Showing posts with label oil cooler. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oil cooler. Show all posts
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Water plumbing for Laminova oil cooler
I was asked last week to show some more details of how to connect up the Mocal Laminova oil cooler to the water side of the Ghibli's engine. Well, hopefully this hand sketch I made will help?
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Mocal Laminova oil cooler fitted
While away on holiday this week, I asked Jorrit at Auto Forza if he could install the oil cooler I purchased a few weeks back, along with the take off plate and remote filter mount that I ordered with the cooler.
The inspiration for this upgrade came from Bob (staatsof) on the BiturboZentrum forum, who recently fitted this cooler on his track Ghibli Open Cup and kindly shared pictures of the fitting to the forum members. I was already looking to fit an oil cooler after my experience on the Assen TT track last year where my oil overheated when the car was stationary after completing a couple of hard laps. However, I was looking at installing a conventional oil/air cooler and hadn't considered fitting a oil/water cooler, but after reading Bob's comments it made perfect sense for my application.
The Mocal Laminova oil/water cooler is a heat exchanger that flows oil through the centre of a core and water around the core. The oil is pumped via the oil pump on the engine block and water comes from the engine cooling water system. What makes the system so good for me is that the cooling water quickly warms up to about 60 degrees centigrade in the engine block before it then starts to circulate through the engine radiator. It is at this point that it starts to circulate through the oil cooler and initially it actually warms up the engine oil, meaning that it actually helps warm up the engine quicker. The quicker the engine warms up, the less likely you are to over-stress it. Therefore, when the oil is cooler than the water, it actually helps keep the water temperature down and there's less need for the radiator fans to kick in.
I like the idea of the entire engine block running at an even temperature, rather than having hot spots where different fluid circuits are flowing.
The installation of the cooler went really well. Rather than try and explain this, I've posted a load of pictures with lengthy descriptions that should make it all clear. The installation looks pretty professional, although as Jorrit pointed out, probably four too many tie-wraps used to get away with it looking like a Maserati fitted system.
I've not had the opportunity to give the car a good drive yet, but on the way home I did notice that the engine temperature was running a bit lower than normal, with the water temperature not getting above 80 degrees on the gauge and only once did I hear the fan come on when I was stationary in town. So it appears that in normal use, the oil is actually cooling the water! This is a good thing, since it likely means that the oil before wasn't really getting up to its optimum temperature with normal driving.
One thing I learnt is that my Ghibli (the first non-ABS variant) has a slightly unique sump. The reason it didn't have a cooler is because the sump on my car is a little taller than previous Bi-turbos to provide for a bit more air cooling. But it turned out that the reduced ground clearance led to leaking sumps from the increased abrasion with the road, which is why Maserati went back to the shallow sump and fitted an oil cooler to give the required cooling. Since my car has the taller sump plus an oil cooler, I shouldn't get any problems with cooling now. However, I will be fitting the shallower sump as soon as I get a leak on the current one, since I wish to drop the height of my car a little, but the clearance is a little tight as it is.
I had a couple of other things changed while the car was with Jorrit. The front bushings had worn out and I was getting some play when I pressed the brakes, which wasn't very confidence inspiring. So I had the bushings upgraded to the later Ghibli GT design. The consumable rubbers for these bushings are much cheaper than my original ones so I should recover the cost in the long run. The car's feeling much better to drive now though, much stiffer and less creaky at the front.
Also, still trying to figure out the cause of the stuttering problem, I asked Jorrit to fit a known good distributor to my car to see if this is the cause. He did so and I initially thought that the problem was solved on my drive home until I managed to induce a stutter again by accelerating hard in third gear. It only happened once though so I need to do a few more miles to be conclusive.
Next on the agenda is repairing or replacing the radiator as it has started to leak and it seems to be getting worse. Jorrit knows some guys who can refurbish the existing radiator, essentially by fitting a new core, but this could be an opportunity to install a new aluminium one?
