I think it's important if you plan to run in cool weather. To give you an idea. My coolant temps got down to 125-130 on the way to the optima challenge this year with a high flow t stat. While I realize this is coolant, they are known for not closing accurately after opening. It's in front of the radiator and could really cool off the oil. With my old block I was going to simply run a manual valve for the oil cooler since the block was plumbed for a seperate oil cooler. I'm not sure if that's an option for you but it's not a bad idea.

I was thinking real easy / cheap, blocking off the cooling fins when our great midwest weather takes a nose dive. ie: cardboard :captain:

I thought of that as well.. although I came up with something a bit more fancy than cardborad.. lol

My problem with this would be access. I would have to pull the DSE closeout to put it on and remove it.

What would be great would be if the remote oil filter mount had the t-stat integrated into it. That would save a bunch of plumbing.

Todd are you going to try running your car in 2010 at the race with all the neat parts you have on it that you should be invited.:lateral:

Maybe I can get him in.. I have a "little" pull :)

I would love see that car on the track man it to nice to be sitting in the parking lot like last year.

Todd needs to run it this year at Optima!!

I don't want to hijack Steve's thread but I appreciate the kind words. I plan to run as many events as possible this year. Have the new enclosed trailer for out of state events. I really wasn't ready for Optima this year. I would've done OK but my car is still being sorted out on the track. I want to put my best foot forward when I get in. That means more experience behind the wheel and more time tweaking my car. It gets better everytime I race it. The new engine should help. I really didn't need more power but the weight is a huge deal. I really need some seat time and instruction on the road course. I've got one partial day under my belt. Car actually felt better on the road course than autocross but I didn't spend much time at full tilt. I've never run with my OWN kind. That's what I look forward to the most.

I'm running that stat and like it so far. I haven't made it back to the track to really punish it but on the street the oil comes up to temp just as fast as it did without the setrab cooler and seems to level off just over the set temp rather than just climbing until I lost my nerve like it did before. The stat has huge flow passages so I din't think there is any really restriction there either. The plumbing is a bit of a pain though.

I don't know if would be able to find a way to incorporate one (but I know that you are more than capable of figuring it out) but the marine 502's used to have a thermostatically controlled oil cooler that sandwiched between the block and the filter. IIRC the thermostat was set at about 220; below that the oil went straight to the filter, above that it went to the cooler first.

My Canton thermostat (the one you reference) works great but is huge - especially once you get 4 -12 lines going through it. Earls makes a much more reasonably packaged t-stat that is just slightly bigger than a deck of cards.

That being said - I don't think that you need one with the water based cooler. But I might be mistaken.