Curious, does one need to run an oil cooler when running methanol?
The car will have minimium or no street use, some drag racing and dyno competitions
I'm currently contemplating not running one, your thoughts?

 

Er, something like 30% of the cooling of the rotary engine is done by the oil, so yes I would say you need an oil cooler.

 

Rotors are cooled by the intake stroke and heated by the combustion
Now, the intake is much much cooler with methanol

Oil is only injected into the rotor when the valve mechanism in the eccentric shaft (ball bearing and spring) is activated by the centrifugal force and oil pressure
This occurs at higher engine speeds (above idle speed), not exactly sure when though

 

I'm curious how much experience you have running Methanol on a rotary as to give this answer?

 

You will make more power with an oil cooler and oil temps around 160 170. Cooler rotor face will let a more dense air charge. Do the e shaft jet mod and re route the front mail oil passage with 10 an line.

 

I've decided to not to run one for now
If temps get too high and oil pressure drops too low then I'll definitely get one
I have notice that the drag racers are not using any, so if it's good enough for them than it's good enough for me

Thank you to those who replied

 

None, but I can't see how the intake charge will be enough cooler to be able to make up for the lost cooling of the oil. If it were a truly drag only car that got started, run down the 1/4 and then turned off it might be ok, but he mentioned "minimal" street driving, and getting stuck in traffic even once could be a problem.

 

By minimal I mean down the road and around the block
Oil is only injected into the rotor when the valve mechanism in the eccentric shaft (ball bearing and spring) is activated by the centrifugal force and oil pressure, that's above 2-3000 RPM
So there is no injection in the rotor at idle
If it was a all out drag application then no oil cooler would be the go
As the car will be entered in dyno competitions that's where the worry is
When I get the car initially tuned I will see if it's a problem then if the temps and oil pressures are not where they should be I will effective put one in

 

This sounds like a really interesting test, I would be curious to know how long your motor lasts on the .. errr I mean what the oil temps will be on the dyno.

 

Most drag racers do not use oil coolers
Therefore they are not using oil coolers when tuning is done on the dyno
I will be keeping a close eye on the oil temps
If the temps go in excess of 200 degrees F then I'll have no choice but to get an oil cooler
I also plan to use a thick racing oil - Penrite HPR40

 

Let us know what happens, I'm curious to see if methanol in your application gives you the result you're hoping for.

Good luck!

 

No problem, will be a while yet before my engine is going
Regards