Cooling Temps and Oil Pressure for 99 Cobra around California Speedway

[SVECobraR]

Hey guys i'm going to be taking my 99 Cobra to California speedway on August 12th and its going to be a really hot day and i was a bit concerned with my cooling temps.

I have a 185 degree thermostat installed with a canton aluminum coolant reservoir and everything was flushed out and cleaned up last august when i replaced the engine. I've put maybe 500 miles on it since.

Now my question is what temps are considered acceptable around the track as i've noticed around town on a hot day with the A/C on the car can climb up to 210-215. I'm already a bit concerned about those temps considering i put a 185 degree thermostat on.

Also what oil pressure range is considered acceptable. My gauge shows 23psi while idling (when warmed up) and about 70-75psi when on the throttle.

Thanks in advance

Berj

 

[99COBRA2881]

Berj,
Those temps and pressure is acceptable for a dohc on a hot day while being tracked. Do you have an aftermarket water temp gauge installed?

 

[SVECobraR]

Yes i have a speedhut water temp and oil pressure gauge. I know those temps would be acceptable around the track, what worried me is the fact that it got up to those temps while driving around town.

 

[99COBRA2881]

Around town theres not enough airflow through the radiator to cool the engine properly.

At speed around the race track you'll see those same temps pushing the car hard, thats if the cooling system is in good order.

My plan is to box my radiator but I ran out of time so I added a 3" tall rubber flap below the radiator, it lowered water temps 10+° on a 100° day.

 

[SVECobraR]

At what temps should i start worrying and shut her down when i'm on the track.

 

[03 DSG Snake]

170° PERFORMANCE THERMOSTAT for Mustang Shelby GT500, Boss 302, Cobra, Lightning, GT & Mach 1

Order the right thermostat for your car and adjust your fan temps accordingly.

 

[David Hester]

Um.......
Correct thermostat is important....for when water starts circulating-not temperture car runs. I didn't use anything but a flat disc in the A/Sedan car with a 1" hole in the center. I found if you didn't use anything, water didn't seem to stay in the radiator long enough to cool. With the disc, there was some back pressure and car ran cooler. Not sure why 170 would be considered, though. If water boils at 212 F, if you start circulating water too early, you are going to have a harder time getting condensation out of your engine, plus oil isn't going to be warm enough to flow everywhere.
I have been told by more than one engine builder, don't leave paddock till engine temp is 185. I've raced with oil temps up to 240-250 F.
Anything under 210-215F and you still have water vapor everywhere which we know isn't good.

I'm thinking that (240-250F oil) translates to about 215-220 water. Fine with a good radiator cap.

 

[racebronco2]

My thermostat is an 180* unit. My track temps are rarely over 200* (unless outside temps are over 100*) and oil temps are about the same.

 

[99COBRA2881]

I pegged my 250° oil temp gauge last race, now looking for a higher temp range oil temp gauge and Im switching from std oil to mobil1 synthetic for added protection at higher temps.

I had been using std. 5w30 valvoline and dumping it after every race, going to change the mobil synthetic after every other weekend now. Those oil temps were higher than Id seen but it was way hotter than I had ever been on track before too.

 

[David Hester]

Synthetics are a real good idea on track.

 

[SVECobraR]

Ya i run Amsoil 5w-30, Mobil 1 gear oil for the diff and castrol atf mercon 3 for my 3650. I have a gates 180 degree thermostat, is there something wrong with that?

What do you mean by the right thermostat?

 

[racebronco2]

It's not uncommon for the vettes to run around 300* oil temps.

 

[SVECobraR]

Is there any correlation between oil temps and coolant temps? I'm running the stock cooling system for both, although i do have oil filter relocation kit and a canton road race pan and i'm running 9 quarts of 5w-30.

 

[gmsux]

Somewhat, the two temps don't move exactly the same. I find that with the car moving with light to moderate oil temps cool way down while the coolant can be 190*. Coming to a stop the coolant temp is constant but the oil temp goes up. Load obviously changes this picture quite a bit as does ambient temperature. Best thing is to get a temp gauge and know what your setup is doing IMO...

 

[SVECobraR]

Is there a internal oil temp gauge that i can read with my xcal 3. I wanted to add a oil temp gauge but i like the clean look of the sos pod and i didn't want to add the steering column pod as it doesn't look good. The car gets tracked maybe once a year so i thought oil pressure and coolant temp would be more important.

 

[gmsux]

Those two are more important. I don't believe the xcal can read oil temp, not sure about livelink though.

 

[racebronco2]

They cannot read oil temps because there is no sensor for it.

 

[gmsux]

True there is no sensor for oil temp but, the PCM calculate oil temp from a software model that references coolant temp. These values can be modified in PRP. Just not certain if they're accessible to display the calculated oil temp or not. Never bothered since I have a gauge...