<VV> Oil Temp and Cooler Location.

[Ron]

You said that temp sticks showed that engine sheet metal hit 250 but you 
don't know when.  It was likely a few minutes after you shut down.  While 
running, the top shrouds are close to ambient, as are the carbs and 
everything else on top.
RonH

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "james rice" <ricebugg at mtco.com>
To: <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2008 3:18 PM
Subject: <VV> Oil Temp and Cooler Location.


> All:  I trust I am stating some obvious things here.  What the oil temp
> gauge says first of all is a result of where the sending unit is located,
> followed by the sending unit and wiring telling the gauge something it can
> read.  All sending units may not be calibrated for all gauges.  But after
> you install all this and drive it for awhile, the only useful information
> the  oil temp gauge tells you is departure from normal.  Most gauges are
> like that in reality.
>
> All the comments about de-flashed and 12 plate oil coolers with side 
> plates
> is correct.
>
> Someplace in my career at Caterpillar someone told me the temperature drop
> across a radiator is only 15 deg F. at normal operating temperatures.
>
> Mounting a oil cooler over the fan will not get you maximum air flow.
> There's probably no air at all going thru it.  Air takes the path of least
> resistance and will go around the cooler, unless you add some duct work
> someplace/somehow.  You probably only get convection(?) cooling  All the
> front coolers on race cars are tightly ducted from the new hole where the
> license plate was to the exit out under the car.  Coolers are mounted
> vertically or horizontally, depending on their size, and may have
> thermostatically control flow.  Don Yenko had to submit new papers to the
> SCCA in '67 to get the hole allowed.  The paper's show a detachable cover
> over the hole.   Said papers allowed back dating of existing cars.  Of
> course, no one has ever seen the cover!
>
> The Stinger which ran the Daytona 24 Hour in 1966, which was a FIA event,
> had a very large oil cooler mounted on the left rear fender.  When the car
> later showed up at SCCA races, there was much consternation by the tech
> inspectors, as their tech rules did not address the question of external
> mounted oil coolers.  This oversight was quickly corrected by the SCCA 
> home
> office.    By late spring '66, the oil cooler was moved inside the body
> work.  Jerry Thompson said they had theirs mounted so it vented, as has
> subsequently been determined, into the passenger compartment.  They didn't
> know which way the air flowed in retrospect, just that the oil temp,
> wherever it was measured, was acceptable.  The Stingers engine compartment
> and air chamber at the base of the back window is pressurized at way above
> legal road speeds, thanks to the doors in the engine lid.  The passenger
> compartment is not pressurized.
>
> If I actually felt the need to add an exterior oil cooler, I'd attach it 
> to
> the center of the air chamber above the engine, and add duct work in the 
> air
> chamber and also a fairly tall external air intake to catch air as it 
> flows
> over the back window.  I think careful design of these things could be 
> added
> without new screw holes: tighten the parts against each other around
> existing material.  There was a Corsa at the '66 24 Hr in the GT class
> (Stinger was in a prototype class), driven by Bobby Allison and others 
> which
> had a un-ducted oil cooler mounted at the base of the back window.
>
> Just another observation about tempters.  About 25 years ago I bought a LM
> with +0.060 bore/big turbo/SU/water & alcohol-injected 140.  I was
> concerned/curious about engine compartment temperatures.  So one Friday I
> borrowed temperature  sticks from our lab and on Saturday, which was 90 
> plus
> degree and humidity day, marked up the engine compartment and drove the
> thing for 40 miles on the interstate.  I had sheet metal temps of above 
> 250
> deg F.  I don't remember what the oil temp was, but it apparently wasn't
> alarming, as I don't remember it!  Car ran Mobil 1.  The car with the same
> engine is still running.  I recently tried to buy it back.  That turkey
> would haul.  I was never brave/foolish enough to really nail it, but at
> study 100 mph, it was still had a vacuum on the gage.  I did see 14 PSI 
> when
> accelerating once, and it scared me!  I knew I had neither the money or
> skills to fix it if I broke it.  Very strange sensation to be pushed back 
> in
> your seat while lifting your foot trying to control boost.
>
> Historically Yours.
> James Rice
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> This message was sent by the VirtualVairs mailing list, all copyrights are 
> the property
> of the writer, please attribute properly. For help, 
> mailto:vv-help at corvair.org
> This list sponsored by the Corvair Society of America, 
> http://www.corvair.org/
> Post messages to: VirtualVairs at corvair.org
> Change your options: 
> http://www.vv.corvair.org/mailman/options/virtualvairs
> _______________________________________________
>
>