What size oil cooler

I am considering getting a Mocal oil cooler for the gearbox what size would anyone suggest, number of rows, dimensions etc. ?
Gearbox is ZFQ and will be used on road and circuit.

Also what size oil cooler for the engine
even though this is transaxle section
Engine 350 Ford with 456 H.P. 396 Torque.
Any suggestions on both ?

Cheers

 

[David in Durango]

What oil temps are you running now? How hard is it driven?

A lot depends on original build specs and how hard you drive.

My experience: mild 302 powered Miata - 2010 track days the temps just kept climibing and I was done after about 5 laps. 2011 w/ a ~6x9 cooler - oil temps were controlled and I could drive as many laps as I wanted. I DON'T DRIVE REAL HARD!
In winter I wrap the cooler in plastic to help warm up times.

When 10 Panteras ran the BBORR in 2005 we checked ZF temps with an IR gun - I don't remember anyone running over 200 degrees (think a high speed cruise for 100 miles).

That said, my opinions are: know your temps now, run an oil thermostat.

Have fun!

PS, my kirkham had a 550hp small block and a oil cooler in the nose - the oil cooler was never hooked up. I know the previous owner drove the car REAL hard.

 

[Bill Musarra]

Kieth,
Most of our cars don't need coolers. If you add a diffuser, then you might need one. There seems to be enough air movement in the rear compartment. I liked the bling factor with mine so I added a cooler/fan for both. The rear vents is a good place to put both as you have two there so use them. The originals had a smallish one in the front mounted on the radiator.

Mine are 12x8 with 9 inch puller fans with a stainless mesh screen.

You can control them with a thermostat and then you won't have to worry watching the temp guage. I did thermostat and switch as I had to dedicate a bunch of switches. I wired idiot lights into them as well because of the dash.

On a safety note you might want to consider a low oil pressure cut off switch that cuts power to the fuel pumps when a drop in pressure occurs to save the engine. Works in the event of a roll over also:shocked:

Bill

 

[Mike Drew]

What oil temps are you running now? How hard is it driven?

A lot depends on original build specs and how hard you drive.

Exactly right. While the cars that were running Le Mans almost assuredly benefited from a transaxle oil cooler, chances are that 99.9% of the rest of us, won't. Before wasting a penny or a minute of your life, you should first drive the car in all conditions and evaluate what your gearbox temps are.

For most people, keeping the engine oil temp under control is the real problem. In fact, I would go so far as to suggest that if you already had an engine oil cooler, and had the space to support a gearbox cooler, you'd be much better off fitting a second engine oil cooler instead!