wstar's Journal

wstar · 07-02-2009, 10:03 AM

Actually I'm not going to do a DIY on the oil cooler. For one, I didn't get enough pics since my camera screen died early in that process. But also, RCZ already has plenty of pics, and the Stillen instructions do a decent job of telling you what to do. I'm just going to make some notes and addendums, some of which might only make sense when you've got the parts in front of you and you've read the instructions already:

First, here's the pics in RCZ's thread of his install. Note that he moved the power steering cooler off to the side, whereas the Stillen instructions leave it behind the oil cooler, which is what I did (because I may install other cooler kits from them on the other side later, like the 7AT one):

RCZ's oil cooler install pics

As far as oil hose routing goes, my path (after consulting with Stillen for clarification, as the instructions give only vague details from another car that don't work for us) is very similar to RCZ's. Like his, I used the 45 degree connectors at the sandwich plate and the 90 degree connectors at the cooler, facing "backwards". The only difference at the oil filter side is that I rotated the sandwich plate so that the hose connections are more towards the front of the car instead of directly below the filter, to make filter access easier. At the cooler side, with the power steering cooler relocated behind the oil cooler per the standard Stillen setup, the far line needs to go in front of the vertical bar that runs down the center of this area, rather than behind it. This keeps it from hitting the PS cooler.

Re: relocating the PS cooler (one of the first things you do once the bumper is off), be sure to buy a quart or two of replacement fluid before you start, as you will lose a ton of PS fluid while you're extending the lines. The Service Manual indicates either a Nissan-branded PS fluid, or Dexron VI ATF (auto trans fluid), which is what I used.

And in case it isn't obvious (eventually) from the parts provided and the instructions, you want to re-use the little black rubber grommets from the factory PS cooler mounts inside of the padded clamps provided by Stillen. You need to use the self-tapping screw (with a spacer) for the bottom/left mounting point, and you need to drill a hole in that vertical peice of metal and use the long M6 screw + nut from the kit for the other mountpoint. Be sure to put some wood in front of the radiator when you drill this hole, as the drill is likely to jump through and try to drill your radiator too

Also, it helps to buy a bunch of extra rubber hose (and slit it), or something of the sort, and lots of extra zipties, and use these supplies to insulate the oil cooler lines anywhere they come near a peice of metal, or even might under vibration and G-forces. Be especially sure to shield them where they come near the metal power steering lines, as the braided lines can eat through those power steering lines if they rub on them.

The final and most perplexing thing I ran into: When I first started the car after refilling the oil (you do this in stages btw, as descibed a few posts above, as the lines/cooler fill up), there was a chattering noise coming from the engine.

I initially thought this was some valvetrain chatter from lack of oil while the cooler filled up, which would go away quickly. It didn't go away quickly, even after the oil system was fully filled and pressurized and seemed to be working ok otherwise, and even after letting the engine warm up fully. I was really scared that I had done something dumb, like somehow managed to cause an oiling problem up top (who knows, like, maybe some small something fell into an oil hose while I was working, then shot up into the oil system and blocked an oil passage? Your mind thinks of all kinds of horrible scenarios at this point).

Turns out the noise wasn't coming from the engine at all. It was coming from the power steering pump. When you relocate the PS cooler and thus drain and refill most of the PS fluid, it leaves air in the system, which causes the PS pump to make awful chattering noises. There's a procedure in the Service Manual for this.

What it basically boils down to: with the engine off (but key "ON" to unlock steering wheel), turn the wheel all the way to the left and hold 3 seconds, then all the way right and hold 3 seconds, then back to the center. Top off fluid if necessary. Start engine, and redo the above procedure with the engine on. Now the chattering is gone and you're very relieved

wstar · 07-02-2009, 12:24 PM

Got a better test drive in this morning by the way, with a little more confidence and more aggressive driving. It's really hot out, but it was only a short drive so nothing definitive on oil temps yet. I will say it takes for-freaking-ever to warm up the oil from overnight cold now. I waited till it got to 150 before pulling out of the garage. It got to about 160 in the mile to the gas station. left it running, was 165 when I came back out 5 minutes later. Then I went ahead and went all out for the two miles on the way home. It peaked at 190, and took its sweet time getting there. I suspect on a longer and harder drive it will get considerably higher than that, but it's a good sign and a good start

wstar · 07-02-2009, 01:47 PM

More mini-updates:

Did some more driving today, in the just-after-noon super-heat. Ambient temp was 104 rolling (not parked). Got some good aggressive driving in, although not to the level of the torture tests I did pre-cooler to hit 260. Oil temp peaked at 220, and was generally very "stable" as predicted. It moves up very slowly, unlike before where running through 1-2 gears at WOT would cause visible fast movement of the needle. Given the deadly heat today, I think it performed admirably.

