P/S~Oil Cooler question
 

This one of those points where I say..."Might as well". In sorting out my raw water pumps for my twin SBC's I face the fact that I have power steering pump and cooler for the starboard engine and nothing for the port engine. So if I put an oil cooler on each engine I would think that the best way to arrange this would be to have the P/S and oil cooler on the suction side of the raw water pump on the starboard engine and an oil cooler only in the suction line of the port engine. I am thinking that this will cause the starboard engine to run hotter than the port engine due to the added P/S cooler. I suppose I could use a tandem cooler on the starboard engine and a single on the port engine. I don't think I would need a thermostat for the coolers because my water temperature is stable between 75*~88* year round.

Does this make sense? Or should I abandon the idea of having an oil cooler on SBC's anyway? I have seen them on BBC's but not on SBC's.

Mr. Fixall and others jump in here with any ideas on this. I am open to suggestions.

Wow...63 reads and I don't even hear crickets.:evilb:

If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Too many times we as men tend to overthink things. Trying to re-invent the wheel will most times end up with us going back to the original design after much trial and error.

Secondly, BBC will have a raw water pump, oil coolers go after the pumps on the pressure side before the engine cooling. Placing anything on the suction side would restrict the intake flow of water to the pump, not good. Besides, what pumps are you refering to on the SBC's?

This is just my 2cts worth and I'm no expert!

Here is my experience with this.

I was thinking of adding an oil cooler to my sbc but wanted to see what the temps were first. With a water temp of about 60, my oil was running 185 at a cruise of 3000-3500. Going wide open for a minute or so it was about 210-215. This was taken at the pan. Block water was 140 at cruise. With these readings I didn't see the need for an oil cooler.

I think if you put on an oil cooler you will need a thermostat or the oil may never get up to temp.

With the high flow of cooling water, I don't think the PS cooler will make a difference on the oil cooler.

It seems that BBC oil temps get out of control much easier than the SBs

I am surprised your oil temps are so low. I have small blocks (6.2s) in my Fountain. With combo 9" oil/power steering coolers I run up to 240 at WOT and between 190 - 220 cruising. This is with 160 thermostats. I'm thinking of trying the same brand of combo cooler in their 12" model to see how much it lowers the oil temp. I know 240 is not too hot for full synthetic oil. I'm just surprised your boat runs so much cooler. Your temps are about perfect now IMO.

I was surprised they were that low too. Maybe the 140 thermostat helps keep the oil a little cooler.

I also assume that if after a minute or so at WOT it got to 210, then it would probably keep climbing if I ran it hard for long periods, but not sure how high. I'm running mobil 1 and although I don't baby the boat, I am not a guy that goes out and runs wide open for an hour straight. Since thats my situation I decided I didn't need a cooler.

Mr. Sprink;
With a lot thought, I'm going to try
running my sbc w/out oil cooler Same water temps as you.
Rory