S2 Oil cooler in lux valence

[944 man]

Its hard to tell from the pretty rubbish picture... Do you have have an oil temperature gauge (and of so: capillary or electric?)? Without an accurate gauge its hard to say whether the cooler is working - and even if you are seeing lower temperatures, this could only e a result of the extra oil capacity. From the pictures Id be surprised if youre getting a deal of airflow over the core, but I cant really see! []

 

[Peter Empson]

When I had the old front end we cut the back off that duct to get air for the S2 oil cooler, it seemed to work well pretty but we had a larger area of opening than I can see on your picture. It probably still didn't get quite enough air to it, but was better than nothing (when the engine was fitted the garage neglected to think about the lack of air flow to it and the oil temps were much too high on track, as you'd expect).

 

[JamesO]

Yeah sorry about the pic, will sort a better one tomorrow. I have no oil temp gauge presently and I don't really want to fit one if I can get away with it. Will try boxing off the sides and top of the cooler with ali sheet and cutting the valence out further. Thanks guys.

 

[JamesO]

With the current lovely weather, I believe the oil may be getting a little warm in my engine.
After a spirited run on a warm day the oil pressure drops to around 2 bar at idle and it gets a bit 'tappety'.
The engine is a 968 bottom end with new bearings and seals, S2 head which was overhauled apart from the followers which I didn't change, possibly a mistake but not the end of the world to swap out just an extra expense.
The oil cooler I have mounted just below the foglight and drilled the front valance as you can see from the pic, I have also fitted an aluminium bash guard under the cooler.

I'm using mobil semi synthetic 10w40 at the moment, The original engine seemed to like this oil.
Currently I'm not sure weather the oil cooler needs more airflow, I need a different oil or I need to change the tappets.

 

[944 man]

You could consider fabricating a scoop which draws air from under the lower edge of the PU, in addition to the holes in the recess. If youve already made a bash plate, then this could be incorporated into the scoop - drawing air in at the front and becoming a guard directly under the cooler itself. With regards to the gauge: I think that you need one, but I understand your reluctance to chop the trim about. Old cars are easier, but on a series two car you can make a blanking plate to cover the cubby box under the radio (presuming its still fitted), and fit standard size gauges in there. Covered in satin black door pillar trim, itll look virtually OEM, especially if you use VDU gauges. Simon

 

[944 man]

If you can cowl the cooler and direct all over the air from both sources over the core then I think that itll work perfectly well. Dor you have a sheet bender? []

 

[JamesO]

I already have an AFR gauge under the radio so an extra gauge would not be an issue, its more where to fit the sensor that would be the hassle. I don't have a sheet bender, but I do have a large hammer and a vice...

 

[Diver944]

You can buy temp senders that replace the sump plug, or also a variant that fits between the oil filter and its housing

 

[edh]

to elaborate on Paul's post 1. Sump plug - I'd suggest getting a Porsche sump plug drilled & tapped - the plug has a conical profile after the threads that gives a good seal. Aftermarket adapters don't have this bit and will leak (in my experience) 2. Oil filter - very easy to put a sandwich plate under the oil filter - I used the GReddy one. Cheap ones with thin O-rings will leak (again, been there, done that..)

 

[944 man]

ORIGINAL: JamesO I don't have a sheet bender, but I do have a large hammer and a vice...

[]

 

[edh]

one other thing - 2 bar at idle is absolutely fine...

 

[944 man]

Ive been thinking about this James. Im going to suggest fitting a pair of Vauxhall Vectra front 'splitters' (two because one isnt wide enough): and then drilling similar holes in the black extension to those already made in the PU recess. If you can then fabricate a flat bottomed combined cowl and bash plate, I think youll have the job cracked.

 

[JamesO]

Cheers, my AFR unit has an input for exhaust temps so I may see if the k-type exhaust temp sensor will do the job, tapped into the oil drain plug. Not sure about what part of a Vectra you mean but I have cut the PU so the 5 25mm holes I drilled joined up. No photos as my phone is broken, and that's my only digi cam. I made a smallish duct out of 2mm ali plate (nice and thin so if I clout it wont rip the guard off), cut the bash guard so it forces air up from under the car. I'm quite pleased as you can only really see it if you know its there, also roughly half a bar improvement of oil pressure at hot idle after giving it some stick. May even borrow a couple of manometers from work to see if its a nice high pressure part of the car. Annoyingly its still a bit tappity so oil change and maybe new followers

 

[FistsOfHam]

ORIGINAL: edh one other thing - 2 bar at idle is absolutely fine...

I'm glad you said that, I was thinking "mine does that, oh c**k!".

 

[JamesO]

Well, decided I could no longer live with the noisy tappets so I pulled the head apart after work today. I found one tappet slightly squishy, replaced it, put everything back gave it an Itallian tune-up and the engine is now silky smooth, well pleased. 4 hours well spent. I'm still going to fit an oil temp gauge for peace of mind (If I manage not to snap another tap). One slightly worrying thing is that the cam journal at the front of the engine on the inlet cam is quite heavily scored. I had the head re-conditioned before fitting it and one of the jobs the machine shop did was line bore the cam journals due to damage to one of the other journals. Annoyingly I had the work done just over a year ago so not too sure what I will do next, possibly ignore it as its running well.