Built the best engine cooling system...again
Road Captain
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 667
Likes: 9
Obama
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Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 2,916
Likes: 31
From: earth
Now there is a fantastic question, and one you won't eaily find a qualified answer to. First you got to define "ideal", for me it is the absolute coldest I can run the oil without creating and oil related problem. After a lot of unoffical research on BITOG and other web sites, and finally a long conversation with an old top fuel drag bike builder, I have settled on 173F as absolute minimum operating temperature for conventional oil. I didn't conjure this up out of thin air, Mobil relased a document years ago that quoted this value for conventional oil minimum operating temperature. I don't have a copy, but I trust the source. I don't know of anyone on a Twin Cam that has normal oil temps below this or close to this for that matter. Discard the water boils at 212F hubub, not necessary to get that hot, water will seperate at any temperature, again I don't know too many Twin Cams that normalize below 212F either.
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 3,766
Likes: 16
From: Roseville, CA
Now there is a fantastic question, and one you won't eaily find a qualified answer to. First you got to define "ideal", for me it is the absolute coldest I can run the oil without creating and oil related problem. After a lot of unoffical research on BITOG and other web sites, and finally a long conversation with an old top fuel drag bike builder, I have settled on 173F as absolute minimum operating temperature for conventional oil. I didn't conjure this up out of thin air, Mobil relased a document years ago that quoted this value for conventional oil minimum operating temperature. I don't have a copy, but I trust the source. I don't know of anyone on a Twin Cam that has normal oil temps below this or close to this for that matter. Discard the water boils at 212F hubub, not necessary to get that hot, water will seperate at any temperature, again I don't know too many Twin Cams that normalize below 212F either.
Incorrect about water separation, you don't want any water, you want it to boil off, otherwise you compromise lubrication.
The oil temp. you want is the one that provides the most protection with the best viscosity.
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Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 2,916
Likes: 31
From: earth
173F sounds about right for absolutely MINIMUM. But Minimum isn't ideal. IIRC SRT Engineers said 180 degree oil temp MINIMUM before going WOT.
Incorrect about water separation, you don't want any water, you want it to boil off, otherwise you compromise lubrication.
The oil temp. you want is the one that provides the most protection with the best viscosity.
Incorrect about water separation, you don't want any water, you want it to boil off, otherwise you compromise lubrication.
The oil temp. you want is the one that provides the most protection with the best viscosity.
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Extreme HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 11,615
Likes: 50
From: Baton Rouge, LA
I did some tests one summer using the PCV-AT with a map switch, allowing me to toggle between a lean and rich map on the fly. The rich map was set to 13.5:1 and lean at stoich (14.6:1) in the cruise range. Running at 50-60mph over time I saw only ~7° difference in FCHT and no change in oil temps between the two maps. I monitored with the LCD-200 display unit from DynoJet for FCHT and the HD fairing-mounted gauge for oil temp.
I didn't do any tests in city riding, but when in lean mode the FCHT rarely exceeds 280° in traffic as long as it doesn't stop for extended periods. I did use the map switch occasionally while I had it installed, but I didn't find that it made that much difference in traffic.
I have the PV now and have two tunes installed, either of which can be flashed at any time after shutting the bike off on the side of the road. One is 13.0:1 in the cruise range and the other 14.6:1, but I have yet to use the richer tune, which would only be put to use in the worst of gridlock traffic when CHT and OT get alarmingly high. For me that would be 300° and 230° respectively.
I didn't do any tests in city riding, but when in lean mode the FCHT rarely exceeds 280° in traffic as long as it doesn't stop for extended periods. I did use the map switch occasionally while I had it installed, but I didn't find that it made that much difference in traffic.
I have the PV now and have two tunes installed, either of which can be flashed at any time after shutting the bike off on the side of the road. One is 13.0:1 in the cruise range and the other 14.6:1, but I have yet to use the richer tune, which would only be put to use in the worst of gridlock traffic when CHT and OT get alarmingly high. For me that would be 300° and 230° respectively.
Extreme HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 11,615
Likes: 50
From: Baton Rouge, LA
I have an oil cooler installed and have played around with cooler fans on three different occasions, abandoning the projects each time because the fans failed. I would like to use a head fan but have not gone that route because I have Rivco air horns installed in place of the stock horn and neither the LeNale nor HD fan will fit. Fabrik8r's concept might work for me if the location could be moved to fit around the horns, although I don't have much room to work with, especially on the front cylinder. I've toyed with various ideas including mounting something like a Spal fan on the right-side of the engine, but nothing has come of it.