My friend's looking to start running his 96 TA with a forged 355 w/6# Vortech non-intercooled at some road racing events. What should be monitored to give him feedback when he should back out of it and run some cool down laps...oil temp, exhaust temp, IAT?

 

oil temp.

 

Thanks for the reply. Any thoughts of what max temp of the oil should be?

 

OBE1 95Z28:
Engine oil temp should be about 30 degrees hotter than coolant temp.

I would venture a guess that 230F would be plenty hot. I would think if you were much above that, an oil cooler would be needed.

Of course, a synthetic will be your best bet.

-Scott.

 

The Vortech being oil fed will pick up heat from the gear train and charge air under heavy use and return that to the sump, increasing oil temperture over a period of time. Being that the unit is being road raced you can assume it will be making boost during most of the time on track. I think it would be reasonable to expect a 25-40 degree increase in oil temp if it were uncooled over a 30 minute session. Higher of course if the boost is really cranked up and loading the blower hard. Air temps usually increase about 10 deg per psi.
I would plumb a Corvette style oil cooler that sandwiches between the oil filter and the block for minimum protection or consider an external cooler.


For mineral based oil try to keep it under 250 deg.

 

Thanks guys! I agree a synethic oil is the only way to go.

 

I campaign a GT-1 car so I do have some idea of what runs around the SCCA road race circle. What class do you plan to run? The F bodies I have seen run A/S, which does not allow built motors, let alone a power adder. If you are looking to race in the parking lot, the rules may be different, but if you want to race on the race track I would suggest buying an A/S car and going from there. Some of the guys run C5s in T-1 with those Phoenix cars, and I have talked to guys who spend 40k on motors that pass as stock.

PS road racing is very, very expensive.

 

You should really stop by some SCCA club races and poke your head into the pits of some a/s cars. You will need to monitor temps for sure.

If you pursue this endeavor you will soon find every weak link in your chain. Remember to tighten every nut and bolt on the car every time it runs, change all the fluids every weekend, send EVERY moving part off to it's manufacturer every year for a checkup, replace the tires every weekend, and keep your car compliant with the constantly changing SCCA rulebook.

This week I am building a third set of wing mounts for our car because the *** holes at scca can't decide how far the wing should be from the rear of the body. The ones we ran last year had it even with the back of the body but the wise ones at scca have changed their minds twice in the last few months about where the wing should be mounted. I'm also trying to figure out how to remove the weight we were penalized last year for running an SB2 because they decided to reduce the penalty this year.

Are all sanctioning body administrators this arbitrary and inconsiderate?

 

I race in the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Racing Series... and yes, they're all that way We have plenty of officials that seem to interpret the rule book differently every week, and get their head and their *** mixed up on a ruitine basis.

 

He's not planning to race, just going out to "play" at an open track event at Willow Springs.

 

Tell him to get an ATI. "They know what the hell they're doing!"

 

hey obe1, he ought to make his way up to buttonwillow too. ive never been to willow but i did get a chance to go to buttonwillow with green flag driving association. it was a lot of fun.

 

It's disgusting to spend the whole winter working on the car to get it compliant with whatever arbitrary rule changes the powers-that-be have made over the winter. What really gets me upset is that the officials I have talked to give me differing opinions about the interpretations of the application of these rules. Ask three SCCA officials, get three different opinions.

I had to remake the entire radiator clip to incorporate a new rule that moved the tow location from the right side of the roof to the nose of the car. That was about a 20 hour project that involved remaking radiator hoses, metal framework, new radiator with mounts, etc etc etc.

Incidentally, I discovered that if we cut off the top inch or so of the wing mounts we used two years ago and turned them backwards (so they point towards the front of the car) and move the holes towards the rear, we were compliant. Of course it looks absolutely retarded.

No sooner had I done that (and ruined the mounts in the event that they revert to the 04 rules) spoke to somebody at the Topeka headquarters and decided that it needed to be moved.

On the original subject, I can tell you that if the car has a blower it is doubtful it will be competitive in any scca class.

 

I hear that...