Oil cooling for track car 911

[turborat]

Can anyone quantify the engine oil cooling improvements by removing the headlight and opening up the back of the bucket and running the car this way? I currently have the Carrera type cooler installed in my '78 SC. It is not enough for warm to hot DEs. I have been given a better finned aluminum cooler to try. The price is certainly right. If I can avoid the $1,200 - $1,500 expense of a front air-dam mounted cooler that would be great as I would need the cooler and the air-dam. It seems that many know about removing the headlight for better cooling, but know one that I have asked has been able to really quantify the improvement. While I wish to be somewhat frugal and spend the money on other things for the car, I do not want to modify the sheet metal in this way if it will be only marginally effective for cooling the oil. Thanks. Paul

[Jack Olsen]

I've got no data. But a key part of this is to block off all the potential air exit points so that the incoming air (wherever it comes from) can only escape through the cooler.

I have coolers in each fender, so I open up both sides on hot days.

[Todd Simpson]

The following changes were worth 25 degrees on my SC. That was just enough to get down to 250 at the track.

-Remove headlight, cutaway most of headlight bucket
-Use Home Depot roof vent

-The square section is cut round to fit inside the headlight bucket and I used 2 of the headlight mounting screws to hold it in place.
-The cone shaped section is then trimmed to route the air right to the cooler with no gaps.
-I then added a 6x4 hole in the lower valence
-Seal the bottom of the fender in front of the cooler so valence air must go through cooler and not around it.

250 isn't cool enough but I sold the car and built a more dedicated track car before trying to get it any cooler.

[turborat]

Some great points here regarding the control of the air. I have removed the clearance lamp housing in the right side of the bumper and the fog lights (car has the carrera valence). It did not make much difference. Sealing it up in there should really help. Thanks

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

How easy is it to reverse those modifications? Is it a "get to the track, pop the headlight out" sort of mod, or a "do it during race prep the week before" sort of mod?

The GF's SC hasn't gotten to high oil temps yet, but it's only a matter of time... And her pushing the motor harder.

--DD

[Jack Olsen]

My mod is a 'right before I go out' thing. One screw to remove the headlight. One to hold the second trim ring with the screen.