I'm noticing my 7AT overheating more now too. Usually the engine would get up in the 240-250 range first, causing me to back off of the hard shifting, and then I wouldn't notice the 7AT so much. After the engine sat at 220 for a while with me still driving aggressive, the 7AT started getting soft on downshifts, which I've taken to be an indicator of very hot fluid. I guess a transmission cooler is in order next

Also, I forgot to turn my radar detector back on from when I was working in the garage the past few days. As a result, I got an insultingly low 80 in a 65 ticket from a motorcycle cop on the way home when I was just cruising lazily in freeway traffic. I had no idea he was there until it was too late with the V1 off. He was pretty nice about it though, just wanted to churn out that ticket and move on, no big hassles. So now I have my first Z ticket, probably the first of many

I should be good to wipe this one out with defensive driving anyways.

semtex · 07-02-2009, 01:53 PM

Congrats on getting your first Z ticket?

Just kidding. Hope it isn't too expensive.

wstar · 07-02-2009, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by semtex

Congrats on getting your first Z ticket?

Just kidding. Hope it isn't too expensive.

Thanks, I think. It'll probably be $40 in court costs and then whatever it costs to take some cheesy online defensive driving course. It's more of a pain in the *** than anything.

wstar · 07-02-2009, 05:10 PM

Just more tiny status updates, another long-ish drive, another 220 peak, which quickly went back down to 200 cruising in 7th in traffic on the highway. God I love having a cooler on this car now.

Back to brakes stuff: I identified my leak, it's the flare connection where the hard line interfaces the braided cable for the right front brake. Like I said, I hate those things (brake line flare connections), I seem to have a habit of over-torquing them and ruining them, my record is 2 ruined out of 8 tightened on two cars

I'm actually going to skip the ******** of trying to remake the flare on the existing line with the special tools. Instead a local Nissan dealer is overnighting me a replacement hard line to pick up tomorrow for $35 shipped. Can't beat that.

theDreamer · 07-07-2009, 09:56 PM

wstar, how are the sways after some more travel time?

wstar · 07-08-2009, 07:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theDreamer

wstar, how are the sways after some more travel time?

The sways are still doing great, my (good) opinion of them hasn't changed, but I'm not driving many miles the past week or so, and taking it real easy in the car. Real testing of everything else lately (oil temps, brakes) is still held up because that brake line the dealer was getting "overnighted" for me on Thursday last week still isn't here

. Supposedly it's really going to arrive today, then I can fix the brake leak, rebleed everything, trust my brakes again, and then drive aggressively enough to test the oil temps for real

wstar · 07-08-2009, 05:21 PM

The replacement hard line is finally in my garage now, and I picked up some M10x1.0 hardware to temporarily plug the brake system while I'm replacing the line so I don't lose more fluid than necessary and make a total mess. Should all come together tonight. It's going to be a bit of a pain in the ***, since the hard line runs from the passenger wheel well (where it hooks up to the braided line) all the way back over by the brake reservoir in front of the driver, requiring the removal of the strut tower brace and all of the hardware under the edge of the windshield to access it at the very least.

miguez · 07-08-2009, 08:40 PM

Good luck wstar, sounds like a lot of work!

wstar · 07-09-2009, 12:43 AM

Ugh, it is. They clearly never meant for these brake lines to replaced without first draining and removing the refrigerant lines for the A/C that run above them behind the engine. Keep in mind this is like 6 feet of hard brake line in a very weird twisted shape. I managed to get it in there anyways, but it took a lot of very careful finagling and very slight bending of the tube to get it into place. The other easier stuff that I did take off to get access was the windshield wipers, the strut tower brace, all of the upper plastic crap (battery/brake/lower windshield area), and the right upper intake tube.

