Another Front Oil Cooler, 76 914 Now Running Much Cooler Options

[pvollma]

I bought my 76 in 2013, and it always ran way too hot in the summer. Cruising at highway speeds would show close to 240, and getting stuck in traffic could get that up to 250. Since it is definitely a fun car, I wasn't too concerned since I could avoid the most trying of drives, but I knew I had to do something eventually.

I once had a 72 914 2.0 that I ran in SCCA GT-3 racing in S. Texas, and the easy solution was to put a small oil cooler in series in each front wheel well, with the turn signals removed for track use to allow great airflow across the coolers. This kept the oil temps down to 200-210, even in the August heat at Texas World Speedway. For a street car, the turn signal trick obviously wouldn't work. Tony at Translog (York, PA) had found a different solution for his race car, by accessing a walled-off area of the front trunk under the headlights:



This seemed like an interesting solution, as the cooler is protected, and air could be ducted to it if necessary. Unlike a lot of the front cooler solutions, this did not involve cutting into the usable trunk space and providing for both an inlet and outlet for the airflow. So, I decided to let him do the same with mine (with just one cooler in the front passenger-side wheel-well - Tony uses two coolers for the race car). The result is something that is working really well for my stock setup:







Today was one of the first this year with ambient temps in the mid to upper 80's, so I took it for a drive, about 10 miles at 70, then another 5-6 at 45, then stop and go for about 4 miles, then back up to 65 for a few miles until getting back to my garage. The max oil temperature while on the highway was about 190, when I got into the stop and go it went up to near 210, then back to about 200 by the time I got home. Before adding the cooler, I would have been well over 210 on the highway, and gotten up to 240 or more in stop and go traffic. I have seen as high as 260 when stuck in traffic for an extended period, which I believe is the stated factory maximum.

Needless to say, I'm very pleased with the results. For colder weather driving, I plan to look into a second thermostat to control oil flow to the front cooler.

[SirAndy]

Now the real question is, why is your engine running so hot?
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[Superhawk996]

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That's what I was wondering especially if OP is in PA. Big bore? Bad engine seals?

Or was it "fixed" by removing the cooling flaps?

[pvollma]

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That's what I was wondering especially if OP is in PA. Big bore? Bad engine seals?

Or was it "fixed" by removing the cooling flaps?

The engine is stock, everything cooling-related is there and appears to be working, 97,000 miles. Oil pressure is now the preferred 10 psi/1000 RPM. Prior to adding the cooler, I would always get the flickering oil pressure light at idle when the engine was hot. In my write-up, I mentioned the extreme times when the oil temp concerned me, such as spirited driving in our hilly and twisting terrain. I see I said that it "always ran too hot in the summer" but that's mostly because when I bought the car it had the stock oil temp gauge and it would normally run near the top of the white area, but stay several needle widths away from the red. Most cars I've driven run with the temp gauge near the middle of the range.

[Carl La Fong]

Is your oil temp. sender and gauge accurate? Do you trust that it is?

[type2man]

The oil light flickering after a few miles usually indicates excess wear in the bearings, or perhaps a low viscosity oil. Adding the cooler is a band aid. I am not a big fan of gauges other than the oil and gen lights. They just make me more nervous. I have an infrared thermometer gauge that I take with me once in a while and check temps once I stop after a long drive. South florida is about as hot as it gets...

[Superhawk996]

The oil light flickering after a few miles usually indicates excess wear in the bearings, or perhaps a low viscosity oil. Adding the cooler is a band aid. I am not a big fan of gauges other than the oil and gen lights. They just make me more nervous. I have an infrared thermometer gauge that I take with me once in a while and check temps once I stop after a long drive. South florida is about as hot as it gets...

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My original 914 just started flickering one day at idle - for apparently no reason. One day it was fine, the next day it wasn't. Time for rebuild. When torn down bearings were worn. Crank was fine. If you're getting flickering at idle with stock set up --REBUILD before you have a catastrophic failure like spun bearings, tear up the crank, and shrapnel the inside of the engine with debris.

As stated oil coolers are likely a band-aid. The other thing is - be sure you aren't lugging it, especially on hills. Rev's are your friend on air cooled to get that fan moving air and to get the oil pump pumping more oil. These engines are called air cooled but they depend equally as much on oil cooling and the oil pump has to be pumping oil to do that.

The other thing is the stock gauge red zone starts at something like 160F if I recall (don't quote me on this - please look it up) and there were two version that had slightly different red zones. So if I recall correctly, running on edge of Red shouldn't be alarming. Not all gauges run at mid point. Well at least my Tach and fuel gauge don't. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lol-2.gif)

I drove my original (after rebuild) at high speeds in FL with hot temps - no overheating as stated above.

[SirAndy]

... there were two version that had slightly different red zones ...

If i recall correctly, Porsche changed to a different gauge with a smaller red zone after too many people complained about their cars running hot.
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[brant]

cutting the front corners out would concern me for unit body strength
was any bracing added back to replace the strength?
the front torsion bar mounts don't have a lot of metal in the front trunk to reinforce them.

I added a brace bar between the 2 mounts out of concern on my car.
brant

[Spoke]

The installation looks really clean. Nice job.

[saigon71]

The installation looks really clean. Nice job.

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Hard to go wrong with running cooler. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[thelogo]

Funny how you speak of temp swing of
30/50 deg .on a guage with no numbers
Or vague numbers .


I actually like the wheel well oil cooler
More race style imo

But im not a mechanic and my big /4
Has a external cooler under the rear trunk
( cruise night style)
No gauge just stock oil light

But fan kicks on when things get hot (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif)




What oil you running btw ?

[Spoke]

But fan kicks on when things get hot

A fan is a good addition to keep things cool.

I just put a fan on the wheel well oil cooler of my 930. It makes a world of difference with keeping the oil temps lower. When the engine is warm and the fan is on, the amount of heat being removed is amazing.

The wheel well oil cooler in the 911 couldn't have been put in a more remote location wrt airflow. The horns are in the way on the bottom side and the headlight bucket almost completely blocks the top part of the cooler where the fan is not.

[pvollma]

Funny how you speak of temp swing of
30/50 deg .on a guage with no numbers
Or vague numbers .

What oil you running btw ?

The car had the stock oil temp gauge in the center console when I bought it. I replaced that a few years ago with a VDO 120-300 degree gauge. Oil is Swepco 15w-40, but I've tried other brands and weights with similar results.

[pvollma]

cutting the front corners out would concern me for unit body strength
was any bracing added back to replace the strength?

brant

The corner was cut, reshaped to accommodate the cooler, and then re-welded in the new configuration, so I suspect there was minimal change in strength.

[pvollma]

We had the car up in the air today and I discovered that there is actually an unintended air inlet for the cooler:





I am assuming that is a stock opening in the 76 front bumper.