Oil System Mods

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

ok, basically i am finishing my 33gtst project very soon and its going to be hitting the track over summer....

the only part of the project remaining is the oil system.

i have spent a small fortune on this car and dont really need to be spending "too" much more, however i DO want to protect my ride as much as possible

the car is an unopened rb25 making 265rwkw on 19psi

so far my plans are:

oil cooler (non relocate, non thermostat)

oil pressure warning light (like a shift light style)

aftermarket oil temp guage (already installed with sensor in the sump plug)

catch can (non atmo, plumbed to sump)

have i forgotten anything that i can do short of replacing the sump?

any brands i should be looking at?

how hard is it to plumb the catch can into the sump?

[Keeper]

head off and throw a flow restrictor in the oil galley? that would be a reasonably easy job as I take it the motor is out or the head is off to fit the oil cooler?

or dry sump,

real dry sump, drain all the oil and run it without any, you always hear problems of ppl who run the oil low then the engine fails, but how many have you heard of people running the engine with NO oil and having a problem huh?

[doo doo]

With a non thermostat oil cooler i'd be considering the possibility that the when street driven the oil won't come up to temp at which it protects quickly enough, consider the oil you use with this. If you can get a sump baffle that'd give you peace of mind without breaking the bank. Probably not as important is the accuracy of a gauge sensor in that position of the sump- A mechanical oil pressure gauge is real-time accurate -nice so you can see if you're about to lunch your engine from surging in corners or thrashing a hill climb and not getting off the gas quick enough....(stock GTR, hill climb...rebuild)

When you plumb the catch can to the sump make sure there's baffling to stop any oil coming back up (like the standard ones have). I've seen one way valves there as well but unsure as to their success.

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

head may come off as i need a new rocker cover gasket anyway... and a new head gasket would be nice iece of mind... so i spose a restrictor wouldn't be too hard...

i wont be smashing the car until the oil is up to temp anyway

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

so i can put baffles in my stock sump?

who/where could do this?

[bubba]

With a non thermostat oil cooler i'd be considering the possibility that the when street driven the oil won't come up to temp at which it protects quickly enough, consider the oil you use with this. If you can get a sump baffle that'd give you peace of mind without breaking the bank. Probably not as important is the accuracy of a gauge sensor in that position of the sump- A mechanical oil pressure gauge is real-time accurate -nice so you can see if you're about to lunch your engine from surging in corners or thrashing a hill climb and not getting off the gas quick enough....(stock GTR, hill climb...rebuild)

When you plumb the catch can to the sump make sure there's baffling to stop any oil coming back up (like the standard ones have). I've seen one way valves there as well but unsure as to their success.

Umm no, a mechanical oil pressure gauge with a huge length of capillary tube back into the cabin is laggy and dangerous. Mine would take 5-10secs to react so in fact it wasn't very sensitive to small changes that happened quickly. Good in the short term for peace of mind but not in the long term.

Get a decent electric gauge, they react instantly and you don't have to worry about splitting the capillary tube open and spewing oil all through your dash.

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

ok... the update...

final descision has nearly been made

after a lot of thinking i have decided to do things properly

so the list is now:

oil cooler, (non thermo, non relocate)

catch can, (not seperator) plumbed back to sump

baffeled sump

oil restrictor in galley

new steel head gasket and a couple of pounds to boot

new rocker cover gasket (mine is f**ked anyway

arp studs

oil temp guage (electric), taken from oil cooler intake side

oil pressure warning light

and this is going to happen at the same time as the new diff and rubber....

farken $$

[75coupe]

Let us now where you find the sump baffles? or are you just getting some fab'd up?

When you run the drain from catch can to sump where exactly on the sump does it goto?

[FATGTS-R]

Having no thermostat on the cooler is no big deal. Just tape the core up when on the street.

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

i'm buying a baffled sump.... rob is gettig me a locally made one that he has used many times.

why tape up the core on the street... i thought the oil will get hot enough but will just take longer.

might look into a thermostat one, are there many options outside of the now massively overpriced greddy one?

[doo doo]

Another possibility is to fab a duct to your oil cooler then have a louvre or flap system to shut the duct off to cooling air when street driving. And bubba, my oil pressure gauge reacts to revs with no delays at all, it just takers 2 seconds for the oil to pump up to the gauge, using braided line of course (would you use anything else at 90 psi)- yours taking 5 seconds might indicate a major flaw in the system or the gauge.

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

not really a fan of the louvre idead.... seems like something that would foul @ high speed

[doo doo]

You'd have to go into a little detail in design to make it work in situ (american formula atlantic racing cars have adjustable ducts for their radiators so the idea has merit) might start to cost a bit though so how about that trust/greddy cooler with thermostat then?! Don't buy chinese, the material for the core is utter crap.

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

yeah, trust/hks looking good so far

do plazmaman make them?

[sonoramicommando]

i would have thought an oil accumulator / accusump would be a good insurance with your pressure warning light system.

i don't know, maybe it is not effective on skyline (don't see why not, tho) - i'm from old school car background =) - but that would be the 1st thing i'd put on my engine if i were push the car a bit.

[gotRICE?]

The think that always concerned me about the thermo oil coolers..

When you do an oil change, no problems with draining the core too. But it would be a bit of a pain in the ass to have to fill the core too?

As if you dont, and wait till the thermo does it, then your going to loose a fair bit of oil out of the engine arent you? And when the thermo closes again it isnt coming back.

Whats the story with day to day running of them?

[33gtst]

I've got a custom made kit on mine...oil cooler with thermostat, filter relocation etc etc (cost about $550) am yet to do an oil change apparently last one used over 6 litres of oil....and sounds like a pain in the ass....ill let you know in another 5000 kays

[Shaun]

What about an Earls oil cooler? Theyre just as good quality as the jap ones, and you can customise it all to suit your needs. The mounting hardware is as good as anything ive seen, and they sell thermostats also. I wouldnt bother with a thermostat at all though. I really looked into this, and anyone with any knowledge on the subject advised me against it. The thermostat was $200 extra plus braided line and four extra Earls fittings, not to mention the added possibility of something to go wrong.

I undo one of the fittings on the cooler to empty the oil from the core. It takes 6 litres all up (RB26). I also fill the oil up to the bump on the dipstick which solved oil surge problems i was having when i put new semi slick tyres on.

Shaun.

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

without a thermostat how cold can i expect my oil to be?

[GTR1993]

without a thermostat how cold can i expect my oil to be?

depends, how cold it is on the day etc.