And Penny just keeps on changing...

[Vegas69]

I've spent a bunch of time thinking about radiators and oil coolers and understand completely. You add a AC condensor and it get's more complex. Ron Davis has a big daddy heat exchanger that can be made part of the tank. I've yet to get them to commit to making it work in my car. I like the idea of no t stat and having room for my AC with a stock support. I've got to get it done since my new motor will be done soon and it's time to go racin.

[Steve1968LS2]

Originally Posted by Vegas69

I've spent a bunch of time thinking about radiators and oil coolers and understand completely. You add a AC condensor and it get's more complex. Ron Davis has a big daddy heat exchanger that can be made part of the tank. I've yet to get them to commit to making it work in my car. I like the idea of no t stat and having room for my AC with a stock support. I've got to get it done since my new motor will be done soon and it's time to go racin.

DSE doesn't run a t-stat.. which makes me wonder how necessary it is. My cooling fans are manual so I guess I could flip them off if the oil is running cool. I guess I should talk with Kyle. The no t-stat thing was one of the main reasons for going with the water based cooler.

If I did run a t-stat I'm looking at this one...

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CT...0/?image=large

[Vegas69]

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.

[Bow Tie 67]

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

[Steve1968LS2]

Originally Posted by Bow Tie 67

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

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.

[gmorris]

Originally Posted by Steve1968LS2

DSE doesn't run a t-stat.. which makes me wonder how necessary it is. My cooling fans are manual so I guess I could flip them off if the oil is running cool. I guess I should talk with Kyle. The no t-stat thing was one of the main reasons for going with the water based cooler.

If I did run a t-stat I'm looking at this one...

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CT...0/?image=large

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.

[James OLC]

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.

[Steve1968LS2]

Originally Posted by James OLC

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.

You don't need a t-stat with a water based cooler.. but I will have an air based cooler now.

The size of the Canton isn't a big deal since it will mount on the front of the core support (plenty of room). I don't like the Perma-Cool and Earls t-stats because (to me) they seem too restrictive. I read that the internals are pretty small and the reason the Canton unit is bigger it that is needs to be bigger to pass the right volume of oil.

I spoke with them today and we discussed why thier t-stat is set at 215-degrees while others are set lower (like 200 or even 180). They said they do this so that the temp is over the boiling point of water (212). This way any moisture in the oil will burn off, seemed to make sense.

Anyways, one is on the way, now to order up the Setrab.

[Steve1968LS2]

Originally Posted by gmorris

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.

My oil lines will now run up to the core support where they will attach to bulkheads. After that all the lines to the t-stat, the Setrab, back to the t-stat and to the bulkhead will be hard lines. It should make it all a bit neater. This will keep my engine bay neat and empty and utilize the dead space between my grill and the core support.

[Steve1968LS2]

The core support is fully in now, but there were a couple of issues that found. The nice part is that I spoke with the owner and he's making changes to future kits base on my suggestions. It's nice to see responses like this from companies.

Problem on was that the core support mount sat 3/4 or and inch too high. This means we needed a thicker spacer or a "stepped" mount. Future kits will have a way to step the mount. Not a big deal, but a PITA to fab on the spot.

Problem two was that on the LS style radiator the fill cap should be on the driver's side. In this configuration you would have a hard time running the car with the cap off (to fill, etc) since it would splash from the water pump inlet.

Like I said future ones will be changed. Other than that I love the kit. If you look at the earlier pics I posted you can really see how much bigger the opening is. When I mount my huge Setrab 925 cooler it's only going to shroud a small percent of the radiator and the increased cooling capacity should be really nice to have.

In my case we're going to move the cap ourselves. Here it is with thier optional core support closeout. I think it's pretty sweet looking, but I've gotten use to the DSE version, so we're going to fab it to work.

Also, the Autorad deal gives more clearance between the radiator fans and the water pump, so people would have an easier time with packaging an air induction system.

Here's a shot with their closeout...