Although the oil cooling was much better, I have decided that I want to be able to control the temperature and be able to run tape over the cooler! This means that I need a CTR Developments oil cooler! We make these ourselves but do take quite a time, 5-6 weeks, but there is nothing better. However I needed to make a drawing for the cooler, hence the scribbles on the bodywork! Hopefully I will have it ready in time for the first race…
Another item that fell out of the first test was a slight oil temp problem. The water was fine, but the oil wasn’t! I knew when I made the original ducts that I may have been pushing things a little, but thought it was worth a go. So much so that I already had a plan B mocked up in my head. The revised duct takes all the air from the wheel arch and front diffuser and directs it towards the cooler. Hopefully this will work.
The heat reflective ’stuff’ has a sticky back to it and I assume is up to the task. After sticking it to the airbox as shown before I trimmed it back to suit the curve of the body. It actually looks a little lopsided, but that is because the airbox is not in the centre of the car as its offset from the centre of the engine. Until I realised this I thought that something was drastically wrong!I then used some ally tape to cover the edges and the raised rear section. This actually came out pretty well, yes I know the top edge will get bent around a bit, but I dont think that really matters! I also stuck a small bit of the heat reflective gaff on the underside of the box close to the exhaust.
I have said before I am running an expansion pot in the water system. Below you can see how I have installed the final pot. The flexible pipe connects to an ally pipe inside the pot that extends all the way to the bottom, so that it is always covered in fluid.
OK, So the engine is back in now, but before I refill the oil and coolant systems I thought it would be a good idea to make it much easier to drain. It was possible before, but it was a real pig of a job! This is only really a problem as the car floor is totally covered and access to the pipes etc is a little restricted! First on the list was a drain for the coolant. I decided to make up a ‘T’ piece and have a remote drain pipe.