The inspiration for this upgrade came from Bob (staatsof) on the BiturboZentrum forum, who recently fitted this cooler on his track Ghibli Open Cup and kindly shared pictures of the fitting to the forum members. I was already looking to fit an oil cooler after my experience on the Assen TT track last year where my oil overheated when the car was stationary after completing a couple of hard laps. However, I was looking at installing a conventional oil/air cooler and hadn't considered fitting a oil/water cooler, but after reading Bob's comments it made perfect sense for my application.
The Mocal Laminova oil/water cooler is a heat exchanger that flows oil through the centre of a core and water around the core. The oil is pumped via the oil pump on the engine block and water comes from the engine cooling water system. What makes the system so good for me is that the cooling water quickly warms up to about 60 degrees centigrade in the engine block before it then starts to circulate through the engine radiator. It is at this point that it starts to circulate through the oil cooler and initially it actually warms up the engine oil, meaning that it actually helps warm up the engine quicker. The quicker the engine warms up, the less likely you are to over-stress it. Therefore, when the oil is cooler than the water, it actually helps keep the water temperature down and there's less need for the radiator fans to kick in.
I like the idea of the entire engine block running at an even temperature, rather than having hot spots where different fluid circuits are flowing.
The installation of the cooler went really well. Rather than try and explain this, I've posted a load of pictures with lengthy descriptions that should make it all clear. The installation looks pretty professional, although as Jorrit pointed out, probably four too many tie-wraps used to get away with it looking like a Maserati fitted system.
I've not had the opportunity to give the car a good drive yet, but on the way home I did notice that the engine temperature was running a bit lower than normal, with the water temperature not getting above 80 degrees on the gauge and only once did I hear the fan come on when I was stationary in town. So it appears that in normal use, the oil is actually cooling the water! This is a good thing, since it likely means that the oil before wasn't really getting up to its optimum temperature with normal driving.
One thing I learnt is that my Ghibli (the first non-ABS variant) has a slightly unique sump. The reason it didn't have a cooler is because the sump on my car is a little taller than previous Bi-turbos to provide for a bit more air cooling. But it turned out that the reduced ground clearance led to leaking sumps from the increased abrasion with the road, which is why Maserati went back to the shallow sump and fitted an oil cooler to give the required cooling. Since my car has the taller sump plus an oil cooler, I shouldn't get any problems with cooling now. However, I will be fitting the shallower sump as soon as I get a leak on the current one, since I wish to drop the height of my car a little, but the clearance is a little tight as it is.
I had a couple of other things changed while the car was with Jorrit. The front bushings had worn out and I was getting some play when I pressed the brakes, which wasn't very confidence inspiring. So I had the bushings upgraded to the later Ghibli GT design. The consumable rubbers for these bushings are much cheaper than my original ones so I should recover the cost in the long run. The car's feeling much better to drive now though, much stiffer and less creaky at the front.
Also, still trying to figure out the cause of the stuttering problem, I asked Jorrit to fit a known good distributor to my car to see if this is the cause. He did so and I initially thought that the problem was solved on my drive home until I managed to induce a stutter again by accelerating hard in third gear. It only happened once though so I need to do a few more miles to be conclusive.
Next on the agenda is repairing or replacing the radiator as it has started to leak and it seems to be getting worse. Jorrit knows some guys who can refurbish the existing radiator, essentially by fitting a new core, but this could be an opportunity to install a new aluminium one?
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Oil cooler and MAP
Well, I finally ordered the Laminova oil cooler, take off plate and remote oil filter parts from Think Automotive last week and they arrived ready for me to pick up on my trip to the UK next week. When I'm back I'll book the car in with Jorrit at Auto Forza and ask him to fit it all for me along with some custom length hoses. I'd do it myself, but I just don't have the facilities unfortunately.
