Post HPDE oil temp update

bmcd308

My stock 370Z ran oil temps in the neighborhood of 215 to 225 in normal driving, and after reading many posts here, I decided that I wanted an oil cooler before doing a HPDE.

I live reasonably near Z1, so I had them install their 25-row oil cooler with thermostatic plate. The result was oil temps in normal driving situations of 175 or so.

This weekend, I did my first HPDE at Road Atlanta. I had a blast, and I thought I'd post my oil temp observations just to memorialize them here.

On the freeway trip to ATL (2.5 hours at 75 MPH using cruise control) at 80 (departure) to 74 (arrival) degrees, my oil temp stayed at 175-180 for the whole drive. During the HPDE, when the ambient temp was 90-95 degrees, my oil temp went up to 225-230 by the end of each 30-minute track session.

On the drive home on Sunday, with ambient temps cooling over the drive from 90 to 80, my oil temp fell slowly from 225 or so (the temperature to which it had cooled while I loaded up) to about 190 on the drive (75 MPH cruise control).

From this, I conclude that a 25 row cooler is overkill for daily driving and light track use. I feel like Road Atlanta is a pretty good test of a cooling system, and this past weekend was pretty hot.

I would have been comfortable with track session oil temps closer to 250 for occasional track days, and I want my oil temps over 180 during DD. I am going to have to use a plate to reduce the efficiency of my oil cooler for DD, which I do not really mind, but this experience may provide a different perspective for someone in my situation choosing between a 19-row, a 25-row, and a 34-row.

Note that I do not know whether a 19-row would have been a better choice for me. If I had a 19-row, I might be on here complaining about high oil temps despite my oil cooler.

Brent