JohnAlley

Looking to upgrade the cooling on my c5 Z06 before track season gets here. I am still really new at turning the wrench so my questions is. How hard is it to replace radiator with one that has built in oil cooler and finally hook up the oil cooler?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, also any suggestions on radiator would also be helpful. I am looking at LG Motorsports and Doug Rippie replacement raditors with built in oil cooler

mgarfias

I've got the ron davis unit (thats what DRM sells) with the built in EOC. I installed with the car on the ground, but would be much easier with the car up in the air on jackstands or a lift. IIRC it was a 2-3 hour job, including replacing all the hoses, tstat, etc. That didn't include hooking up the oil cooler, which I did later - that took longer as I built all the lines myself.

If I were to do it again I'd probably just call Randy at DRM and buy the rad + oil cooler from him as he builds all the lines for you.

argonaut

I thought getting the old Rad out and the new one in was pretty straightforward (although I don't have an AC condenser, so that probably made it easier). The worst problem I faced was getting the Oil Adapter onto the block. I have long tube headers there is very little room to work there. I even did it on a lift. In retrospect I should have tried unbolting the header.

Bill Dearborn

With an AC condenser sitting in front of the radiator the amount of room to move things is somewhat restricted. The biggest problem I had was getting the fan shroud out as you have to lift it off the radiator and then shoe horn it out between the accessories on the front of the engine and radiator. The wiring harness that goes along the passenger side frame rail and then across the front of the car tends to grab the tangs on the shroud so expect to lose some skin prying things apart. Other than that it is a piece of cake.

One other thing to think about is getting a thermostatic control valve so the engine oil will warm up quicker. When I had the DRM setup in my 97 and later in my 03 on cool days (40s) I had trouble getting the engine oil up to temperature when driving on the highway. At 70 mph in 6th gear the oil temp would be in the 130s. After installing a B&M valve I purchased from Summit the oil temp would get above 150. The valve added a plumbing nightmare under the car as I also had a remote oil filter but if you don't go with a remote filter you would be OK. The valve also raised the on track oil temp about 10 degrees as well.

Bill

The Spark

I don't think it is all that hard to replace a radiator with the condenser there - just takes time, scraped knuckles, some cuss words... You probably want a helper. I think the hardest part is getting the electric fans back on those dang little tabs.

I bought an external oil cooler that mounts in front of the condenser. Mine is a track only car so I don't have to worry about getting the oil hot enough like you would with a street car in winter. I liked the idea of having the cooler getting the coolest air first. I have since removed the a/c condenser anyway.

A friend put a thermostat on his external oil cooler. But his is primarily street driven so getting the oil temps up was a concern for him - especially when it is cold.

0Anthony @ LGMotorsports

Not sure about the others, but I can tell you that ours is a pretty simple install.

You have to pull the fans out, the radiator support up top, and hoses. Once that is out, the hardest part is getting the A/C condensor off the stock one. Remove the radiator and replace with ours. Once the fans, and radiator hoses are back on the car you can install the cooler lines.

With our setup you replace the oil temp sending unit above the filter. Ours has 2 -10 ports on it and you hook up the lines to the fittings on the radiator and tie out of the way.

Pretty easy install.

Should drop coolant temps 20-25 degree's and oil temps 20-30.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Z06trackman

I replaced my radiator and installed an external oil cooler. My strong advice: remove the sway bar, and then remove and replace the fan assembly from the bottom. This has to be 10X easier, and you will have zero scrapped knuckles and no bent fins.

Bill Dearborn

Bill

sothpaw2

I really recommend the DRM (SETRAB) stand alone cooler. With some custom covers (header wrap & styrofoam) I am able to keep the temps at 175 in 6th gear on cool days with no traffic. With a little stop&go, I get to 183 or so. Any thermostat causes a pressure drop so is not desirable on track.

kmagvette

If you are going to track the car hard, then the integrated cooler just aint gonna make it. The LG is easy to install...then, a few years later, the DRM Setrab was extremely easy to install. I now have an awesome radiator in the LG Super Cool and without the heat of the oil my water temps stay below 220 even when I beat the living poo out of the car. Highest oil temp seen to date is 242 deg on a sunny, hot (90F) day at the Glen.

If you are worried about not getting you oil up to temp on the street, talk to Randy about the "Polish Thermostat".

96CollectorSport

If your end goal is to run PTA, forget the combo unit and go stand alone, the last thing you want is your oil heating up your coolant at the track. Also forget about the thermostat, the goal is to get the oil as cool as possible.

We've removed combo units in the past, race cars don't use combo units for a reason.