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wstar · 07-20-2013, 10:55 AM

FWIW, the basic setup and stats on mine now (this is on a car that's almost exclusively track duty now, other than driving to/from events until I pick up a trailer and all that):

Oil cooler setup: Setrab Series-9 (the widest) 25-row, mounted to the lower edge of the radiator core support like usual, and then also has a thin aluminum plate mounting the top edge to the crash bumper beam. This is partly to stabilize it against g-force and vibration, but also it blocks the path of air "over the top" of the oil cooler, forcing more air through it. It's on the passenger side and connected via quality AN fittings and steel-braided hoses (originally from the Stillen kit), and uses a Mocal 180F thermostatic sandwich plate adapter. I'm also running the longer-than-stock oil filter size and that fits fine on top (e.g. K&N HP-1010), to help with flow rate and whatnot.

Semi-related, on the driver's side is a Series-6 19-row Setrab that's cooling my 7AT trans fluid, without a top-mount to the crash beam. Between the two Setrabs, they're blocking/consuming the vast majority of the incoming clean air, with only a small hole between them and a little flow over the top of the trans cooler.

Radiator: CSF, without the bolt-on condenser unit. The trans fluid is also using the built-in trans fluid cooler in the radiator. Stock fans and shroud, but UpRev is setup to run them full blast at any MPH once coolant is up to solid temps, to help suck air through the Setrab->CSF stack even at speed and keeping things flowing in the right directions.

Coolant mix: about 90% distilled water with just a little normal coolant mixed in for easy smell/taste test and color, and probably a little corrosion protection. A bottle of MoCool or WaterWetter is in there too (whatever I have/order when I do a fluid change).

I went through a couple of track events this year in pretty unbelievable Texas summer heat, and even on the worst runs of the weekend (hottest ambient temps, car's got some latent heat from previous runs, pushing hard, etc) I get coolant stable around 215-222-ish and oil temps mostly stabilize around 220, sometimes pushing up towards 225 at the peak of things.

The main problem I have with my cooling system now is something's wrong with my aftermarket radiator cap and/or the stock 2009-2011 coolant overflow tank system, etc, which results in a pair of problems: seepage from the coolant tank's stupid screw-on cap under high lateral g-force in sweepers, and lack of vacuum return from the overflow bottle back to the main cooling system as the car cools down (so after a couple runs I have to cool off the system a bit and manually feed the bottle back into the radiator to make up lost fluid volume). These are relatively trivial issues though, and my intended fix is to upgrade to the 2012/2013-style pressurized bottle system (have the parts, still working out details of adapting to 2009).

07-20-2013, 10:55 AM	#15 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	FWIW, the basic setup and stats on mine now (this is on a car that's almost exclusively track duty now, other than driving to/from events until I pick up a trailer and all that): Oil cooler setup: Setrab Series-9 (the widest) 25-row, mounted to the lower edge of the radiator core support like usual, and then also has a thin aluminum plate mounting the top edge to the crash bumper beam. This is partly to stabilize it against g-force and vibration, but also it blocks the path of air "over the top" of the oil cooler, forcing more air through it. It's on the passenger side and connected via quality AN fittings and steel-braided hoses (originally from the Stillen kit), and uses a Mocal 180F thermostatic sandwich plate adapter. I'm also running the longer-than-stock oil filter size and that fits fine on top (e.g. K&N HP-1010), to help with flow rate and whatnot. Semi-related, on the driver's side is a Series-6 19-row Setrab that's cooling my 7AT trans fluid, without a top-mount to the crash beam. Between the two Setrabs, they're blocking/consuming the vast majority of the incoming clean air, with only a small hole between them and a little flow over the top of the trans cooler. Radiator: CSF, without the bolt-on condenser unit. The trans fluid is also using the built-in trans fluid cooler in the radiator. Stock fans and shroud, but UpRev is setup to run them full blast at any MPH once coolant is up to solid temps, to help suck air through the Setrab->CSF stack even at speed and keeping things flowing in the right directions. Coolant mix: about 90% distilled water with just a little normal coolant mixed in for easy smell/taste test and color, and probably a little corrosion protection. A bottle of MoCool or WaterWetter is in there too (whatever I have/order when I do a fluid change). I went through a couple of track events this year in pretty unbelievable Texas summer heat, and even on the worst runs of the weekend (hottest ambient temps, car's got some latent heat from previous runs, pushing hard, etc) I get coolant stable around 215-222-ish and oil temps mostly stabilize around 220, sometimes pushing up towards 225 at the peak of things. The main problem I have with my cooling system now is something's wrong with my aftermarket radiator cap and/or the stock 2009-2011 coolant overflow tank system, etc, which results in a pair of problems: seepage from the coolant tank's stupid screw-on cap under high lateral g-force in sweepers, and lack of vacuum return from the overflow bottle back to the main cooling system as the car cools down (so after a couple runs I have to cool off the system a bit and manually feed the bottle back into the radiator to make up lost fluid volume). These are relatively trivial issues though, and my intended fix is to upgrade to the 2012/2013-style pressurized bottle system (have the parts, still working out details of adapting to 2009). __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details Last edited by wstar; 07-20-2013 at 11:01 AM.