Does my track car need oil cooling?

[somedude_001]

1990 SHO stock engine except for the 8lb flywheel and stage 1 clutch. I have a habit of running 30 min sessions and giving the car a 20-25 min break and getting back on the track to maximize my bang for the buck during a track day. I have a track event on the 11th at nelson ledges where this is fine because of the way run groups are set up, but there is a event at the glen on the 13th where we will have 11 hours of track time that I am strongly considering. The event is a bit pricy so say I wanted to be on the track for 2 or 3 hours straight how well is my oil going to hold up? I think I will be wrapping my stock Y-pipe in heat wrap to reduce heat transfer into the oil in a couple days but i'm really not looking to add a oil cooler.

yes I still have the stock radiator and this track is a high speed track. lol maybe not for my car but for a car making good power it is a high speed track.

 

[gmorrell]

On a stock motored car with cooling system in good shape, you'll be fine.

The stock oil heat exchanger starts to be a thermal cork around 300HP for long term loading like open tracking. The problem is there's not enough water flow through it to fully shed the oil heat of a high HP engine. If you've doubled the crank HP with FI, and you're open tracking, you should be running a proper air/oil cooler on nothing smaller than -10 (5/8" ID) lines.

I would strongly recommend running a full synthetic 10W-40 with extra Zinc. Jugs of Mobil 1 High Mileage Synthetic can still be found with an SL rating, as opposed to the low Zinc SM ratings.

 

[pitaSHO]

Good call on the SL oil. You can still find it at Wal Mart; Mobile 1 High Mileage. For whatever reason Wal Mart is the only place I've been able to find with SL oil. Everybody else has the High Mileage, but it's SM rated.

Chris K.

 

[32MTX]

if your going to use off the shelf oil from Mobil for the racetrack skip right on passed the High mileage oil.....

use 0w-40 Mobil 1, like most high end factory cars, every engine in IRL(no honda engine failures), a lot of engines in 24 hour lemans and 12 hour sebring/24 hour Daytona cars........ those race engineers be smarter then us/have more experience.......

This oil is used from factory/dealers for Viper, SRT-8, GTR, most AMG cars..... it has a good reputation as being a durable street/race oil......

the 15w-50 is also good stuff, just depends how thick you want to go

 

[Racer X]

Alex, as long as your cooling system is in doing it's job, your oil temps should be ok. If it's not, you can expect your oil temps to escalate. My oil tends to measure about 5ºF higher than my coolant, so when my coolant temps got up to 250ºF, my oil was easily 255ºF+

Turns out that my radiator might have had some issues. Like sucking, in general.

 

[somedude_001]

Alex, as long as your cooling system is in doing it's job, your oil temps should be ok. If it's not, you can expect your oil temps to escalate. My oil tends to measure about 5ºF higher than my coolant, so when my coolant temps got up to 250ºF, my oil was easily 255ºF+

Turns out that my radiator might have had some issues. Like sucking, in general.

I don't have a oil temp gauge. My car also does not have AC so maybe that will help a little with airflow to the radiator. I will change my oil with something SL rated and with a straight weight. Then forget about it.

 

[HotRodKid]

i have some exhaust heat wrap here if you want it,

 

[Racer X]

I don't have a oil temp gauge. My car also does not have AC so maybe that will help a little with airflow to the radiator. I will change my oil with something SL rated and with a straight weight. Then forget about it.

The oil temp is probably the easiest gauge to install. Just replace the drain plug with a 300ºF sensor, add a 300ºF Gauge, wire it up, done.

 

[SinisterSHO]

You run with some strange groups that just let you run for hos ever long you want.

 

[Sho Amo]

Scott still has your oil temp gauge. im sure he would sell it back to you lol.

 

[gmorrell]

if your going to use off the shelf oil from Mobil for the racetrack skip right on passed the High mileage oil.....

Use 0w-40 Mobil 1, like most high end factory cars, every engine in IRL (no honda engine failures), a lot of engines in 24 hour lemans and 12 hour sebring/24 hour Daytona cars........ those race engineers be smarter then us/have more experience.......

This oil is used from factory/dealers for Viper, SRT-8, GTR, most AMG cars..... it has a good reputation as being a durable street/race oil......

the 15w-50 is also good stuff, just depends how thick you want to go

The reason I suggested the High Mileage Mobil 1 API SL has to do with the added levels of Zinc and Phos anti-wear additives. Newer API SM oils have very low levels of these catalytic and O2 sensor "poisons", and our flat tappet V6's appreciate these additives, where-as the high-zoot racing engines you mentioned are probably running low friction roller tappets. Chances are pretty good that the synthetic base stocks are very similar between the 0W-40 and the HM 10W-40, except perhaps for the added viscosity modifiers in the 0W.

