Rear Mounted Oil Cooler

[A26B]

Originally Posted by Locobob

.......... unless maybe I didn't prefill the oil cooler and lines and had a situation where the valve opened and created an oil starvation issue.

That won't happen. thermostat valve was engineered with bypass to insure the oil cooler system is always charged with oil.

[Locobob]

Seems to me like the worst that could happen then is that the cooler doesn't work very well do to pressure drop.... so I'd need to figure out what the drop is from adding about 20ft of hose to the system

[tccrab]

I'd be worried about potential damage from road debris being kicked up from the front tires as well as the low pressure area under the engine.
And damage from speed bumps, pot holes etc.

Our Zee's ride low, low, low, anything hanging from the bottom is going to be in harms way.


Just my $.02


'Crabs

[Locobob]

Originally Posted by tccrab

I'd be worried about potential damage from road debris being kicked up from the front tires as well as the low pressure area under the engine.
And damage from speed bumps, pot holes etc.

Our Zee's ride low, low, low, anything hanging from the bottom is going to be in harms way.


Just my $.02


'Crabs

Proper undercar routing would certainly be a concern. I would run braided hose and protect it in high exposure areas. I was eyeballing the covered channel inside of the rocker moldings for most of the run, might be able to get two hoses through there.

[Vette Guy]

I run an Accusump to the rear of the ‘88 car. A single braided line barely fits under the rocker. The Accusump does not need a high pressure area to keep it cool like a cooler would.
What Crabs pointed out is that the area under the car is a low pressure area, unlike the stock location in a high pressure area. The area under the car in the rear may not provide sufficient airflow for the oil cooler to work - racers have used the rear area to cool gearbox fluid, but with puller fans directly mounted to the cooler.


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[tnova]

I've recently moved my battery to the box behind the passenger seat and used the rocker areas to run the positive and negative cable; negative along passenger side outside the panel alongside the fuel lines and positive inside the rocker panel with factory wiring. Note much room, especially for the size hose needed. Though I haven't run my ZR-1 on the track yet, I've plenty of experience with a brand "P" air cooled race car that lives on cooled oil run from the rear engine to the front. The lines are huge, 30mm to 50mm. No such room on the bottom of a stock ZR-1 for lines this large. Other ways to remove front end weight are a better option.

[WARP TEN]

Originally Posted by Vette Guy

I run an Accusump to the rear of the ‘88 car. A single braided line barely fits under the rocker. The Accusump does not need a high pressure area to keep it cool like a cooler would.
What Crabs pointed out is that the area under the car is a low pressure area, unlike the stock location in a high pressure area. The area under the car in the rear may not provide sufficient airflow for the oil cooler to work - racers have used the rear area to cool gearbox fluid, but with puller fans directly mounted to the cooler.


Sent from my iPhone using ZR-1 Net Registry

My current 2016 Z06 has a trans cooler in the driver side rear fender behind the wheel with a fan (puller I think) on it. (Not my car in the picture)--Bob

[Locobob]

Well I'm going to be working on the belt tensioner and also replacing the a/c condenser so I've been kicking this around again. I remember that some of the turbo charged cars either Callaway of LPE I think utilized the inside of the frame rails to run some plumbing from the rear to the front. It occurred to me that perhaps I could route oil cooler lines through the frame rails themselves. Anyone know if there are bulkheads or other obstructions inside the frame rails? If not it would seem possible to snake a line through there.

[spork2367]

Originally Posted by Locobob

I was mainly thinking about the weight issue, our cars are nose heavy so anytime I see a chance to remove weight from the nose or move it reward it peaks my interest.

I'm not sure that moving a couple pounds from the front to the rear, only to add 3-4 lbs total to the car will be worth it.

[XfireZ51]

How much more oil would u need to fill the system?