Anyone Know If The Attached Is Decorative Or Functional?
 

If I did this right, I've attached two pictures of a finned metal cover that was clamped around the oil filter of my 911.

Since I'm just starting to become familiar with these cars I'm wondering whether this cover is for decoration (ie-people putting chrome valve covers and air cleaners on their engines) or does it serve some functional purpose like help cool the oil flowing through the oil filter due to its finned design?

If it was for aesthetics, I'm going to ditch it when I do my first oil change.

Domhttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1204580202.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1204580223.jpg

supposedly functional...It is supposed to dissapate heat from the oil filter housing.

It is a cool collar. Tons of info (mostly mocking it) on this site.

It may or may not do anything but since you have it and it was free go ahead and use it. It certainly can't hurt.

Both of them...decorative and functional.

Lol

Hi Cool,

Since the oil filter is located inside the closed engine bay, and since the temperature of the inside of the engine bay is about 150 degrees, and the oil that is circulating is about 180 degrees, the delta t of that is only 30 degrees.

Since ambient outside air never exceeds about 100 degrees, if you were to have an auxiliary oil cooler with outside air passing through it, you would have a much better cooling effect than that little device that has no air moving over it. In fact, you would in fact be adding to the temperature rise of the engine compartment due to the fins of that collar (more so than if you just had the oil filter radiating heat into the comparment).

Therefore, I doubt it does very much for lowering the temperature of the oil.

The immutable laws (mostly) of physics says it's not worth purchasing, but if you got it for free, Equality is right, you can't hurt anything by using it.

However, be aware that you have to keep removing and replacing it every time you change your oil filter. Is that bother worth no change to your oil temperature?

The air temperature inside the engine bay is not much higher than ambient temperature when the car's moving - numbers obtained with a temperature probe are documented in the Pelican archives.

True - it is still not very effective. But like the man said, it was free.

Why not put in on eBay for $95 and see what happens....

Sure it's useful. It gives you something to grip when you take off your filter. No more filter wrench or poking a screwdriver through it!

Hey Joe,

Why not just use the $5 filter end cap sold in Pep Boys? But you're right, he could save even that $5, and use the collar to remove.

Net cost - $0.-

Get rid of it.....

Best,

Anyone ever stick one of those around a beer can to see if the beer gets cold quicker in the fridge?

wrap it around a potato, and see if it bakes up faster.

Gee guys, if I had any idea this filter cover was real and so controversial, I would have done a search like I usually try to do rather than start another debate.

I must confess, all things considered, its probably not something I'd go out and buy, but since I have it, I guess I'll keep it and use it.

Thanks

Dom

It may be a little more effective on a car where the oil filter is on the bottom on the engine and is out in the airstream.

On a 911? Nah.

They're pretty much a joke here.

Even assuming that thing could suck up a ton of heat from the oil and then throw it out, on a 911, where would that heat go?!?

Anyone interested can calculate the heat transfer from this device using the information in Kreith's Heat Transfer text.

Answers will be due next Monday.

It worked just fine on my airplane, so quit raggin' it, you know-nothings...

You forgot: "Show your work." :D
-Chris

Free.
Can't hurt (like chicken soup)
MAY actually lower oil temp. AND
Looks "cooler" than a straight old filter wall.
Use it, and practise dropping comments like,"Oh....YOURS doesn't HAVE the Super Jet Portable Oil Heat Removal system???"
This approach will work exceedingly well on the ultra purists (usually driving a Buick) who will happily point out that you have an uneven number of rivets on the brace for the battery box or that your lug nuts aren't tightened symetrically with the faces equally spaced.
I recently offended one such who commented he could NEVER drive a Porsche which had desecrating FERARRI yeller paint on it.
He would really be offended if he discovered Ferarri giallo fly yellow was indistinguishable from Yellow Cab yellow;-).

TO simply remove and discard would be akin to dumping your Barney Knob.

After learning about getting your oil up to temperature and keeping it there for prolonged periods, I'd say you'd be better off without the thing for two reasons:
1. Excessive wear is caused by sluggish / cold oil, and
2. Mayonnaise (acidic compounds and gunky sludge) can apparently build up in your oil if you don't keep the engine at temp for long periods (depending on how many miles you drive it at a time.)

Check out this thread: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/393989-oil-change-80-911sc.html

Let's not forget that there's a thermostat inside the right rear wheel well that only sends oil up to the front cooler / heat exchanger after it reaches about 113 deg F (Bentley 911 Carrera 84-89 Service Manual, pg 170-4). This is so that the oil heats up relatively quickly to reduce wear on engine components.

I've always thought that installing an oil preheater would be a good idea. Owners of small piston airplanes in cold climates use electric & propane preheater blowers for their flat-6 engines. It'll take my car 5 miles or more to stabilize at "operating temperature," and I suspect that over the long haul a good portion of wear within an engine occurs right after startup.

So I would recommend NOT using something that took additional heat out of the oil potentially too soon. How much difference will it make? Probably not much, but then again, we're quibbling over the fun nitty gritty details, right?

One of the few things I remember from heat transfer class is that a beer can in the fridge will cool slightly faster if it is lying on edge, rather that sitting upright...
This time of year, I can just toss one in the snow, and it will be good and snow cold in a few minutes, no cool collar needed.

If I walked by your car and saw that I wouldn't say anything about it but I'd chuckle to myself.

I have one and I like it.

Heat sink
 

A heat sink (or heatsink) is an environment or object that absorbs and dissipates heat from another object using thermal contact (either direct or radiant). Heat sinks are used in a wide range of applications wherever efficient heat dissipation is required; major examples include refrigeration, heat engines and cooling electronic devices.

Everyone is using a heat sink like it or not. The question is does it displace enough heat to help save an engine. On my F250 that pulls a 11k lb. trailer sitting in direct air flow I have seen a decrease in oil temp. On my SC it was null.

I agree with Won- 120-130F in a non air-cooled compartment, with "post" radiator flow into the compartment and no pshielding from engine heat

But for this car... 40-110F max on top of the shroud, and possibly higher after a hard drive

add a couple magnets and then your on to something

I would install it just to issue noogies, without even trying!

The factory tried this .
What about fins around the oil tank? I guess the factory thought of that too , but then again .... they knew what they were doing!

That's a valid point, but I maintain that if the good Dr. had intended us to have 'em then they'd be there already :D. Besides...I'm a firm believer in dropping weight on my fat Carrera pig, so she's been on a diet...that .5 oz hanging on the rear would have been the first thing to go! Besides...it might get your car all out of balance....:p

Does it also add horsepower?