[DeTomaso] Installing Oil Temp Gauge ...

[Tomas Gunnarsson]

Is it possible that the need for trans cooling is not as big today as it was forty years ago? With reference to the development of engine oils over the same period of time I'd assume that modern transmission oils too have an increased tolerance to high temperatures before they decay.

Tomas

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <jderyke at aol.com>
To: <dgordon100 at cox.net>; <detomaso at realbig.com>
Sent: Monday, January 04, 2010 6:55 AM
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Installing Oil Temp Gauge ...


> In a message dated 1/3/10 6:23:18 PM, dgordon100 at cox.net writes:
> 
>> Does it make any difference on how much power the engine is putting out 
>> whether or not a ZF needs cooled? I plan on putting 600+ rear wheel 
>> horsepower thru mine using a Ford GT motor.
>> 
> Heat into the ZF is a product of horsepower AND time. Jr Wilson seems to 
> have run well over 200 mph for 20 minutes or so at a time with around 900 bhp, 
> and he never complained about boiling ZF lube. But LeMans Panteras with 
> maybe half that power wound up using various ZF cooling schemes during 24 hour 
> events, and I doubt if they would have added more weight and complexity to 
> their already overburdened racers, unless it was necessary. 
> In fact, dash-zero (GT-40) and dash-1(Mangusta) ZF cases still contains 
> bosses and undrilled passages for an elaborate ZF factory cooling system in 
> which the ring gear was a crude pump that filled a sheet metal funnel that 
> connected to an external air-cooled radiator near the right side motor mount, 
> the whole thing working on what's called a "thermal siphon". It depends on the 
> oil cooler being mounted lower than the top of the ring gear funnel for 
> lube to flow. Racers that wanted to run a bigger cooler or mount one in a 
> different location had to provide their own pump. I've seen two types: one drove 
> off a vee-belt pully mounted on the inner stub axle between the flange and 
> halfshaft. The other ran directly off a stub-shaft coupled to the ZF 
> mainshaft going thru the ZF's rear cover. These changes allowed a bigger oil 
> radiator to be mounted anywhere- even in front ala 935 Porsche. 
> As I said based on my rudimentary tests, Jr Wilson's experiences over 10 
> yrs of running ORRs, plus several other high powerd street Panteras, I 
> conclude that street Panteras do not need oil coolers at all- on the engine OR on 
> the transaxle. If it has a license plate, coolers are a waste of money. 
> Racers are not street cars so the above does not apply, especially in long 
> events. For instance, Patrick Hals' race Pantera may well need such coolers 
> in his 6-hr-long European Vintage Road Races where his 600+ bhp is being 
> used nearly full throttle for hours at a time, and some of the GR-4/GT-4   cars 
> running 4-12 hour long U.S. endurance events as well. But no Pantera to my 
> knowlege ever failed to finish a short event such as an ORR (20+ minutes 
> more-or-less flat out for fast guys) due to overheating ZF lube. Good luck- J 
> Deryke
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