Race engine cooling

[Baked Beetle]

Hey everyone,

i'm getting into racing this year and have a few questions,

on my motor I'm running jaycee external bypass system with pressure feed line on the main bearing galley.

My main question is does everyone who's not using a stock shroud/alt setup run an oil cooler and fan or just block off plate on stock cooler location?

I have no idea how hot oil gets after a run or 2 with having an external cylinder cooling setup going during a run and return drive.

I'm thinking of a Y pipe from a fan, mounted inside going to modified cylinder head tin


Thanks for advice all, any help is very appreciated.

Here is motor 84x92 11:1 fk8 mag plus 044 42/37.5 44 webers with funny stacks for show Built 2 days ago.



Said car

[Baked Beetle]

Okay so i'm running a oil cooler and fan now. 

I thought it sounded dumb in my head but...

[Fiatdude]

If u keep racing in the snow cooling shouldn't be a problem

A lot of guys run no cooling and just put a fan on it between rounds -- that is for race only -- of course if you get into a hot lap situation then it could get hairy -- You have to run your car and see what happens -- How hot does it get and how long does it take to cool down -- Of course, it also depends on how fast your car is going to be too -- I say just leave the tin and alternator on it and run it.

[Mike Lawless]

We've never ran any oil cooler at all since we decided to remove the cooling tin. Overall on a normal day, (when we were still running gasoline) cooling has not been an issue with no tin, even on the hottest of days. I would check the crank temp (hand held pyrometer with a probe) after a run, and it rarely got above 175°F. I would either leave it with the decklid open till the temp came back down, or run a blower fan on it. It would actually cool faster than it did when it had full cooling tin on.

We did have one event in 2009 where had I not been running methanol, it would have burnt the motor up. Four rounds of racing back to back, less than 15 minutes between rounds.

For the most part these days since the switch to methanol, it's been more of a problem getting heat INTO the motor

[Baked Beetle]

thanks for the insight fiatdude, it doesn't snow all the time here, i plan on racing in the spring/summer

Mike, good info also. On a normal Tnt night I might get 3 runs in within 1.5 hrs usually a good break in between. I have a decklid with vents in it that will be mocked up to stand-off, as well as the blower fan I dea I like.

I'm really trying to make this engine 'look' oldschool as opposed to putting on my gb linkage and 36hp fanshroud.

BUT.. at the same time it makes the most sense.

Mike, do you think the shroud & cylinder tins with alt and fan could be sufficient with no oil cooler?

Then cooling and charging is all bundled into one and no real fuss.



thx a lot! 

[Mike Lawless]

On a race only deal, the thing I don't like about the full tin is that it holds the heat in and you can't cool it between rounds as effectively. A lot of guys run that way though

[kingsburgphil]

On a race only deal, the thing I don't like about the full tin is that it holds the heat in and you can't cool it between rounds as effectively. A lot of guys run that way though

Back in my VW dealer days, we cooled hot engines with a 110v ducted fan(s) that mated with the sled tins.  15 mins. and you could adjust the valves, enough time to change the points and plugs. 

[Fiatdude]

On a race only deal, the thing I don't like about the full tin is that it holds the heat in and you can't cool it between rounds as effectively. A lot of guys run that way though

Back in my VW dealer days, we cooled hot engines with a 110v ducted fan(s) that mated with the sled tins.  15 mins. and you could adjust the valves, enough time to change the points and plugs. 

They had electricity back then???