Anyways, it appears I've fixed my leak, and so therefore the cause most likely was that I over-torqued that one flare connection. At the very least, I can't induce the new connections to leak cramming my foot down on the pedal as hard as I can repeatedly with the car off. Obviously I need to recheck w/ the ABS and power assist up and running later. I bled this one wheel a bunch to try to remove the bulk of the added air from replacing the hard line. Tomorrow I'll reassemble all the little stuff I had to remove today to put the line in, and do a proper 4-wheel bleed in the right order (I have enough speed bleeders for the whole car now), and then hopefully all this brake stuff will be behind me

wstar · 07-10-2009, 11:01 AM

Brakes: Yes, the leak appears to be gone. I've done about a hundred miles of driving or so now on the new brake setup, starting to trust them again now. With all of the brake line work that happened (especially replacing that right front hard line), one bleed/flush wasn't enough though. It's going to be one of those things where you bleed as good as you can, drive it and use the brakes a bunch to knock the air bubbles around, bleed again a day or two later, etc. Right now I can tell there's still air in the system but it's getting better, the pedal feel is basically back close to stock now. Will order more Motul and bleed again next week.

Oil cooler: The oil cooling from the Stillen cooler kit + the AAM spacer is really pretty phenomenal. Oil temps now change very slowly. Cruising on the highway in 7th gear (regardless of wheel speed, because the revs from more speed are offset by the increased airflow) brings the oil to about 190-195 and stays there, even if you started out higher from aggressive small street stuff.

I still haven't managed to break 220 yet at all, and I've done some reasonably aggressive sprinting and cornering stuff now. I bet I could get it to perhaps 235 if I tried pretty hard, but I don't generally sustain aggressive driving on the street long enough to go any higher I don't think. Maybe at a track in the future we'll see how it does under really sustained hard driving.

My only complaint now is the warm-up time. My routine now for my first drive of the day is basically to start the car, get back out and have a cigarette, maybe clean up some things around the garage, etc. It takes about 12 minutes sitting there if I wait until the oil temp gauge bumps up to 150. I usually don't wait quite that long. But either way I wait until 160 to start getting on it a little, and 180 before any WOT and/or high rpm driving. On a short trip it may not even get there. I'll be swapping out the sandwich plate for a thermostatic one at my next oil change to help remedy this.

semtex · 07-10-2009, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wstar

Brakes: Yes, the leak appears to be gone. I've done about a hundred miles of driving or so now on the new brake setup, starting to trust them again now. With all of the brake line work that happened (especially replacing that right front hard line), one bleed/flush wasn't enough though. It's going to be one of those things where you bleed as good as you can, drive it and use the brakes a bunch to knock the air bubbles around, bleed again a day or two later, etc. Right now I can tell there's still air in the system but it's getting better, the pedal feel is basically back close to stock now. Will order more Motul and bleed again next week.

Oil cooler: The oil cooling from the Stillen cooler kit + the AAM spacer is really pretty phenomenal. Oil temps now change very slowly. Cruising on the highway in 7th gear (regardless of wheel speed, because the revs from more speed are offset by the increased airflow) brings the oil to about 190-195 and stays there, even if you started out higher from aggressive small street stuff.

I still haven't managed to break 220 yet at all, and I've done some reasonably aggressive sprinting and cornering stuff now. I bet I could get it to perhaps 235 if I tried pretty hard, but I don't generally sustain aggressive driving on the street long enough to go any higher I don't think. Maybe at a track in the future we'll see how it does under really sustained hard driving.

My only complaint now is the warm-up time. My routine now for my first drive of the day is basically to start the car, get back out and have a cigarette, maybe clean up some things around the garage, etc. It takes about 12 minutes sitting there if I wait until the oil temp gauge bumps up to 150. I usually don't wait quite that long. But either way I wait until 160 to start getting on it a little, and 180 before any WOT and/or high rpm driving. On a short trip it may not even get there. I'll be swapping out the sandwich plate for a thermostatic one at my next oil change to help remedy this.

