Gtr Oil Cooler Size

[Bazil_1]

Hi guys/gals,

I need to get a cooler for my 33 GTR that will be used primarily on the track, at Targa Tas (eventually) and at Lake MT Sprint early next year. At the moment the engine is just about stock besides sump baffling and is running std boost, only mods to that are filters, intake and turbo back exhaust (more power will come in time but have to keep within regulations for Targa).

Looking at most of the Jap kits the biggest they make to suit the car is about a 16 row which didn't seem to cut the mustard for certain people running at MT Buller earlier this month (albeit more power than my setup). I can fit a 28 row PWR cooler between the intercooler and radiator easily but i have heard this could cause the heat to be transferred onto the water.. There is not much room in the drivers side guard as the stock bov setup is taking up most of the room. There is room on the passengers side for maybe a 19 row but this would cause the heat to be transferred to the intake or if it was shrouded with all air from the vent passing through it the intake wouldn't get much fresh air...

What setups are people running in events like Targa and Mt Buller running for their oil cooling?

Would 28 row be overkill or perhaps too much for the pump (std gtr pump at the moment, will go to either tomei or jun)

Running Oran Park last month the car was only able to get 1 flying lap before temps went to dangerous levels and driving the touring stage at Mt Buller the oil was in the danger zone even though i was driving a third of race pace. Both times though the water needle hasn't moved after the car is warm (though this could be the crap stock water temp gauge).

Anyway thanks in advance, i've been looking through here for a while now trying to find setups of targa spec cars to no avail.

Liam

[Duncan]

I can give you advice on how not to cool the car if you like

for what it's worth, my oil cooler setup is the standard water to oil stuff at the oil filter, and a big oil cooler in front of the radiator. As you know I am having real water temp troubles so I will be moving it from there, and at the moment my plan is to move it to the passenger wheel well. the reason I have not put it there in the past is I was worried about knocking it off one day, but I just have to do something about the water temps

[noone]

was running a 13 row in mine mounted in the passenger front bumper vent thingo

only short track stuff warmup 3 hot laps n a cooldown

Didnt have a drama with up to 429 horsepower at the wheels

generally more laps on warmup n all okay

in Darwin heat too though

[Bazil_1]

What size radiator and oil cooler is that with Duncan?

The passenger guard looks about the best bet though would need to duct in some air for the intake. Would work nicely on mine with 400R vents just before the wheel to expel the hot air

[bnr#@]

Have a trust 13 row in the passenger side corner with the air guide that comes with the kit, 5 to 6 fast laps around barbagallo and the temps are just over 100 for oil and 90 for water.

Other cooling related mods are trust extended sump, all the air con stuff removed from between the radiator and the intercooler which helps a lot and a nismo low temp thermostat.

Stock radiator running castrol coolant mixture and stock intercooler

Power is 387rwhp

[sav man]

Just put a 32 row earls oil cooler on our n1 copy r33. The std n1 core is about the same size as the earls core. it sits on the drivers side of the radiator.

[Bazil_1]

Thanks guys,

Seems like your cars are running cool enough with 13 rows, could be different on a 14km hill climb though (albeit i'm not producing as much power).

sav man thats where i was thinking of running the 28 row PWR job though it brings me to the dilemma; Do i run a 28-30 row cooler infront of the rad that has overall size/physical volume of ~2.8l or a 16 row cooler (i.e.Greddy) that has an overall size/volume of ~3.4l as it is deeper in design.. Would surface area with smaller tubes closer together provide more cooling than a deeper cooler with a smaller surface area...?

Hmm.

Well i guess if i get a 16 row job and try and fit it in one of the guards i would not be playing any effect on the air already cooling the rad perfectly (as long as it gets ducted properly). If it still ends up too hot i could always run two smaller coolers in series.?

[sav man]

i'd be interested to know what is the most efficient surface to cool? a deep narrow one, or a long skinny one. is it only the jap brands that do deep cores?

[Bazil_1]

Yeah most of the Jap coolers are around 50mm vs 37 of the pwr and cheaper style coolers. I check the Earls cooler and it looks like it is a 50mm job too.

Just tried to work out the cooling properties of air through physics sites and got a headache. I'd think though there would be a limit to where the thickness of the core stops becoming effective as the air flowing through has absorbed all the heat it can and becomes less effective to cool the deeper sections of the cooler. I guess out of two coolers of the same volume, one 50m vs one 70mm both getting the same air flow to the front, the 50mm will come out ontop as it has more effective "fresh" air passing through it...

