997 GT3 Water/Oil Cooler/Heat Exchanger on a M96/97
 

So I've been reading up on some of the oiling issues on the M96/97 motors, and found that most guys who track their cars regularly see oil temperatures upwards of 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

Obviously, the most popular modification to combat high oil temps is the addition of the third/center radiator, and some vendors have come up with pretty good solutions like BRS's water/oil cooler to air/air oil cooler adapter. Some digging on the Planet9 forums turned up this thread.

Does anyone have any experience with the Vision Motorsports GT3 oil/water cooler adapter on our 997.1s? By my calculations, the GT3 cooler has 65% more capacity than the coolers on our M96/97-engined 997.1s. This should definitely make a difference in keeping temperatures down.

Seems to me like a GT3 cooler, along with a center radiator, deep sump pan and windage tray would pretty much solve all the oil-related problems for us M96/97 guys.

I don't have any experience with the Vision oil cooler upgrade but if one is experiencing oil temps as mentioned in the link then a bigger oil cooler is a very good idea.

Many performance cars (even Porsches) come with barely adequate oil cooling for certain climates and conditions. If you tracked your car or lived in the Southwest I'd certainly put on a bigger oil cooler.

The engine compartment isn't the greatest place for an oil cooler (lousy actually) but I think Porsche justifies its placement there because the engine compartment fan will kick on and draw relatively cooler air into the engine compartment and across the cooler. I believe the M96/M97 oil cooler perhaps works a little differently than a radiator style heat exchanger.

In any case, bigger is better.

OP- The mods you've mentioned are good. As a side note, a good amount of road cars I come across don't have radiators functioning at full efficiency. The road cars have AC condenser cores mounted directly in front of the side radiators. In many cases the fins on cores are closed from road debris which reduces fresh air flow to the rads. Not trying to steer you away from mods but in order to get the most out of the mods make sure the fins are straight.

You're correct, it's even worse when there are no screens to keep debris out of the radiator ducts, as Porsche was wont to do with our cars ...

My first mod to my car will be the center radiator. I've noticed that in an hour of Chicago traffic, my oil temp climbed up to 225°f! And this was with single-digit ambient temperatures!

I have a Bluetooth OBD scanner, and I wasn't able to verify the coolant temperature, but I assume the oil and coolant temperature correlate.

In my old MINI Cooper S, I was seeing coolant temps north of 225° in the same traffic.

The water/oil cooler seems to make the most sense for a semi-daily-driven vehicle in a harsh climate like the Midwest (below zero in the winter and above a hundred in the summer), as a thermostat isn't needed, as in the case of an air/air oil cooler.

Out of curiosity, how would one go about installing the GT3 oil cooler in a 'regular' 997? Seems like it's tucked right back there. Drop the engine? Serious disassembly?

Can be had for ~$330 it looks like if you're interested.

Looks like I'd have to just pull the passenger side intake plenum/manifold, and remove the power steering reservoir.

I have a line on a cheaper backdated GT3 oil cooler ... I just need to save for the adapter at this point.

And find the time to actually do the install myself. That will be difficult!

Is an adapter needed? That planet 9 thread made it sound as if it's a direct bolt on to 997.

Removing the plenum sounds quite tedious!

I don't know. I've been meaning to give Vision a call to see what else I need.

Removing the plenum does sound tough. I imagine you'd need the dexterity and patience of a proctologist to work with the engine in the car, but I have seen it done ...

Hi Carmichael,

Any update on the GT3 oil cooler, I am thinking of the same mod.

Low temp thermostat should reduce the "lag" in cooling system. May not be that obvious in prolonged track use, but more pronounced in daily driving.
Also front inner wheel well liners may or may not have all luvers open depending where car was originally sold. I believe hot climate cars come with all luvers open. That alone increases amount of air flowing through front side rads. A quick, easy and inexpensive mod. I don't have any pics handy, but you'll see it with wheels turned all the way.
A good quality water wetter should also contribute to heat transfer. Motul Mocool comes to my mind.
Good quality racing engine oil to complement the above. You probably know my preference by now. Nano technology reduces internal friction = lower oil temperatures to boot.
Agree with Tom at TPC. Ditch AC if you can.
My 2 cents.
Cheers,
=L=

Unfortunately, no. There seems to be more info on the Planet-9 or 6speedonline forums. I still haven't called Vision yet to ask. It's a Friday, and my bosses are out, so maybe I'll do so during the afternoon.

This looks like a massive PITA to install, too. Maybe when I have the car parked up for the winter, I'll muster up the courage to install one.

After installing the third radiator, though, my oil temps have been better. Not great, but better. On a hot autocross day, I can get my oil temps above 225*f pretty easily. It goes down quickly if I mist the oil cooler and the radiators with water, but I still think I need this.

Carmichael,
Not sure if you are still active on this web site, but I am in the final phase of getting my 987.1 ready for the track this summer. Shortly I will have the car serviced by Cantrell for 3 CSF larger radiators in front and a GT3 oil/water exchanger. I also am having three mechanical analog 2 5/8 inch Autometer oil pressure, oil temp and water temp installed in my dash. These modifications, along with a LN deep sump/windage plate and a Porsche MotorSports AOS should be sufficient to prevent #6 rod bearing scarring. Below are a couple of pictures relating to my build out. The large mechanical gauges should be able to tell me if I am getting foam/air/oil cavitation at the oil pump head, allowing me to reduce the RPM and G forces. My target is to keep the oil temperature below 230 degrees while on the gas and the oil pressure above 60 psi on long high G force left hand corners and threshold braking to rt or left corners.

I am thinking about placement of the gauges so I can see them at a glance without interfering with track activities. Maybe I can order three Sport Chrono shell warts or a triple WRX gauge pad for my gauges and have Cantrell glue them onto the top of the dash? Not a fan of the gauges along the A pillar.


http://timttblog.files.wordpress.com...1/p1040184.jpg

http://csfrace.com/wp-content/upload...1/pic-10-1.jpg

what shop is doing this?

Cantrell Motor Sports in Bellevue, Washington