oil cooler for fox bodies?

[VirtualSVT]

it is a custom tune done here in vegas, by Dyno Dan, of DynoJet

I idle around 900ish

the chin spiler? you mean about a 2" wide black strip that runs about 3 feet wide across the radiator support? I took that off due to the intercooler mounting points and piping

Yeah. That strip forces a ton of air into the radiator. I would highly suggest figuring out a way to mount it around the intercooler and piping.

 

[03BlownSnake]

I can see that strip working while driving... there is no way that little thing is causing my temps to reach 230 during stop and go traffic though. i just cant see it

 

[cobra186]

Same deal. Ford has never put a finned oil cooler in any production car. I'm 99% sure I'm right on that.

All of their setups use the cooling system at a medium.

WRONG

ALL the Cobra R models have a finned oil cooler...... it adds another quart of oil to the system too.

 

[cobra186]

Um. Thicker oil usually increases the temps.

I would use the thicker oil due to the high temps he is running. It will help protect the bearings since the oil won't break down as soon.

Turbo and S/C are hard on the engine oil since they heat it up so much more.

 

[VirtualSVT]

WRONG

ALL the Cobra R models have a finned oil cooler...... it adds another quart of oil to the system too.

I said 99%. Never owned or worked on a R model so can't really fault me.

 

[LEE93COBRA]

I would use the thicker oil due to the high temps he is running. It will help protect the bearings since the oil won't break down as soon.

.

To do it right you would have to change the rod and main bearings out for some bearings that would offer more tolerance or you would starve the bearings for oil.

The correct way would be to keep the same weight oil but go to synthetic.

 

[93Cobra#2771]

Same deal. Ford has never put a finned oil cooler in any production car. I'm 99% sure I'm right on that.

All of their setups use the cooling system at a medium.

Pretty much all their trucks with HD towing package have oil coolers mounted in front of the rads. I'll ask my buddy what his came out of.

REGARDLESS of where it came from, it was a 15° temp drop in oil temps before and after.

Even at low speeds, the chin spoiler can make a difference. It creates a low pressure area behind the rad, helping draw air through it. Even if you can't have a full version, a cut down version might help a little. Any little help you can get getting air through all that intercooler/rad is a postive. One single thing might not get the desired effect, but several little things added together could make the difference you need.

Also, forgot to ask, what temp do you have the DCC jumpered to come on at? Do you use water wetter additive to your rad?

 

[03BlownSnake]

Also, forgot to ask, what temp do you have the DCC jumpered to come on at? Do you use water wetter additive to your rad?

Its set with the 10% under drive setting ON. so it runs on 10% till it reaches the 180* setting. And its all wired up to run 100% if the AC is on
I do run WatterWetter too

 

[VirtualSVT]

Its set with the 10% under drive setting ON. so it runs on 10% till it reaches the 180* setting. And its all wired up to run 100% if the AC is on
I do run WatterWetter too

You might need to run the fan at 100% all the time or set it at a lower temp.

When I lived in FL I ran my electric fans all the time on my H/C/I coupe and on a brass 2 core the car would idle in traffic at 180 with the air on.

 

[03BlownSnake]

I doubt Florida gets to 116 degrees outside though And trust me, once the temp reaches 180, the fan is at 100% Im sure of it

 

[93Cobra#2771]

Yep, you are correct. With the 10% setup, when the AC comes on I believe it does run at 100%.

Quite honestly, I'm out of ideas besides the oil cooler.

I'll assume that the current radiator is in pristine condition, unpainted and all that, right?

I'm going to contact Baskin (the guy who makes the DCC units and see if he has any ideas to improve your efficiency.

 

[tunedin302]

Sorry if I missed it but have you done a cooling system flush already? Are you running a 50/50 mix or other?

 

[03BlownSnake]

I had the engine out just this last year when I put new rear main seal and front cover. I took the heads off just to get everything cleaned up again and replace all gaskets. I have flushed the cooling system. I'm running a 50/50 mix along with water wetter. I had run a 25% coolant 75% water and water wetter too, runs the same from what I can see.
Only thing I havent tried is changinf my hood out and running an oil cooler. i might have to do both =-(
And yes the radiator is perfect. I have even ran a flow test by putting a flow meter between the radiator and water pump hoses to test the flow and it was flowing plenty.. I dont remember numbers to qoute tho.

 

[tunedin302]

What about putting a small pusher fan or two on the front side?

 

[stangbear427]

They help when you're sitting, then block flow when you're moving. I think he already has enough stuff in front of the radiator :-D

 

[03BlownSnake]

I just bought this Oil cooler kit... http://www.latemodelrestoration.com/iwwida.pvx?;item?item_no=M6642S101 1&comp=LRS

I'm going to try to mount it behind the fog light and attach a little fan to it if I can. Got ot from jegs for $133 shipped.
I'll keep you guys updated to see if it helps out my temps at all

 

[93Cobra#2771]

Here's Baskin's thoughts on your setup. I sent him the link to this thread but he didn't see past post #32.

