If anyone remembers I had extremely high oil temps in a few laps. I purchased this:

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku


Hope the link works. Anyhow I ran all -12an lines and had the shop do a custom duct work. This duct work takes a 1 inch drop below the bumper line so that I have a separate air source rather then use the stock holes that is being blocked by my greddy FMIC. They did not install my oil thermostat since they said it was another part to fail and rotaries need all the cooling they can. I took the car out yesterday (I live in canada. It was 5°C out) and doing a 15psi run up to 200km the oil temps actually dropped right to 100°F. Is this bad? I taped the duct work and the temps during cruise went to 210°F. Removing the tape it started to drop pretty fast just sitting on the side of the road. Looks like the air being pushed from the coolant fan flows enough air with the car sitting still! Driving it just a few hundred feet the temps dropped below 150°F.

The car takes forever to heat up now. I normally drive the car like a scared girl the first 15mins to let things heat up anyhow but how bad is it driving the snot out of a car that barely heats past 125°F? (Car is a weekend driver during the summer only)

I can't wait to see what this thing will do during the summer on the track!!

Anyhow took a few quick snaps. Not very clear but you get the general idea.

Any input??

 

Big Jim from Racing Beat (owner and lead engineer) highly recommends that you do NOT get on a rotary with oil temps below 150F. I'm pretty sure that he means that max load with oil temps below 150F could cause damage to engine bearings. In the middle of summer you should be great with your setup for tracking, but in the winter I would block off at least part of your improved cooling to try and keep your oil temps at least above the 150F range. Looks like a great setup. You'll also notice a slight decrease in engine coolant temps due to the improved oil cooling.

Best of luck, and Merry Christmas!

 

Do you have a thermostat plumbed in?

 

I've noticed cooler intake and colder engine bay for sure. When I picked up the car diving for 40mins the engine bay was cool to touch. Like you said the coolant temps are awesome. I'm sure the thermostate didn't even open Mind you it was alot cooler outside but still usually even my ignition coils were extremely hot to touch. I can't wait for summer to see if it actually works. Gonna tidy up a few things on it over the winter.

Thanks,
Merry Christmas to you as well!

 

Nope. The aftermarket Termostate is sitting in my tool box. It was recommended against putting it in by a rotary shop that has been in business forever. Raced rx3's back in the day etc........... I am running motul synthetic now.

 

Put it in. Oil needs to be at normal operating temps not just for expansion rates as mentioned, but to burn off impurities like water/gas etc...

Merry Xmas!

 

In racing applications, I would also recommend not using (i.e. you don't want it to stick closed during a race). However, if your car is not a dedicated race car, I would recommend installing it.