Well I finished putting in my new oil cooler today, along with my bigger “Pro-alloy” radiator. All fits in great and the oil lines even passed through existing holes in the radiator housing, so I don’t know if Lotus moved the cooler on the race cars or something and included the holes in the production cars for some reason??? I forgot my camera though, so will take a few pics tomorrow if anyone is interested.
Also couldn’t resist doing a few donuts in the yard outside our workshop. I still had my slicks on from the weekend and it had just rained, so it did absolutly MINT donuts!!!
Took a few pics of my new cooler all in place. The hole that the front most oil pipe passes through was already tere, i just opened it up a bit. Also the extra large and funny shaped hole tat the water hose at teh back passes through was also there, which does seem like a bit of a coinsedance.
I took the hose clips off the top of the wheel arch liner and mounted them on the black fibreglas bit above the chassis at the front. This keeps them nicely out of the way and the wheel arch liner fits on perfectly without the pipes getting in the way.
Here you can see the cooler fitted to the underside of the rad. I just made up some L shaped brackets and nut and bolted it to the radiator. You can see the fan mounted directly to the rad next to the oil cooler rad.
Its a Setrab oil cooler rad, that I got from my local Motorsport place (Listers in West Bromwich). I can measure it for you if you like, I simply took my new radiator to the shop and held a load of them up against it until I found one i liked.
I did cut the hoses to length and then used some really nice ally fittings.
As far as costs go, the oil radiator was �100 (Setrab rads are pukka so I guess you get what you pay for) and the new fittings for the oil pipes were about �3.50 each
The Ohlins are the 46mm ones and they feel awesome. They were specced and setup by Plans and when I got in it afterwards, it did feel like a different car. I did a track day at Bruntingthorpe pretty much straight after they were fitted and the way the car turned in and how it dealt with bumps and stuff was amazing.
So you used the same hoses then.
And yes, I would be glad if you could pass me details on the radiator used and the fittings that fit in the same hose, as I bought some universal fittings that may do the job but since they’re so … basic I didn’t trust them enough.
Of course, to fit the thread of that particular radiator.
Basically i want to do the same you did.
BTW, those Ohlins are the best you could have, but they come in at �2.8K !
Any idea if the humble 36mm ones would fair too badly against those?
Just a quick note, which came straight from my race mechanic when the oil in my car had almost gone black from the heat and he warned me to do something about the oil cooling.
Block off all the holes in the crash structure, the holes that use to feed the old oil cooler, as they only really function best in a sealed enclosure where the air has no choice but to go through the cooler and exhaust out the back of it, so closing up the holes would give the air less place to escape before going through the cooler. Thereby giving you maximum cooling efficiency. There should be no detrimental effectto closing the holes as they only served the puprose of feeding air to the cooler.
sean, looks mega but can i ask a daft question?? Im not too mechanically minded but my engine is currently being rebuilt due to damage caused by oil starvation. Would fitting a setup like yours help my exige to avoid such problems this time?
On the 36mm Ohlins (as fitted to the Exige S2 as a factory upgrade) vs 46mm Ohlins question…
Plans fit both, and have sets made up for both S1 and S2 Exige.
The size refers to the piston diameter. The critical factor is the area of the piston as that is what determines the amount of oil passing through the valves for a given displacement.
And the piston area is proportional to the square of the radius… so a 46mm damper will shift 63% more fluid than a 36mm damper… and they cost only 35% more… usually the equation goes the other way round… ie marigal improvements usually end up costiong disproportionately more…
Having tested Dynamics, Nitrons, Ohlins 36, ST44, TT46, Spax, Konis, Gaz, etc etc on Exiges S2 and S1 on our track in similar conditions… I know what I would have…
No problem I will get the spec for the oil rad for you. The oil rad cost me �100 with our discount and the ends were about �3.50 or something. Oh and you need two adaptors to make the rad fit the hose ends, these were a couple of quid each as well. If you want me to get the stuff for you I could??
The Dampers didn’t cost me �2,800, I have just had a quick look for the bill, but I can’t put my hands on it, but if my memmory serves me correctly they were �2.5k fitted. I also couldn’t tell you how they fare against the 36mm ones as I have no experiance of those, but Graham at Plans did a good job of selling me the bigger ones and as he has mentioned above they will flow a hell of a lot more fluid
Jason,
Yeah I plan to block the holes off, I am on the look out for some suitable material like thin black plastic or something. I have made myself a solid ally sheet to replace the one with holes in where the air that passes through the original oil cooler would exit under the car, so that should smooth out the underbody a bit more.
Koopa,
In a word, No. Oil starvation is basically when the oil pickup pipe in the sump is sucking air instead of oil. This can be through excessive cornering forces moving the oil away from the pickup, or because your oil level is to low or a combination of the two.
The oil cooler I have fitted, will increase the amount of oil in the car as the rad is bigger therfore holds more oil, and it will reduce your oil temperatures as the rad is bogger and is now in a place that will get more flow than the original rad.
The only way to fix an oil starvation issue is to fit a baffle to your sump. This basically holds the oil around the pickup pipe, so that when you are cornering the oil can’t swoosh away from the pickup.
I did umm and arr about fitting the 2nd fan to the oil cooler, but I thought I would leave it off and see how I get on. If it needs more help I can always fit it at a later date.
What the hell is a “skoosher” bottle??? I’m guessing its a northern thing??
If “skoosher” translates to “windscreen washer” then I haven’t moved it. As far as I am aware that is the standard position.
On the 36mm Ohlins (as fitted to the Exige S2 as a factory upgrade) vs 46mm Ohlins question…
Plans fit both, and have sets made up for both S1 and S2 Exige.
The size refers to the piston diameter. The critical factor is the area of the piston as that is what determines the amount of oil passing through the valves for a given displacement.
And the piston area is proportional to the square of the radius… so a 46mm damper will shift 63% more fluid than a 36mm damper… and they cost only 35% more… usually the equation goes the other way round… ie marigal improvements usually end up costiong disproportionately more…
Having tested Dynamics, Nitrons, Ohlins 36, ST44, TT46, Spax, Konis, Gaz, etc etc on Exiges S2 and S1 on our track in similar conditions… I know what I would have…
Thanks Graham,
I spoke with you over the phone and of course you like the better ones (so would I).
I was wondering from a user’s point of view how much is the difference.
My next upgrade is going to be the shocks, but probably a few months from now.
Just wanted to know if I really have to sell some organs or not.
No problem I will get the spec for the oil rad for you. The oil rad cost me �100 with our discount and the ends were about �3.50 or something. Oh and you need two adaptors to make the rad fit the hose ends, these were a couple of quid each as well. If you want me to get the stuff for you I could??
Thanks Sean,
either getting them for me or pointing me in the right diresction.
On these last few months it’s been/it’s going to be difficult for me to have the car in bits as I moved homes and don’t have a garage now (will build one this year) and obviously to experiment with that I would need the front clam off.
I will PM on this. Thanks.
But anyway, that’s the first time i saw where the skoosher bottle is installed in them – non ac cars have it on a bracket above the battery where your condensor/evaporator or something probably took up room ?
I have posted this elsewhere but to complete this post I thought I would give a post track day report on my oil temps.
In a word the problem is now sorted. The oil still warms up fairly quickly to around mid 80’s, but even after a 45 minute track session, and I was hammering the life out of the car, with it rarely dropping below 7,000rpm (I love my gearbox!!) the highest the oil temp ever got was 100.8 degrees C.
The water didn’t go above 86 degrees C. so any worries I had about the oil cooler obstructing flow through the water rad, or the oil rad warming the water rad were unfounded.
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