[Duncan]

my radiator is a 40mm china special, and the current oil cooler is an earls one, not sure of the exact number of rows it is about 30cm high. keep in mind yuo will have to replace the cooler everytime you kill a motor with a bearing issue, so I figure you might as well buy a cheap cooler.

the new radiator is a 55mm pwr cross flow, and I will move the oil cooler from in front. there is no a/c of course so there is little restriction in front.

i am not happy with the seal of the radiator to the cross member atm - clark rubber sell some nice foam sealant with adhesive on one side perfect for filling in any gaps.

[sav man]

i'm not a real fan of having the oil cooler infront of the radiator (even though thats where they are on our R33's), but unless you get a thick core, you can't get a decent size core to fit in a inner guard.

Duncan, I wouldn't worry about knocking one off in the inner guard. My GTR runs a trust one in the left inner guard, and i went through a fence into a paddock LHS first, and didn' knock it off.

I'll have to check to see how thick the earls one is, I thought it was in the 30mm range

I'll have to get damo to post some pics up of what we did to kerry's gtst, we moved the oil cooler to the inner guard, and ducked it all up

[Beer Baron]

i've hardly even seen a car with oil cooler in front of the rad work properly on the circuit. you are better off running a smaller oil cooler and having it in it's own clean air space. for a GTR this means in the passenger air duct with some shrouding around it and an exit path for the air into the wheel well.

I would think the biggest trust kit would be the place to start. they work very well and come with mounting and shrouding to fit into the passenger duct, and have great cores. if it's not big enough you can sell the core and keep everything else just replace with a bigger core from earls etc.

duncan, put your cooler in the side duct. pronto!

[_Ryan_]

These look nice... http://www.are.com.au/products/oilcoolers.htm Apparently their gear is decent, them claim to put a bit of R&D into it.

[Bazil_1]

ARE coolers look nice though i'm not sure about the look of their grill mounted ones.

Ended up going with a Greddy 16 row kit that was made for the GTR and has all the mountings to fit it in the inner guard.

Planning to make a vent in the rear of the guard using some plastic louver things to stop flying off the wheel and inside the guard. I'd love to get a 400r style vent for the front guard but they seem to be pretty hard to find. Suppose i'll see how she cools on the track before spending any more money on it

[Beer Baron]

ARE coolers look nice though i'm not sure about the look of their grill mounted ones.

Ended up going with a Greddy 16 row kit that was made for the GTR and has all the mountings to fit it in the inner guard.

Planning to make a vent in the rear of the guard using some plastic louver things to stop flying off the wheel and inside the guard. I'd love to get a 400r style vent for the front guard but they seem to be pretty hard to find. Suppose i'll see how she cools on the track before spending any more money on it

good choice.

as for the rear of the guard, I swiss cheesed mine with holes about 30mm in diameter, but have now got one of these to go in there (see below). the swiss cheese holes worked quite well though, just make sure they are nice and big,

[Roy]

LOL, i only spoke to Marcus on Tuesday to tell him i still have his Wind Master in a box in my living room Maybe i should claim it

Seriously, who needs an oil cooler. As it burns off you are actually getting lighter so helping your chance of improvin lap times...just like as your fuel load burns off

[Bazil_1]

Been a while since i have been on here but have made progress..

Installed the cooler today and got most of the fitting done.. The Greddy kit i got was made to fit in the drivers side guard between the vent with the indicator and the BOV. But no luck using their mountings as the BOV was well in the way so had to modify the mounting brackets a bit and got it to fit. Only problem was that it now sat so far forward that the indicator could not be kept in the original place so that has been moved which has also lets twice the air through to the cooler.

Going with a combo of holes and a vent much like the arc one (but from some camping store so cheap cheap) to get the hot air out of the guard. Also i have used a heap of fiberglass heat tape on the return lines from the BOV which are mighty close to the cooler.

Now the only thing left to do is get a oil filter to fit on the Grex sandwich plate. Was awesome to discover that after the plate was on the Nissan filter does not fit as the outside of the filter hits on the hose fittings.

Hopefully if all goes to plan i will test it out down at Wakefield next Wednesday.

[Bazil_1]

Got around to installing the guard vents today, looks quite neat i think for $16 worth of stainless vents..

[ShadowGTR]

http://www.imports101.com.au/specials_view.php?id=262

http://www.imports101.com.au/specials_view.php?id=261

You don't need a massive oil cooler for a good oil temp, just make sure its got good flow and the air can escape freely

^^^^Those vents are a good cheap idea

Edited January 27, 2010 by ShadowGTR