Where are you getting the thermostatic sandwich plate from? I haven't installed my oil cooler yet, but I'm also concerned about warm-up time. I figure I may as well install it with the thermo plate from the get-go. Got a link or anything?

wstar · 07-10-2009, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by semtex

Where are you getting the thermostatic sandwich plate from? I haven't installed my oil cooler yet, but I'm also concerned about warm-up time. I figure I may as well install it with the thermo plate from the get-go. Got a link or anything?

Well Stillen may be offering one with their supposedly upcoming upgraded oil cooler stuff, in which case I may order whatever they're using from them. If you search for "sandwich" here: BAT - MOCAL Oil Control Systems there's a link to a PDF with Mocal's thermo plates too, but I'd need to figure out the AN connector thing for that (either move over the 45's from the exist Stillen one assuming the same threads on the other side, or get some new 45's). I'm kinda waiting to see what Stillen does mostly.

semtex · 07-10-2009, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wstar

Well Stillen may be offering one with their supposedly upcoming upgraded oil cooler stuff, in which case I may order whatever they're using from them. If you search for "sandwich" here: BAT - MOCAL Oil Control Systems there's a link to a PDF with Mocal's thermo plates too, but I'd need to figure out the AN connector thing for that (either move over the 45's from the exist Stillen one assuming the same threads on the other side, or get some new 45's). I'm kinda waiting to see what Stillen does mostly.

Yeah, I'm waiting for Stillen too. Luckily I don't drive very far, so it's still a month or two before my next oil change (which is when I'll put the cooler on). I was giving Josh a hard time, telling him that it took less time for them to develop a CBE than it's taking them to finalize their upgraded oil cooler. lol

07-02-2009, 10:03 AM	#211 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Actually I'm not going to do a DIY on the oil cooler. For one, I didn't get enough pics since my camera screen died early in that process. But also, RCZ already has plenty of pics, and the Stillen instructions do a decent job of telling you what to do. I'm just going to make some notes and addendums, some of which might only make sense when you've got the parts in front of you and you've read the instructions already: First, here's the pics in RCZ's thread of his install. Note that he moved the power steering cooler off to the side, whereas the Stillen instructions leave it behind the oil cooler, which is what I did (because I may install other cooler kits from them on the other side later, like the 7AT one): RCZ's oil cooler install pics As far as oil hose routing goes, my path (after consulting with Stillen for clarification, as the instructions give only vague details from another car that don't work for us) is very similar to RCZ's. Like his, I used the 45 degree connectors at the sandwich plate and the 90 degree connectors at the cooler, facing "backwards". The only difference at the oil filter side is that I rotated the sandwich plate so that the hose connections are more towards the front of the car instead of directly below the filter, to make filter access easier. At the cooler side, with the power steering cooler relocated behind the oil cooler per the standard Stillen setup, the far line needs to go in front of the vertical bar that runs down the center of this area, rather than behind it. This keeps it from hitting the PS cooler. Re: relocating the PS cooler (one of the first things you do once the bumper is off), be sure to buy a quart or two of replacement fluid before you start, as you will lose a ton of PS fluid while you're extending the lines. The Service Manual indicates either a Nissan-branded PS fluid, or Dexron VI ATF (auto trans fluid), which is what I used. And in case it isn't obvious (eventually) from the parts provided and the instructions, you want to re-use the little black rubber grommets from the factory PS cooler mounts inside of the padded clamps provided by Stillen. You need to use the self-tapping screw (with a spacer) for the bottom/left mounting point, and you need to drill a hole in that vertical peice of metal and use the long M6 screw + nut from the kit for the other mountpoint. Be sure to put some wood in front of the radiator when you drill this hole, as the drill is likely to jump through and try to drill your radiator too Also, it helps to buy a bunch of extra rubber hose (and slit it), or something of the sort, and lots of extra zipties, and use these supplies to insulate the oil cooler lines anywhere they come near a peice of metal, or even might under vibration and G-forces. Be especially sure to shield them where they come near the metal power steering lines, as the braided lines can eat through those power steering lines if they rub on them. The final and most perplexing thing I ran into: When I first started the car after refilling the oil (you do this in stages btw, as descibed a few posts above, as the lines/cooler fill up), there was a chattering noise coming from the engine. I initially thought this was some valvetrain chatter from lack of oil while the cooler filled up, which would go away quickly. It didn't go away quickly, even after the oil system was fully filled and pressurized and seemed to be working ok otherwise, and even after letting the engine warm up fully. I was really scared that I had done something dumb, like somehow managed to cause an oiling problem up top (who knows, like, maybe some small something fell into an oil hose while I was working, then shot up into the oil system and blocked an oil passage? Your mind thinks of all kinds of horrible scenarios at this point). Turns out the noise wasn't coming from the engine at all. It was coming from the power steering pump. When you relocate the PS cooler and thus drain and refill most of the PS fluid, it leaves air in the system, which causes the PS pump to make awful chattering noises. There's a procedure in the Service Manual for this. What it basically boils down to: with the engine off (but key "ON" to unlock steering wheel), turn the wheel all the way to the left and hold 3 seconds, then all the way right and hold 3 seconds, then back to the center. Top off fluid if necessary. Start engine, and redo the above procedure with the engine on. Now the chattering is gone and you're very relieved __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

