct oil pressure sender, it was quite different than what came with the car.
Dave
 
I saw oil temps of about 110C when driving hard and then it dropped to about 100 when cruising. Too high?

Water got to 90C when coming into the city traffic.
 

Jack Houpe

GT40s Supporter
Mine is aways about the same as the water temp unless I am pushing the motor hard for long periods then it gets up to 250-260F
 
I am still seeming to struggle with oil temps... has anyone put in a larger oil cooler that what was provided by SPF? I didn't run it too hard but ran it around 3200 rpm for about an hour and saw temps upward of 110C. My issue isn't 110, it is that when I run on the track I am quickly seeing 130C+ which is too high.

I am considering increasing the size but not changing the location (still over the battery on the passenger side) vs. trying to relocate it further back in the engine compartment.

Thoughts?
 

Kirby Schrader

They're mostly silver
Lifetime Supporter
I am still seeming to struggle with oil temps... has anyone put in a larger oil cooler that what was provided by SPF? I didn't run it too hard but ran it around 3200 rpm for about an hour and saw temps upward of 110C. My issue isn't 110, it is that when I run on the track I am quickly seeing 130C+ which is too high.

I am considering increasing the size but not changing the location (still over the battery on the passenger side) vs. trying to relocate it further back in the engine compartment.

Thoughts?

I'm no help here, but I have high oil temps on the track also. I can easily peg the oil temp gauge unless I back off from shifting at 7000rpm. If I drop to 6000, then my oil temp starts dropping.

I have an SPF MkII and I've moved the cooler so it sits in front of the duct Iit is too far forward from the factory).
I've added some EPDM and aluminum to extend the duct so the air has to go through the cooler instead of possibly going around it.
I went from 20W-50 to 10W-30 oil.
Still not much difference.

Shifting early seems to be the solution....

FWIW,
Kirby
 
IIRC most of you guys above with oil temp problems @ higher RPM are running stroker cranks etc, you sure you problems are not windage related & perhaps need to look into a better sump design or perhaps a dry sump?
 

Kirby Schrader

They're mostly silver
Lifetime Supporter
IIRC most of you guys above with oil temp problems @ higher RPM are running stroker cranks etc, you sure you problems are not windage related & perhaps need to look into a better sump design or perhaps a dry sump?

That's a good point, Jac.

The 'engine builder' claims it was done right and there should be no problem.
(How many times have we heard that?)

I'm pretty sure a dry sump would cure the problem, but damn... $$$$$

Another thing I'm relying on completely is the amount of oil he said to put it in and his hand marked dipstick. In reality, there certainly could be too much oil in the sump and I _do_ have a windage problem.

I guess I need to pull the pan and see just how much it should really take.

Thanks for the prompting.

Regards,
Kirby
 
Interesting point Jac. No, I have not thought about a windage related issue.

I can tell you that when I am at 2900 RPM or below my oil temps are a constant 80 degrees even if the car is at a standstill. Once I seem to increase beyond 3100 the temps do start to climb. I mentioned 3200 but it was probably 3400 to 3500 most of the hour. I was in 5th at that time so speeds were high enough to create airflow... now I don't know if that airflow is being used well but I did attempt to seal the oil cooler to the rear clip. Last time on the track the oil temps would climb quickly (e.g. within half lap at Road America) to 130c while I was obviously at the upper end of the RPM band (6200 limit) before I would back it off to cool down.

I suppose I could close up the vent and run the car at different temps to see if airflow is impacting the oil temps at all.

It has an Aviaid pan on it now, I need to check the part number.
 
That's a good point, Jac.
Another thing I'm relying on completely is the amount of oil he said to put it in and his hand marked dipstick. In reality, there certainly could be too much oil in the sump and I _do_ have a windage problem.

I have the same concern...
 

Seymour Snerd

Lifetime Supporter
I'm pretty sure a dry sump would cure the problem, but damn... $$$$$

Kirby --

An Aviaid GT40 FE pan is about $500, and a 4-stage pump is about $1,000. Don't know if that's approaching 5 $'s for you but I think it was a good deal given the benefits to a $25,000 motor. Of course you need tank, hoses, etc. too. I use a $250 rectangular 10 qt Canton tank just because I can't stand the non-period look of a cylindrical tank. Holman will make you a repro tank for a few thousand... now there's your $$$$$.....but it's gorgeous.

John at Aviaid has a slick pump mount that goes where the oil filter used to be on an FE. The pump is readily accessible through the firewall opening, and any time you want you can slip the belt off and put a drill motor on the 7/16"-head screw on the pump sprocket to spin the pressure up. The only clearance issue might be the scavenge exit fitting which is on top of the pump right below the #5 header, but it's doable with normal 10 or 12AN bits. John assembles a special pump for FEs with short fourth stage so it just clears the FE motor mount at the back.
 
Does thinner oil run cooler????

The answer Kirby doesn't want to hear:

Bigger or more oil cooler.

Lower redline.

Kirby can donate $ saved to my GT40 fund . . . . . (its a joke, don't tell him)
 
It would be interesting to compare air flow on the side ducts as opposed to dragging it up from under the car.

The reason I say this I made some brake ducts that cliped onto the lower control arms and the it worked to well.

If the cooler was at the rear clip exit holes either side of the tailpipe and drag the air up and out it maybe your answer.

If anyone one is running an undertray and has oil temp problems take it off and try it without.
I made one for my car and it had major effects on all the temps.
I cut it up and used the material for a bigger drysump tank 12lt.

Jim
 
Back
Top