There are a lot of politics over that road, and that area (my mother now lives in Maryville, and was born in Robbinsville, I too spent time in Robbinsville).

With the economy there is now another reason to police the Dragon.

Bottom line, get an oil cooler and take it to the track of your choice.

To make sure that the issue you get is the current one, call the following number and ask for subscriptions: 1-212-807-7100. Or, email the subscriptions department at subscriptions@harris-pub.com. All you need to do is explain that you just signed up and that you'd like your first issue to be the April/May 2009 one. They'll take care of the rest.

I don't think Matt wants that line flooded with calls. However, I believe the Nissan techs are hard at work on a jamming device while the PR guys are out buying up the magazines.

For what its worth; here is my personal report on the oil overheating problem…
<o></o>
I hit the Tail of the Dragon this past Saturday; it was a warm sunny day (although not summer swelter weather of course; temps in the low-mid 70s) and traffic was quite light as was LEO (we only saw tow sheriff vehicles and that was actually before the actual Dragon). Meaning, we were able to hit is pretty hard…I was pretty constantly shifting (7AT) from 2^nd to 3^rd and back as we negotiated 318 curves in 11 miles and my oil temp got to as high as 240-250 although cooled down rather quickly with a few minutes spent at Deals Gap. We then continued on US 129 to Robinsonville to pick up the Skyway…the Skyway is about 60 miles long with significant changes in elevation and lots of curves (although not as severe as the Dragon). Again, oil temps hit the 240 degree range.

This past Sunday, again a nice warm and sunny day (until the cold front moved in) I was autocrossing doing a group of 4 and then 3 runs on a pretty long (for an autocross) and relatively open course; again, oil temps reached the 230-240 range.

Now; I’m not an engineer or a mechanic so I really don’t know just how “dangerous” these temps might be for our engines but I think it pretty obvious that if you are going to do anything approaching “track” driving, an oil cooler and perhaps a transmission oil cooler would be almost mandatory. Likewise, very frequent oil changes. I also think that perhaps an oil pan “spacer” to increase the since of the oil pan might be a good idea as well.

That said, I don’t think anybody using their car for normal driving (i.e. legal) driving is going to have anything to worry about but even so, don't skimp on changing your oil regularly (not that you ever should skimp on that with any vehicle!).

Robert,

Thanks for the update. I believe the numbers you report supports an oil cooler for track days. On previous Porsches that I have owned they would have been parked with the oil at 230F. I saw a post from one of the top Porsche engine authorities and it showed engine wear as a function of oil temperature. Once you hit 220F the curve took a significant upwards climb. I'm not sure how that relates to newer engines.

Correct. Racing engines are considered to be getting too hot when the oil hits 220 and overheating when it hits 230. Production cars have a lot more tolerance but still it can't be good for it long term.

<o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com<img src=" http:="" www.the370z.com="" images="" smilies="" redface.gif="" border="0" alt="" title="Embarrassment" smilieid="2" class="inlineimg"></o:smarttagtype>Just though I would share...

I’ve had my 370Z since early January 2009 and have about 4,200 miles on it. During that time I’ve taken a couple of long trips where I generally run at about 10 over the posted limit (which in the states I travel is in the 80ish MPH range) and I’ve autocrossed my car twice so far. I’ve also, as you know if your read my earlier post, taken my car to the Dragon and the Skyway recently.

<o></o>As hard as I’ve pushed my vehicle, the oil temp, according to the onboard gauge, has only reached the range of 240 up to near 250 degrees. A few days ago, I discussed this issue with the owner of Crawford Z Car in Nashville – he’s been repairing, and modifying and racing Zs in particular and Nissan’s in general for over 35 years…there are few people in the country that know more about the Z car than he and per him, if I understood him corectly, we shouldn't have to worry about oil temps until they hit the 260-280 degree range and that 220-240 is just about the range you want your oil to operate in.

<o></o>One thing that neither he nor I know is exactly “where” the onboard oil temp sensor is in the 370’s engine…if it’s in the pan, it’s going to be hotter than at other places (which is pretty normal) per him.

This pretty much puts the issue to rest for me...my feeling now is that if you are going to track your car or routinely thrash it and run it to the edge every time you are behind the wheel then get an aftermarket oil cooler installed…other than that, the oil temp should not be anything to be overly concerned about…just keep you oil changed regularly.