07-02-2009, 12:24 PM	#212 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Got a better test drive in this morning by the way, with a little more confidence and more aggressive driving. It's really hot out, but it was only a short drive so nothing definitive on oil temps yet. I will say it takes for-freaking-ever to warm up the oil from overnight cold now. I waited till it got to 150 before pulling out of the garage. It got to about 160 in the mile to the gas station. left it running, was 165 when I came back out 5 minutes later. Then I went ahead and went all out for the two miles on the way home. It peaked at 190, and took its sweet time getting there. I suspect on a longer and harder drive it will get considerably higher than that, but it's a good sign and a good start __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

07-02-2009, 01:47 PM	#213 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	More mini-updates: Did some more driving today, in the just-after-noon super-heat. Ambient temp was 104 rolling (not parked). Got some good aggressive driving in, although not to the level of the torture tests I did pre-cooler to hit 260. Oil temp peaked at 220, and was generally very "stable" as predicted. It moves up very slowly, unlike before where running through 1-2 gears at WOT would cause visible fast movement of the needle. Given the deadly heat today, I think it performed admirably. I'm noticing my 7AT overheating more now too. Usually the engine would get up in the 240-250 range first, causing me to back off of the hard shifting, and then I wouldn't notice the 7AT so much. After the engine sat at 220 for a while with me still driving aggressive, the 7AT started getting soft on downshifts, which I've taken to be an indicator of very hot fluid. I guess a transmission cooler is in order next Also, I forgot to turn my radar detector back on from when I was working in the garage the past few days. As a result, I got an insultingly low 80 in a 65 ticket from a motorcycle cop on the way home when I was just cruising lazily in freeway traffic. I had no idea he was there until it was too late with the V1 off. He was pretty nice about it though, just wanted to churn out that ticket and move on, no big hassles. So now I have my first Z ticket, probably the first of many I should be good to wipe this one out with defensive driving anyways. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

07-02-2009, 01:53 PM	#214 (permalink)
semtex A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Behind enemy lines Age: 53 Posts: 5,995 Drives: People to drink Rep Power: 32	Congrats on getting your first Z ticket? Just kidding. Hope it isn't too expensive. __________________ "There are no small accidents on this circuit." -- Ayrton Senna 316.8whp & 248 ft/lbs (Dyno Dynamics) \| 319whp & 256 ft/lbs (DynoJet) (04/23/10) Stillen G3 CAI, CBE, Pulley / F.I. LTH / GTSpec Ladder Brace / Setrab Oil Cooler / UpRev-tuned by Forged Perf.