I think the only things that haven't been addressed on that car are
base
timing, coolant flow, and oil temperature.

The car has had a tune, so the base timing may be way off in an attempt

to get it to idle better (I assume with a 900 rpm idle, it has an after

market cam)A water pump with the wrong rotation vane in it will still
flow reasonable at a high rpm, but it will flow almost nothing at an
idle.

I think the first thing to do, given that the gauge is known to be
good,
is start it with the cap off and look at both the flow and the outlet
temperature, the normal heat rise through the engine is about 12
degrees, so if it's much higher than that, then there's either a
coolant
flow problem or a heat rise problem. If it's a heat rise problem, given

that the car is running off the o2s, then the timing could be an issue
or the oil temperature, once the oil gets hot enough, it gets to the
point that it's volatile, and oil has a very low octane, so it'll
detonate with even a fairly low compression, that can be checked pretty

easily by just removing the filter when the car is hot and sticking a
candy or meat thermometer in, it should be 30-40 degrees above the
coolant temperature.

Also, in some cases, an oil cooler cam make a tremendous difference
instead of just a few degrees, I bought a TR6 a couple of years ago
with
a loaded straight six with 11:1 compression, it had had a frame off
restoration in '97 but had only been driven about 400 miles, the
problem
was that even in 60 degree weather it would run 240, no matter how easy

you drove it. I went with a 25 fin per inch radiator, 25% coolant/75%
water, a 25A derale fan and synthetic oil, as well as dialed the motor
in, that got it down to 230 @ 60F. I added an oil cooler, and on a TR6,

the optional oiler mounts right in front of the radiator, so all of the

heat goes back into the system. With that one change, I can drive the
car extremely hard in 100 degree weather and it never gets past the
thermostat temperature (180)So I got out of the cooler alone a minimum
of 90 degrees difference when you account for the difference in ambient

temperature, but not accounting for running it hard.

What I did notice is that once it got to a certain temperature without
the oil cooler, the idle would all of the sudden get very rough,it had
a
lope to begin with, bit it was a smooth lope, the hot idle was
different
in that it was very choppy, what I'm pretty sure was happening is that
the oil was starting to burn, lowering the octane and causing it to
detonate. I also noticed that the oil pressure would drop to almost
zero, whereas now it stays at 50 minimum, if the oil pressure is
dropping on the car, that's another indication of the oil getting way
too hot

Anyhow, that's a few of Baskin's thoughts on your cooling problems. I do want you to check your amps at the battery post when everything is going wide open, just to make sure the fan is getting enough amps to run at top speed...

 

[03BlownSnake]

Here's Baskin's thoughts on your setup. I sent him the link to this thread but he didn't see past post #32.



Anyhow, that's a few of Baskin's thoughts on your cooling problems. I do want you to check your amps at the battery post when everything is going wide open, just to make sure the fan is getting enough amps to run at top speed...

Ok to start answering some of these thoughts that he had...

My base timing is set at 10 degrees and never touched after the tune was done. The car does have an aftermarket cam, Crane 2031 cam to be exact.

Waterpump rotating vane.. how do I actually check that? All I know is that from the factory belt diagram, the pump should be turning in the same rotation as stock. It is a Weiland (sp?) higher flow then stock water pump. So I'm guessing thats right

Heat rise.. what exactly does that mean?

I'm going to run our alternator tester and get an acurate amp draw and all that this week for sure.
Im going to be installing the oil cooler this weekend aswell, I just got it from FedEx

 

[LEE93COBRA]

I just bought this Oil cooler kit... http://www.latemodelrestoration.com/iwwida.pvx?;item?item_no=M6642S101 1&comp=LRS

I'm going to try to mount it behind the fog light and attach a little fan to it if I can. Got ot from jegs for $133 shipped.
I'll keep you guys updated to see if it helps out my temps at all

Please do. If it makes a difference I will order one immediately

 

[93Cobra#2771]

Ok to start answering some of these thoughts that he had...

My base timing is set at 10 degrees and never touched after the tune was done. The car does have an aftermarket cam, Crane 2031 cam to be exact.

Idleing at 900 rpm is certainly higher than I would have expected out of that cam, since it's pretty mild. Why so high?

Waterpump rotating vane.. how do I actually check that? All I know is that from the factory belt diagram, the pump should be turning in the same rotation as stock. It is a Weiland (sp?) higher flow then stock water pump. So I'm guessing thats right

Only way I know would be to either remove the waterpump and confirm the vanes are correct or cross reference the part number and confirm that it is the correct reverse rotation wp for a 5.0.

Heat rise.. what exactly does that mean?

heat rise = the amount of temp difference between the coolant going into the motor vs the coolant coming out of the motor.

I'm going to run our alternator tester and get an acurate amp draw and all that this week for sure.
Im going to be installing the oil cooler this weekend aswell, I just got it from FedEx

Excellent