After Lap 2 at Watkins Glen, the oil temp will be squarely in the 40 weight viscosity area, so using a 0W is probably a waste, ****, 10W-40 is a waste, just run a straight weight 40 and don't hammer on it until the oil temp is up.

 

[Ishodu]

I have a dual core rad with the tranny portion doing nothing I wonder if there is a way I can flow some oil though there.

 

[32MTX]

The reason I suggested the High Mileage Mobil 1 API SL has to do with the added levels of Zinc and Phos anti-wear additives. Newer API SM oils have very low levels of these catalytic and O2 sensor "poisons", and our flat tappet V6's appreciate these additives, where-as the high-zoot racing engines you mentioned are probably running low friction roller tappets. Chances are pretty good that the synthetic base stocks are very similar between the 0W-40 and the HM 10W-40, except perhaps for the added viscosity modifiers in the 0W.

After Lap 2 at Watkins Glen, the oil temp will be squarely in the 40 weight viscosity area, so using a 0W is probably a waste, ****, 10W-40 is a waste, just run a straight weight 40 and don't hammer on it until the oil temp is up.

the amount of zinc that is actually in the oil is rather miniscule, and the difference between SM and SL isn't THAT big...... Surely if that little bit made such a difference, SL would be grinding away your engine as well..........

this argument has been beat to death, the world has gone on, engines aren't dropping like flies.... even the ones designed decades before SM came out


to use an SM or SL rating as a determining factor when choosing an oil, is quite a close minded way to do things.

thats like saying you want to stick with bias ply tires on your race car instead of opting for some modern day race tire radials because they are the older technology and worked for you.......... people would think your nuts.......


carry on....

 

[Sho Amo]

But when you do have the option...

 

[gmail]

i am running the factory oil cooler and relocated my filter, added a bypass filter, oil temp and oil pressure.

when the car has fully warmed up at idle sitting still the oil sees as high as 200 degrees. which is about normal..

i have yet to push the car at a track session and check the readings since i just installed the oil temp gauge a few weeks back.

yamahaSHO blew up his one SHO from running the oil hot.. he shot a rod bearing apart.

the factory oil cooler was really only ment for warming the oil up faster and keeping it cooler for your adverage family guy.

push it at the track and you best get a cooler..

if its a track only car id recommend a high dollar cooler with t stat.

also the a/c adds a good deal of cooling. when i had it working right in my car it blew out 25 degrees out of the vents, well anyways it kept my coolant much cooler then with it off up to 20 degrees cooler

 

[whiteguy3]

Just send me a little money and it's yours back...lol. I'm not gonna run it on mine.

BTW the tranny temps have never been higher than 190 degrees in scorching heat in traffic with the A/C on. The wideband sensor issue has been fixed and it is getting a consistent signal.

 

[Shoaz]

For track use an oil cooler generally doesn't hurt, but be careful to not over-do it. Over cooling the oil can be detrimental as well, and using a thermostatic sandwich or other thermostatic control in the oil loop can be beneficial.

That being said, as Gary mentioned, for a stock SHO many people (including myself for a long time) got by regularly tracking their cars without any additional oil cooling. Start the event with fresh oil. If the water temps do go up, then it's a good idea to change the oil after the event as well.

if your going to use off the shelf oil from Mobil for the racetrack skip right on passed the High mileage oil.....

use 0w-40 Mobil 1, like most high end factory cars, every engine in IRL(no honda engine failures), a lot of engines in 24 hour lemans and 12 hour sebring/24 hour Daytona cars........ those race engineers be smarter then us/have more experience.......

This oil is used from factory/dealers for Viper, SRT-8, GTR, most AMG cars..... it has a good reputation as being a durable street/race oil......

the 15w-50 is also good stuff, just depends how thick you want to go

Seriously? You think because something is good for other applications it must be good for this one, too? There's no consideration for the possible differences?

The V6 SHO motors were designed and use metallurgy from the early 80s, so when somebody says one might be smarter to use oils with specs contemporary to those times, there just might actually be something to that.

Yes, plenty of people have run SHO and other motors with SM or later oils. I've not seen any documented comparison of what happens to a SHO motor under track use for each case, but I DO know that SL oil specs are closer in some pertinent areas to the oils that the motor was designed to use. Generally oil specs change in conjunction with changing engine technology, so it really does make sense to pay attention to matching them when there's an understandable difference.