[LionZoo]

We have a lot of recent discussion about Elise oil coolers. Piggybacking on that discussion, does anyone know if Elise SC (not Exiges) are better off using a single or double coolers?

 

[tomrev]

Probably most relivent is if you track it or not. For street, it can be hard to get oil to temp with stock cooler/coolers; that's why most folks are going to single rear cooler. For a tracked car, single rear cooler will work, but will need more attention in location, air to, and from cooler, cooler size, etc. Other benefit is the elimination of around 22 ft. of line, weight, simplicity,etc.

 

[LionZoo]

Probably most relivent is if you track it or not. For street, it can be hard to get oil to temp with stock cooler/coolers; that's why most folks are going to single rear cooler. For a tracked car, single rear cooler will work, but will need more attention in location, air to, and from cooler, cooler size, etc. Other benefit is the elimination of around 22 ft. of line, weight, simplicity,etc.

This would be geared more towards a tracked car. It seems like single cooler might still be the way to go, but I'm guessing a single front cooler (so just bypassing one of the dual coolers) might not be the best idea?

 

[tomrev]

In that case, probably easiest way to try will be to leave everything as is, and block off one grille in the nose, and monitor temps. If it works, pull the one cooler. It is in good airflow up front, but I don't like having to push the oil so far.

 

[Lotusmotion]

This would be geared more towards a tracked car. It seems like single cooler might still be the way to go, but I'm guessing a single front cooler (so just bypassing one of the dual coolers) might not be the best idea?

Check out dedicated track cars and talk to their owners. You'll see that many have switched to rear mounted coolers or gone to single mounted front coolers. You'll be challenged to find reports of track cars running too high oil temps with either set up.

A majority of Lotus owners only drive there cars on the street or attend casual driving events or track days from time-to-time, whereas the minority are frequent trackers or actual racers.

Frequent trackers or racers are the ones that push their equipment hard and, IMHO, can provide insights based on actual experience.

For either a front or rear oil cooler set up and especially if you already track or plan to track your car, replace the OEM oil lines and fittings with quality ones. It comes down to increased safety and improved reliability.

 

[tmr]

I would think that it would also depend on where you live. Here in Georgia, it get hot enough in the warmer months to more than get the oil up to temperature. If you're stuck in LA traffic during the summer months, it might come in handy as well. For those of you who live in the frozen wasteland, maybe it's not something to consider.

 

[Lotusmotion]

Actually, not here in LA at least with my car - a 2006 Exige N/A with OEM dual coolers (not a single rear mounted cooler).

In 28,000 miles of street and freeway driving and 2,000 track miles some during 100 degree weather, oil temperature had not gone over 200 degrees with the OEM coolers. Typically, it ran as low as 150 during winters, 185-190 during hottest summer days even in slow crawling traffic, and 200 on track.