Tracking car hard in hot climate

[Mr.wReckless]

Fitted a CSF oil cooler last autumn. Although not many miles, the normal oil temps did drop noticeably during normal driving.



The stock one is puny compared to the CSF, however it's not apples to apples as my OEM was old and tired, but as I said, oil temps did drop noticeably with normal driving with the new CSF. So I'm calling it good.

That being said, you don't have to search far and wide to find a certain cooling thread where the new CSF radiator was the culprit.

Regards

[GolanM3]

Stay away from CSF, you can search other posts on here if you want to learn more on this

[Cronenberged]

CSF radiator is a dumpster fire. I know several people where there car suddenly started over heating for no reason, and mine started leaking after a year. Seen good things surrounding the PWR which is single pass like stock, and the Mishimoto which is dual pass. Can't go wrong with OEM if you're trying to save money plus FCP lifetime warranty you can swap it out if anything goes wrong.

[Obioban]

New stock rad
New stock oil cooler
new stock waterpump
50:50 water/coolant.

(also do the coolant piping and thermostat while you're in there-- new stock would be a good choice.

You had a good experience in the F80 because the car was new(ish) stock. If you want a similar experience, stick to the formula that worked.

Overwhelmingly, all the aftermarket rads and oil coolers are downgrades.

With stock everything, coolant temps on track will go to just beyond vertical, and oil temps will go to ~3/4. That is normal/expected/healthy, and better than you'll get with aftermarket.

[Driver407]

Not necessarily answering the question, but I personally just avoid Thunderhill in the hot months. We are lucky with so many other NorCal tracks...why subject the car to such brutal heat when the track is so nice in spring and fall? Just my two cents. Agreed that OEM radiator is best

I totally agree with you like 95%. When covid was in peek we had to sit in cars at 110 degrees, masks, and no clubhouse. It sucked. I swore not to do it again. Yet... here i am with a brand new track toy that needs a break in. Ha.

My car has 114k and had toons of maintenance done before i bought. New rack, all the bushings, new belts, coils, spark plugs, new coolant and power steering reservoirs, plus the big three in last 3k miles. Super ready to go

Usually run with Ongrid or SpeedSF. I usually come and annoy the e46 people to ask them about mods for my soon to be. Now i have one and will still be doing the same. So ill find you! Car number is... 407 in blue.

[Koolsilver]

I didn’t get any service records with my car and it had 115k so I threw a lot of parts at it. Of course one thing I didn’t replace was coil packs and at this event I developed a misfire under load after the third session so that cut my event short. Haven’t officially diagnosed coil packs but I bought a full set, probably good to carry spares anyways.

[ridebikes]

Not necessarily answering the question, but I personally just avoid Thunderhill in the hot months. We are lucky with so many other NorCal tracks...why subject the car to such brutal heat when the track is so nice in spring and fall? Just my two cents. Agreed that OEM radiator is best

[Wernd]

If you buy a CSF radiator - you'll come back and buy and OE radiator after the CSF fails to cope with the heat.

Agreed, you'll get a lap or two and then the car will start over heating, DON'T DO THE CSF RADIATOR

[heinzboehmer]

Going to sign up for an event with all yalls help.

Nice, I'll be up there doing the 5 mile track on May 6th with HoD. Maybe we'll run into each other at some point

[Driver407]

Ha, roger that. Stay OE and buy FCPEuro if i do . I know the drill.
Went over the previous owners records and appears to have had fan clutch replaced about a year ago when he did big 3. Seems i should be good to go.
Going to sign up for an event with all yalls help.

[oceansize]

Truth, if I have learned one thing from this forum it is do not buy any radiator other than OE.

[Estoril]

If you buy a CSF radiator - you'll come back and buy and OE radiator after the CSF fails to cope with the heat.

[DoubleSidedTape]

I would definitely replace the fan clutch if it’s original ($90 Mahle Behr) and the fan itself is cheap insurance while you’re at it.

I second the recommendation to stick with an OEM radiator, but I do like my CSF oil cooler.

[Driver407]

How crucial is it that i replace the fan? I should be fine doing several events without swapping or is the failure rate high enough to warrant one now? I am super preventative maintenance kinda person. Just dont like dealing with shit i coulda fixed for few hundred bucks.
However just bought the car and trying to budget all my mods accordingly over time. Thanks for info so far.

[Driver407]

To give you some perspective I was at Thunderhill last Friday and it was about mid 70s. I wasn’t paying close attention but I never saw my coolant go above the middle and I saw oil get to around 250. I wasn’t fully pushing it because it was the first event out with the car. I have a stock cooling system with silicone pipes. I recently refreshed all the pipes, pump, fan clutch, but kept the original radiator and oil cooler. I am running about 50/50 water/coolant with water wetter added.

Cool that info helps out. I just need to suck it up and do an event. Still cheaper to do event than refresh crap. My current radiator and oil are working pretty well. Pushing it hard in the canyons for 20 minutes and can barely get oil temp past half way.
What sort of lap times are you doing? For reference i am 2:02 and 1:25 at Thill in the f80. Fairly quick but not the tippy top quite yet.