Front Oil Cooler for Racing 2.8 Liter Six, How Big Do I Need to Go? Options

[motorvated]

Working on my Vintage racer to upgrade to a 2.8 liter six race engine and was looking for recommendations for sizing my front oil cooler. This race motor has an oil filter installed in place of the stock oil cooler on the engine, so my front oil cooler has to do the full job of cooling the oil up front. I have been looking at the Setrab coolers and specifically their model number 50-150-7612, which is 16" X 8.25" with 50 rows. Smaller option is their Series 9, 20 row model number 920F22 which is 16" X 6", which might be undersized. I'm curious to learn what you racers out there have found to work best.

Also I'm trying to size a differential cooler for the Wevo 915 transaxle. It had a Tilton pump and cooler on it when it ran in the prior race car, but unfortunately they stayed with that car. So any recommendations for sizing that, with or without fan also would be helpful.

Thanks Mike S.

[technicalninja]

No-one has mentioned it...

There is ABSOLUTELY no good reason to intentionally run the oil over the boiling point of water on a track car in my book.

It's HUGELY important on a street-based vehicle but you should be changing your race oil far before moisture contamination is a concern.

Now if it does run over 212 during a session it's a plus...

I'd shoot for a minimum temp over 170 but I'd try hard to build a system that did not require a thermostat.

"Fewer parts" is more dependable, lighter, and less expensive...

[stownsen914]

I agree with the above. A few thoughts below.
Water evaporates increasingly as the temp goes up. There's lots of evaporation happening by the time it gets to 200 degrees. There isn't anything magic about hitting 212 degrees to get good evaporation.
If your oil temp gauge says 200 degrees, remember that's post-cooler. In the bottom of your engine, post bearings and exposed to all the heat the oil is probably 25-50 degrees hotter, so condensation has a chance to evaporate off more aggressively.