ORIGINAL: Notorious

Are you talking about my previous oil temps? 260 is not at all unusual in an LT1 during sustained, all out use. I've seen guys report up to 300 on the track. I wouldn't do it, I wasn't crazy about hitting 260 or so during all out runs of 10 minutes or so, basically either full throttle or full on the brakes at all times. Although synthetic oil can handle these temps, there's no reason to do it IMO. Oil coolers are not expensive or difficult to add. At the time in question, my engine was still pretty close to stock, only making about 350 HP with a cam upgrade, 1.6 RRs and higher compression pistons being about it. And aside from the EWP, the cooling system was still pretty much unmodified too. Proper PCM tuning has always been maintained for every given mod level. Thankfully I've been able to afford to build this car for probably even more durability than I'll likely ever require. But that's okay because I like overkill. All aspects of the oiling system have been massaged, a 7 qt. road racing pan, the aforementioned watercooled oil cooler, all forged and lightweight bottom end components, ARP internal and head bolts, an ATI Super Damper, true double roller timing set, (which you can add to the LTx engines if you get rid of the mechanically driven water pump) top shelf and reasonably light valve train components and so on. This engine could easily live with frequent bursts of 7000 RPM or more. But with the cam I'm using it makes maximum HP at just under 6000. It's not the baddest NA LTx engine by far, I didn't build it to be. I did build it to make good, reliable and very streetable power and to be very efficient while doing so. I drive it daily and have lots of fun with it. I race it some but nothing too serious. Again, just for fun. I hope it will outlive me and at my age, it just might. And keeping everything cool will go a long way towards insuring that. Apologies to the OP for the direction this thread has taken. But hopefully I've steered it back close to the original subject, cooling these cars and it's importance for a reliable and long life. They just run a little too damned hot as they come from the factory. This was done to maximize good emission levels of course. But for the serious enthusiast, and especially for anyone who plans to fully enjoy the cars potential once in awhile, it's not hard to make little changes that will make a big difference.

ORIGINAL: cwb

Ohmigosh. I can finish Dostoyevsky before I find a tip in there, notorious!!! Thanks tho'...

How/where did you tap into your oil system for routing into the radiator's oil coolant reservoir? By chance, with an oil filter mount?

And when I was wonderin' about previous oil temps, I didn't mean for 'sustained all out' drivin'; just summertime in-traffic, A/C on,drivin'...