Alfletch

I have read quite a bit of the threads about the modification and I am not see the benefits gained in converting a NA to a Turbo oil cooler for a car that is not a track car!!! First, you can still get oil and coolant in your system from a problem O ring, although not from the cooler itself; second, the conversion is expensive; third, it adds a little more weight; fourth, you must move your washer bottle of fog lamp to accomodate the conversion; fifth, no engine performance improvement; and I suspect you could add more.
What are the benefits!!!!!? I don't see it!!!
Let me hear what you have to say on this topic.

Techno Duck

You remove some of the load on the cooling system by going with a air to oil type cooler. Another advantage is you will see better oil cooling as your cooling medium is now ambient temperature rather than 180-200 degree coolant. You can argue the specific heat of the water is higher..but due to the small difference in temperature between the oil and water, its not transferring as much heat energy. This really only applies to a moving car with airflow over the air / oil cooler.

True, its probably not worth doing on a street car. On a track car you will see much lower oil temperatures and marginally lower coolant temperatures.

xsboost90

depends on how you drive

jaje

With an air / air oil cooler they are very effective when moving - when repeatedly idling your cooling system will have to make up the slack.

schwank

I am one of the people doing this mod on my NA track car. Simply put, after long days on a hot track, the oil gets hot and thins out..., lowering oil pressure. Keeping the oil cool keeps the pressure up and protects the engine better. It is not a performance gain, it is a longevity aid. Since the 2 and 3 rod bearings have been proven to be weak points, you do not want thin oil reducing the already small layer of oil that keeps them from taking extra wear.

Not necessary for a street NA at all. But for cars run hard for long durations on hot tracks, a very good measure of protection against failure.

Mongo

I went the internal route and cross-drilled the crankshaft to prevent starvation on the rod bearings

M758

I did it on my race car.

Yes I seals can still leak.
Weight gain is minimal
Washer bottle and Fog lamp. I have not seen them in 7 years.
No performance gain - so what


The reasons I did it
1) Lower oil temps
2) Lower oil temps means less chance of a rod bearing failure
3) Side benefit is lower water temps too.

I would not do this on any car that is not seeing lots of very hard track use. I do recommend this to every 944 spec racer.

Of course I did that too.

Mongo

M758, where'd you mount the oil cooler?

M758

Behind the pass side front fog light opening.

schwank

^^^ ditto. Very easy to fab an angle bracket too. Bought a mocal from BAT.

sillbeer

I dunno, RX7's all use factory oil coolers. Granted, that engine specifically relies on oil as an integral part of the cooling process as the oil cools the rotors in the engine. The 2nd gen RX7's use a HUGE oil cooler mounted in the front of the car, the 3rd gen use one sometimes two depending on the model smaller units mounted on either side the car in the front. I think that external oil coolers are good if anything to help remove the cooling load from the cooling system. Especially here in Az, where ambient temps can get as high as 120 degrees; it's especially important.

FRporscheman

The benefit is that it makes your car more like a 911. Duh!

knfeparty

I filled my coolant system with 6 gallons of oil and threw away my oil cooler o-rings. Then I pulled the steering wheel off and mounted it in the trunk. Now it's just like a 911!

Alfletch

Clearly the concensus is to convert if the car is track and don't bother to convert otherwise!!

David '96 993

Joe,
What kind of oil temps do you see when racing in AZ? I installed a cooler last year, but more recently an oil temp gauge and want to get an idea of what temps I should see in race conditions.

Thanks.