Also, I think I've figured out the cause of my stutter and drop off in performance around 4000 rpm. Contrary to what I thought, the MAP sensor in my non-ABS Ghibli is the Marelli APS-03 sensor (where as I thought it was an 06 sensor). As you can see from this link, the APS-03 sensor only reads up to 2.16 bar absolute pressure, which is exactly the pressure in my plenum chamber when the car gives a stutter. So I think it's reasonable to assume that the ECU in my car is designed to set the timing "safe" when the MAP sensor reading goes out of range.
I've set the maximum inlet pressure down to just below 1.16 bar gauge pressure now, but I haven't been for a drive yet to see how it performs. But I'll be doing a lot of driving next week since I'm planning on taking the car over to the UK on the ferry, so I can get a feel for how it's performing then.
No other news other than I gave the car a wash the other weekend... it was filthy and I needed four buckets of water to clean it!
Also, I think I've figured out the cause of my stutter and drop off in performance around 4000 rpm. Contrary to what I thought, the MAP sensor in my non-ABS Ghibli is the Marelli APS-03 sensor (where as I thought it was an 06 sensor). As you can see from this link, the APS-03 sensor only reads up to 2.16 bar absolute pressure, which is exactly the pressure in my plenum chamber when the car gives a stutter. So I think it's reasonable to assume that the ECU in my car is designed to set the timing "safe" when the MAP sensor reading goes out of range.
I've set the maximum inlet pressure down to just below 1.16 bar gauge pressure now, but I haven't been for a drive yet to see how it performs. But I'll be doing a lot of driving next week since I'm planning on taking the car over to the UK on the ferry, so I can get a feel for how it's performing then.
No other news other than I gave the car a wash the other weekend... it was filthy and I needed four buckets of water to clean it!
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Preparing for the spring
A few weeks back, I received an email from an old friend who was asking whether I'd be interested in joining him for a drive down to Germany and onto the Nürburgring. Of course, I'd love to, but after my last experience on the track I really need to install some oil cooling before venturing back.
I've therefore been researching into oil cooling. Initially, I was looking into fitting an efficient air cooler and locating it in front of the engine cooling radiator, in a similar fashion to the Modena performance air/oil cooler pictured here (from Enrico's Maserati pages). It's the large silver coloured one in the centre. I actually think this cooler is a bit over the top, since an efficient cooler of half this size should be sufficient, although I think this Modena prepared car is awaiting a V8 engine conversion. Also, I don't think it's very efficient mounting the cooler with such a large gap between the rear of the cooler and the front of the water radiator, since the exhaust flow from the oil cooler will not flow nicely through the radiator.
So, I was researching into fitting an sandwich adapter between the oil pump and the oil filter to facilitate fitting hoses to the front mounted oil cooler and had managed to source a second hand Maserati part with built in thermostat, pictured here. This little device only sends oil to the cooler after it has reached a certain temperature (around 80 degrees C) in order to warm the oil up to operating temperature as quickly as possible, otherwise the oil will be too cool and hence quite viscous.
While discussing my options with the Bi-turbo forum on Yahoo, one of the members talked about the oil/water cooler he has fitted to his Maserati Ghibli Cup and subsequently sent some pictures of the cooler fitted to his car. After researching the cooler (it's a Mocal Laminova cooler), the benefits, particularly for my application, were clear.
A water/oil cooler does not need a thermostat and warms the oil up to operating temperature much quicker than an air/oil cooler. This is because the water/oil cooler is actually a heat exchanger and the water cooling is very effective at taking heating from the engine and therefore warms up quickly. The water/oil cooler then transfers this heat into the oil, hence warming it up quickly. I often drive drive reasonably short journeys in my car (twenty minutes) which is only just long enough to get the engine properly warmed up. Therefore, anything I can do to warm it up quicker is certainly a bonus.
Although the water warms up the oil quickly, the water cooling on the Ghibli is very effective at maintaining the water temperature at around 90 degrees C, even in extreme use. The idea of the water/oil cooler is that the fluid temperatures of the oil and water remain about the same, which means that the oil temperature should be maintained around 90 degrees, which is about perfect!
