I just want to check to see if this is something I should be concerned about.



I got a twin turbo sbc in my car (camaro) and it usually sees around 60 psi at idle on cold start. After driving around for a while the oil drops down to 25-30 psi or so at idle so its getting hot enough to lower pressure alittle ways.



Also the motor gets harder to cool down after awhile, so I believe the hot oil from the turbos is a cause. Cooling system cant handle cooling the oil in the block after the turbos really heat it up.



So I installed a oil sandwitch adapter from Canton Racing and plumbed the lines from oil filter location to the rear of the car, about 10 ft total. It was the best place to put the cooler since I have most room there. I did not want to put it up front and block airflow to the rad and trans cooler.











So now I added an extra 3/4 quart to the system to account for the lines and cooler, and now my idle pressure is around 40 psi at cold start. I am worried that once hot it will start to go even lower.



Does this sound normal? Does this just mean my oil pump at idle cant keep pressure up across all that feet of line and cooler?



Thanks!

 

does the adapter flow all the time, or does it have a t-stat in it to let the oil warm up a bit before sending it to the cooler? what size lines did you use.

 

Oil flows all the time. No T-stat.

-6 an lines feed and return. I just took it for a little drive and didnt get on the throttle at all, nothing over 3000 rpm or so, and it appears that oil pressure stays at 30 psi or so.

I took a heat gun to the cooler and it shows 231 deg F after a short 10 min drive or so, wow! thats hot. I wonder if I'll need a fan on the cooler?

Coolant was hard to keep below 200 thats for sure, but it never went over 220 and its hot out today.

 

After reading around the net, i find that -6 an line is way to small. DARNIT! I got to go atleast -10 an and may try to relocate the cooler to the front of the car since it is designed to be mounted vertically to have air pass through it. Or may add a fan to it and or an air dam to direct air flow across it and just mount it more inclined. We shall seee.

Anyone need alot of -6 line ??

 

6 an is too small? Really? I know nothing about the subject but that's interesting. I would have figured, given the diameters of the oil passages in SBC's that -6 AN would be too big. And I figure large lines would lower the pressure, right?

 

I asked this question on Chevelles.com and they all said i'd need -10 minimum. System is off the car now as I plan to race tomorrow and didn twant to chance this setup. I thought the same thing, that passages in the block arent bigger than -6 most of the time so -6 should be ok but apparently thats wrong.

Alot of factory stuff is 1/2 or larger so i'll go -10 and try mounting cooling up front. If possible.

Also discovered a split oring on the adapter when I installed it so it could have been bleeding pressure off but oh well, i need a larger line to be safe they say.

 

glad you are moving the location of the cooler. Very inefficient the way you had it mounted.

 

The passages in the block are mostly ½"; in fact every one I can think of before they split up off the main front-rear one to go to each individual bearing, is that size or close to it.

Plus, there's a big difference in the amount of restriction, in a passage that's a couple of inches long, and 10' of line.

So yeah... increase the line size to AT LEAST match the block passages, and shorten it as much as practical by locating the cooler up front.

 

I used that location for a tranny cooler, with a small scoop. It works for that but I agree don't use it for engine oil. Indeed use -10 at a minimum and put the cooler full frontal and USE A THERMOSTAT!!!! Earls has a nicr billet one, CV products has some real nice ones (I use those) but they are very expensive. The mocal one is junk, I have used it in the past and wouldn't recommend it. the mounting system sucks.

 

Possibly, but theres still alot of air flow under the car at that point so its still getting air flow. If I had it mounted abit more tilted downward to collect more air, it would work. Also if I had a fan on it, but the whole reason for mounting it in the rear is to keep a heat source away from the front of the car.

With a big intercooler up front, a trans cooler, an oil cooler all in front of the rad, thats just blocking alot of air flow and then would only allow the fans to pull HOT air through the rad further complicating my overheating problems.

It runs 210 or so in summer air so far with both fans on, i dont want much more heat than that.

 

You do realize that you have to let the cooler hang down and then run the oil pump to bleed out the air right? Then mount it back into position.

 

I understand completely on why you mounted it where you did, but with it that close to the body there would be very little air flow across the plates. That is what cools it. Airflow perpendicular to the plates will pull some heat but nowhere near what it can. A fan would help some, but until there is a place for that air to go, then you are still limited on its efficiency.

Like you said, tilt it more. I know there is pretty much no way to run it perpendicular to the car, but you need some tilt for the air to pass across.

Looking back at the pic, even mounting it 90 degrees from the way it is now will increase the flow across the plates.

 

It was primed and bled.

Anyway, i'm gonna relocate it to the front somewhere, hopefully away from the intercooler and mount it like its suppose to be mounted. May put in a fan on a T-stat sensor switch to keep it at whatever it needs to be at. 215-230 is what I hear but not exactly sure.

 

That's probably a good temp range; you don't want it "as cool as possible". There's definitely an optimum range. Some coolers come with a fixed built-in one at the right temp. OTOH if it's adjustable you can dial it in if you don't like the results.

 

I heard over 240-250 you start to break down petroleum based oils. I run pure synthetics so I should have abit more temp range but certainly not too high. I figured if the oil can be maintained to 200-220 deg, my motor will have an easier time running 200 or so deg on water temp.

 

Ive been researching this topic since i am also trying to keep my temps down. it seems like oil sandwich adapters with built in thermostats are very rare for sbc, i cannot seem to find any, does anyone have a link to one that will allow me to keep the filter in its current place?

EDIT:

is this it?
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/DE...uery=CID%7c350

 

I have no idea who makes one with built in thermostat.

I just know you need to use big lines if the cooler is going to be mounted several feet from engine. -10 wouldnt be a bad idea.

I have since removed my cooler and have plans to relocate it, soon as I figure out where/how. Likely up front at the nose against the rad but that just restricts airflow to the rad and adds another heat element to the rad i wanted to avoid. Car ran hot as it was, not trying to go over 200 deg F.

 

Yah I removed my tran oil cooler from in front of the rad and mounted it where the heater box used to be on an angle with a 9 inch fan on itwith a fan switch and I plan on adding a fan to the engine oil cooler! With all the mods I've done to keep the engine cool I should stay right at 180 in a hot Virginia summer day hopefully since it was in he low 200s before

 

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/EAR-503ERL/