07-02-2009, 05:10 PM	#216 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Just more tiny status updates, another long-ish drive, another 220 peak, which quickly went back down to 200 cruising in 7th in traffic on the highway. God I love having a cooler on this car now. Back to brakes stuff: I identified my leak, it's the flare connection where the hard line interfaces the braided cable for the right front brake. Like I said, I hate those things (brake line flare connections), I seem to have a habit of over-torquing them and ruining them, my record is 2 ruined out of 8 tightened on two cars I'm actually going to skip the ******** of trying to remake the flare on the existing line with the special tools. Instead a local Nissan dealer is overnighting me a replacement hard line to pick up tomorrow for $35 shipped. Can't beat that. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

07-07-2009, 09:56 PM	#217 (permalink)
theDreamer A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Texas Posts: 30,879 Drives: 370z Rep Power: 4210	wstar, how are the sways after some more travel time? __________________ theDreamer's Z // Fast Intentions // Uprev // GTM // HKS // TEIN theDreamer's Silvia // URAS // GREDDY Houston Zs // Facebook // Twitter // Instagram

07-08-2009, 05:21 PM	#219 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	The replacement hard line is finally in my garage now, and I picked up some M10x1.0 hardware to temporarily plug the brake system while I'm replacing the line so I don't lose more fluid than necessary and make a total mess. Should all come together tonight. It's going to be a bit of a pain in the ***, since the hard line runs from the passenger wheel well (where it hooks up to the braided line) all the way back over by the brake reservoir in front of the driver, requiring the removal of the strut tower brace and all of the hardware under the edge of the windshield to access it at the very least. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

07-08-2009, 08:40 PM	#220 (permalink)
miguez Enthusiast Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Columbus, Ohio Posts: 359 Drives: '04 Cavalier Rep Power: 181	Good luck wstar, sounds like a lot of work!

07-09-2009, 12:43 AM	#221 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Ugh, it is. They clearly never meant for these brake lines to replaced without first draining and removing the refrigerant lines for the A/C that run above them behind the engine. Keep in mind this is like 6 feet of hard brake line in a very weird twisted shape. I managed to get it in there anyways, but it took a lot of very careful finagling and very slight bending of the tube to get it into place. The other easier stuff that I did take off to get access was the windshield wipers, the strut tower brace, all of the upper plastic crap (battery/brake/lower windshield area), and the right upper intake tube. Anyways, it appears I've fixed my leak, and so therefore the cause most likely was that I over-torqued that one flare connection. At the very least, I can't induce the new connections to leak cramming my foot down on the pedal as hard as I can repeatedly with the car off. Obviously I need to recheck w/ the ABS and power assist up and running later. I bled this one wheel a bunch to try to remove the bulk of the added air from replacing the hard line. Tomorrow I'll reassemble all the little stuff I had to remove today to put the line in, and do a proper 4-wheel bleed in the right order (I have enough speed bleeders for the whole car now), and then hopefully all this brake stuff will be behind me __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

07-10-2009, 11:01 AM	#222 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Brakes: Yes, the leak appears to be gone. I've done about a hundred miles of driving or so now on the new brake setup, starting to trust them again now. With all of the brake line work that happened (especially replacing that right front hard line), one bleed/flush wasn't enough though. It's going to be one of those things where you bleed as good as you can, drive it and use the brakes a bunch to knock the air bubbles around, bleed again a day or two later, etc. Right now I can tell there's still air in the system but it's getting better, the pedal feel is basically back close to stock now. Will order more Motul and bleed again next week. Oil cooler: The oil cooling from the Stillen cooler kit + the AAM spacer is really pretty phenomenal. Oil temps now change very slowly. Cruising on the highway in 7th gear (regardless of wheel speed, because the revs from more speed are offset by the increased airflow) brings the oil to about 190-195 and stays there, even if you started out higher from aggressive small street stuff. I still haven't managed to break 220 yet at all, and I've done some reasonably aggressive sprinting and cornering stuff now. I bet I could get it to perhaps 235 if I tried pretty hard, but I don't generally sustain aggressive driving on the street long enough to go any higher I don't think. Maybe at a track in the future we'll see how it does under really sustained hard driving. My only complaint now is the warm-up time. My routine now for my first drive of the day is basically to start the car, get back out and have a cigarette, maybe clean up some things around the garage, etc. It takes about 12 minutes sitting there if I wait until the oil temp gauge bumps up to 150. I usually don't wait quite that long. But either way I wait until 160 to start getting on it a little, and 180 before any WOT and/or high rpm driving. On a short trip it may not even get there. I'll be swapping out the sandwich plate for a thermostatic one at my next oil change to help remedy this. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

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