Al,
no I do not measure “before and after”; it’s measured at
block output near standard oil filter pedestal and is feed to PSRU input
… see attached (this photo shows the first cooler input, the
pressure sender and the return line from second cooler) … if I understand
the oil flow correctly, this is after the coolers.
My
max oil pressure was 80 psi when I had one cooler and is still max 80 psi with
2 coolers – typical operating pressure is 75 psi at 5500 rpm.
Jeff
Jeff;
There is a bypass valve in the oil
return circuit that regulates the max oil pressure. That’s probably
setup for 80 psi in your engine. There is also a pressure relief bypass
just after the pump exit that is probably for 125 psi (I forget what the stock
one is). So conceivably the drop through the coolers could be 45 psi.
Not that it’s a problem as long as
there is sufficient flow to maintain the regulated pressure. But it could
be reducing the flow rate, which would reduce cooling capacity, and it could
mean there is 125 psi in the lines from the engine; and to the cooler end tank.
The geared oil pump is (approximately) a
positive displacement pump. It puts out 13-15 gpm at 5500 -6000 engine RPM. I just think it’s
a good idea to know what sort of pressure drop your dealing with for any oil
cooler you put on your engine, other than the Mazda cooler. I still
believe that in the two oil cooler ruptures, and resulting in-flight fires that
our friend Chuck Harbert experienced, the pressure drop was a contributing factor. He
had three coolers in series, two up in the nose of a Velocity, along with the concomitant
lines and fittings. The first in the series was the one that ruptured
both times. Undoubtedly running at the pump bypass pressure (whatever
that was), coupled with a little fatigue from vibrations in the lines, and
pressure ripple from the pump . . . well; just my opinion.
Al G