In order to fit the water/oil cooler, I'll have to fit a remote oil filter and an adapter plate to the oil pump to facilitate running lines to the remote filter. The cooler itself will be mounted behind the water radiator, spliced into the line that takes cool water from the radiator back into the engine block. In the drawing, this will mean rotating part 34 clockwise about 90 degrees, fitting in the Mocal cooler, then installing a new 90 degree elbow to face upwards, then installing part 6 (will have to flip it round) up and into part 5, which will have to be rotated 90 degrees anti-clockwise.
The parts are made by Think Auto in the UK, who are not proving to be the most effective with e-mail correspondence. However, I have managed to get a quote off them for the parts I require... the water Laminova is not cheap, but the other parts are pretty reasonable and Jorrit at Auto Forza can get all the hose and fittings tailor made for me.
I'm hoping to get it installed within the next couple of months.
I've therefore been researching into oil cooling. Initially, I was looking into fitting an efficient air cooler and locating it in front of the engine cooling radiator, in a similar fashion to the Modena performance air/oil cooler pictured here (from Enrico's Maserati pages). It's the large silver coloured one in the centre. I actually think this cooler is a bit over the top, since an efficient cooler of half this size should be sufficient, although I think this Modena prepared car is awaiting a V8 engine conversion. Also, I don't think it's very efficient mounting the cooler with such a large gap between the rear of the cooler and the front of the water radiator, since the exhaust flow from the oil cooler will not flow nicely through the radiator.
So, I was researching into fitting an sandwich adapter between the oil pump and the oil filter to facilitate fitting hoses to the front mounted oil cooler and had managed to source a second hand Maserati part with built in thermostat, pictured here. This little device only sends oil to the cooler after it has reached a certain temperature (around 80 degrees C) in order to warm the oil up to operating temperature as quickly as possible, otherwise the oil will be too cool and hence quite viscous.While discussing my options with the Bi-turbo forum on Yahoo, one of the members talked about the oil/water cooler he has fitted to his Maserati Ghibli Cup and subsequently sent some pictures of the cooler fitted to his car. After researching the cooler (it's a Mocal Laminova cooler), the benefits, particularly for my application, were clear.
A water/oil cooler does not need a thermostat and warms the oil up to operating temperature much quicker than an air/oil cooler. This is because the water/oil cooler is actually a heat exchanger and the water cooling is very effective at taking heating from the engine and therefore warms up quickly. The water/oil cooler then transfers this heat into the oil, hence warming it up quickly. I often drive drive reasonably short journeys in my car (twenty minutes) which is only just long enough to get the engine properly warmed up. Therefore, anything I can do to warm it up quicker is certainly a bonus.Although the water warms up the oil quickly, the water cooling on the Ghibli is very effective at maintaining the water temperature at around 90 degrees C, even in extreme use. The idea of the water/oil cooler is that the fluid temperatures of the oil and water remain about the same, which means that the oil temperature should be maintained around 90 degrees, which is about perfect!
In order to fit the water/oil cooler, I'll have to fit a remote oil filter and an adapter plate to the oil pump to facilitate running lines to the remote filter. The cooler itself will be mounted behind the water radiator, spliced into the line that takes cool water from the radiator back into the engine block. In the drawing, this will mean rotating part 34 clockwise about 90 degrees, fitting in the Mocal cooler, then installing a new 90 degree elbow to face upwards, then installing part 6 (will have to flip it round) up and into part 5, which will have to be rotated 90 degrees anti-clockwise.The parts are made by Think Auto in the UK, who are not proving to be the most effective with e-mail correspondence. However, I have managed to get a quote off them for the parts I require... the water Laminova is not cheap, but the other parts are pretty reasonable and Jorrit at Auto Forza can get all the hose and fittings tailor made for me.
I'm hoping to get it installed within the next couple of months.
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