hi people im building my car at the moment and am aiming for the 450 mark,now is a oil cooler a good mod to add to the car or is it a pointless one.
its a sti8 bottom end ect so still a 2.0ltr i have been offered a oil cooler but not sure if its needed so thought i would ask on here...

 

I've just fitted a Mocal cooler to my 05 STi, with a similar output to your target.

I have never seen high enough temperatures with normal (quick) road driving to need a cooler, but I did a trackday at Bedford a little while ago and could only do 3 or four laps before the oil temps hit 120 - hence the cooler.

I wouldn't say it's a waste of time to have one, but if you don't intend doing t/days I would wait and see if you need one before you take the plunge.

 

since fitting my fmic the oil temp has risen to 95ish on normal driving,so track driving will see it even higher, so im considering one in the future

 

For road use you dont. Also remeber that the oil takes a little while longer to warm up with oil coolers.

 

Could that have something to do with the cooling effect?

 

Running 450 and using it on track you will certainly need a decent oil cooler.

Road use you wont.

 

I won't be usein it on the track most of the driving will Be one the road
With the very odd occasion of the 1/4 mile but that will be very rare

 

As above probably not for road use on a 2.0

But then again, having one when you don't need it most of the time certainly won't kill your engine, not having one when you do need it most likely will!

PS When you say STi 8 bottom end, you do mean with forged internals don't you?

 

there is no set rule just because 'its a road car' means nothing, mine suffered from high oil temps, on hot days would hit 105 easy on a spirited drive and motorway driving, peaking at 110 before i backed off.

at 450 i would expect temps to be running quite high, there not mega expensive for a decent kit in the grand scheme so IMO worth getting. Oil temps are a critical to keep under control.

Make sure its thermostaticly controlled it and then it wont even have issues with too cold either, that way there is zero chance of it damaging your engine.

p.s. my car has now done another 25k miles over past several years and is still going strong, touch wood (pats head lol)

 

Agree with tidgy, the car occasionally needing it and not having it, is alot worse than having it but rarely needing it!

And if its got a thermostatic sandwich plate, theres no reason not to have it.

 

As above. Get a oil cooler and a thermostatic sandwich plate and you wont have any problems. It's a good thing to have the oil temp under control. I got 2 small 16row coolers behind the grill. They difference in highway cruiesing temps is noticible. Without any coolers the temp hits about 92-93 celcius and with the coolers I have about 82-84 Celsius. Ambient tempature being about 20-24 Celsius. I just barley get over 100 Celsius on a trackday. (320hp, 266whp type r)