LS oil coolers and adaptors - who is using what??

[HOSTILETAKEOVER]

Im building a first gen Camaro with LS motor, Art morrison subframe and Stainless Works headers. I got hold of one of the MOCAL thermostatic oil cooler adapters but my headers really dont make it's use feasible. Im sure that I can fit a lower profile adapter plate but would loose the thermostatic valve feature.

http://www.improvedracing.com/adapters-thermostats/mocal-ls-series-engine-thermostatic-oil-cooler-adapter-p-33.html

Who is running an LS motor with an oil cooler? Is there a real drawback to not using a thermostatic valve?

Questions and comments welcome.......

[Rod]

running an oil cooler on my LS and that with a dual pass radiator and a shrouded 3200 rpm syclone electric fan the car never exceeds 170 degrees, even on track days, thats a cool device(toy) I'm sure everyone that has one will say you need it and everyone without it will tell you that its not needed

[James OLC]

Canton and Earls make remote thermostatically controlled bypass units. I've never had an issue with the canton piece but it's not easy to quantify.

[HOSTILETAKEOVER]

Thanks, Great info. I will check them out.

Mocal also has a remote piece. Still wondering how much its needed though.

We all suffer from the 10 lbs of stuff in a 5 lb bag problem, not to mention saving a $ where possible.

[Ron.in.SoCal]

Mocal, Canton and Derale are pretty common. As Rod mentioned, I'm one that says if you have a cooler, get a thermo. Oil needs to reach enough temp to burn off water condensation and do its job.

[wiedemab]

I put a stock LS7 cooler on my '99 C5. I am not running a thermostat, but I mounted it behind the front bumper so that I could take off the license place blockout (I cut out behind it) to allow air to it for track days and leave it on for street driving. It take a little longer for the oil to get up to temp, but on the street it's running 180 to 200deg. It dropped my track temps by 40 or 50 deg

[CarlC]

It all depends on what you want to do with the car.

If it's a high-power/revving engine and road-course track days are in your future, then it's possible the cooler will be needed.

The remote Mocal bypasses some oil all the time. For street driving the oil never gets warm enough even with the high-temperature version in mine. I'm likely going to put in a gate valve so that the cooler can be completely bypassed for street driving.

If possible you may want to try running the car without the cooler first and monitor the oil temperatures.

[HOSTILETAKEOVER]

Good info Carl,
My car will spend 99% of its time driven on the street. It does have a magnusson supercharger though. Would that be a consideration?

[HOSTILETAKEOVER]

Also, what temp should the oil opperate at?

I see the Earls piece starts to open at 160 degrees and is fully open at 180.

Canton thermostat opens at 215 degrees.

[68sixspeed]

I was able to reuse the stock ls7/z06 cooler and lines ok, just made some brackets to hold it in front of the radiator.

[The WidowMaker]

my oil cooler is going to be in the radiator. what are the thoughts on a auto valve for this? it almost seems to be a waste since radiator temp will help to heat the oil at first and then cool it afterwards.

[68sixspeed]

With the in radiator oil cooler, I would not run the oil t-stat, you will get nice warm oil quickly, it is a good setup.