Track prep essentials

[afilsinger]

I am starting to prepare my car for a track day at Chuckwalla valley raceway at the end of the month, and I was told that the car as it sits has oiling issues?  My car is a 2003 Carrera.  I bought the car last year with 74k miles and immediately did the following:  LN IMS bearing, Waterpump, coil packs, spark plugs, all filters and fluids, clutch + flywheel and a stock AOS. In anticipation of the event, I am going to do an oil change from M1 0w-40 to the Joe Gibbs dt40 oil suggested by Jake Raby along with fresh filters.  Is there anything else I need to do to not have oil starvation?  Is this issue blown out of proportion?  does the 2qt sump extension make that much of a difference? will it affect the streetability?  I am running 200tw tires.  

[JFP in PA]

Welcome to RennTech

 

Joe Gibbs is a great street oil, but even Jake does not recommend it for track use.  You should be looking at their XP9 or XP6 oils for track only use.  I would also suggest using a 160F thermostat to help cool both the engine and the oil, which will help with oil frothing under track conditions.  I would also highly recommend getting rid of the factory oil filter set up and using a spin on full flow design.

 

Oil starvation is about oil control, as in keeping it where you want it rather than were it wants to be.  Sump extensions help, as does the addition of an Accusump oil accumulator.  Oil control in one  of these engine's is an entire topic all by itself (these are Boxster installations, but the principals are the same):

 

[afilsinger]

Is an accusump really necessary for occasional DEs?  This car sees mostly street use and AutoX where it is my understanding that oil starvation isn't as much of a problem?   

[JFP in PA]

59 minutes ago, afilsinger said:

Is an accusump really necessary for occasional DEs?  This car sees mostly street use and AutoX where it is my understanding that oil starvation isn't as much of a problem?   

 

You said you were getting ready for a track day; track days have prolonged high G bends and turns at speed, which is where oil starvation sets in and claims unprepared engines.......

[Loren]

If you are running racing tires or street/racing tires I would say for sure use the Accusump oil accumulator.

[afilsinger]

1 hour ago, JFP in PA said:

 

You said you were getting ready for a track day; track days have prolonged high G bends and turns at speed, which is where oil starvation sets in and claims unprepared engines.......

Yes, I am preparing the car for a DE/track day event.  However, it is still my daily driver.  I am trying to understand how much I need to do to not blow a motor, and how much said modifications will affect the daily usability of the car.  

 

RE 160degree thermostat: how will this help on track since the standard thermostat is fully open at 180 anyways, all this does is speed up the opening? 

Edited January 3, 2018 by afilsinger

[JFP in PA]

None of the oil system mods mentioned will change the car's daily usability.

 

The thermostat controls the minimum steady state operational temperature of the engine, just like the thermostat in your house does.  So your engine and oil will be running cooler before you start flogging the car on the track, and cool back down to that steady state once the heat load is removed.  Both are better for the engine and particularly for your oil.

[afilsinger]

Thanks for clarifying!