Identify Part - Motorsport24 Z4 GT3

[DRLane]

Motorsport24 Race Heat Exchanger used from Motorsport24 Z4 GT3 Cup Car (14e92061

Anyhow understand the aforementioned part from reidetailing epic e90 build. Specifically from the recent MS24 post.

I’m struggling to understand what this accomplishes and or how it works. From the pictures it doesn’t look like it’s routing to a cooler. Is it just a collector that houses oils and drains back into the pan?

Please what am I missing? Because I want one. 😆

[Redd]

Looks like some sort of heat exchanger to me. Oil on one side, coolant on the other. Based on where those AN hoses are going, I'm guessing power steering?

[omgzirra_exe]

I would assume it's for the V mount set up, since he has to do a lot on the front to fit the ram style plenum and other shit. so probably only needed in that use case.

[DRLane]

Originally Posted by Redd

Looks like some sort of heat exchanger to me. Oil on one side, coolant on the other. Based on where those AN hoses are going, I'm guessing power steering?

The AN hoses go from the oil filter to the exhanger. The other lines look like they’re going into the oil fixed lines?

Redd The coolant concept is what Alex also thought. I’m just curious what coolant is providing this.

[DRLane]

Originally Posted by omgzirra_exe

I would assume it's for the V mount set up, since he has to do a lot on the front to fit the ram style plenum and other shit. so probably only needed in that use case.

I don’t think so. You’d just mount the oil cooler in line with radiator.

[Redd]

Originally Posted by DRLane

The AN hoses go from the oil filter to the exhanger. The other lines look like they’re going into the oil fixed lines?

Redd The coolant concept is what Alex also thought. I’m just curious what coolant is providing this.

Those blue hoses are silicone hoses, commonly used for coolant. I don't think they are used for oil.

Maybe they changed from oil-air to oil-water for engine oil cooling due to size/packaging reasons. That heat exchanger does look like it might be large enough for engine oil cooling.

[roastbeef]

i'm guessing here, but its an oil/coolant thermostat. helps keep the temps relatively close to each other so you don't have cold coolant and hot oil flowing around.

[DRLane]

Redd the silicone makes sense.

Thanks everyone! So leveraging just the radiator to cool water/coolant and then passing this through the oil it would pull enough heat from the oil to replace a dedicated oil cooler?

Very interesting…

[Redd]

Many cars use oil-water heat exchangers from factory to cool engine oil as it's very small packaging. But in general I don't think they perform as well as oil-air cos the coolant will also heat up and greatly reduce the performance of the heat exchanger. The other risk is that they are prone to leak inside the heat exchanger causing oil and coolant to mix and that's never good.

[DRLane]

Originally Posted by Redd

Many cars use oil-water heat exchangers from factory to cool engine oil as it's very small packaging. But in general I don't think they perform as well as oil-air cos the coolant will also heat up and greatly reduce the performance of the heat exchanger. The other risk is that they are prone to leak inside the heat exchanger causing oil and coolant to mix and that's never good.

So it’s odd then that this would be a Z4 GT3 marketed part, no? Isn’t P65 dry sump? Why would it need this?

[DRLane]

I guess this explains why the complimentary “higher flow” coolant thermostat (with thermostat removed) housing is part of the kit.

Faster circulation of coolant and assuming the radiator can handle the increased load, it has a greater capacity to cool oil than an Air to Oil.

[bbnks2]

it's a heat exchanger. 128i use them as well as many other cars. It serves multiple purposes. first, it helps the oil warm up faster. Second, the oil sheds it's heat into the coolant and then the cooling system is taxed with the responsibility of rejecting it.

The Z4 GT3 came with a heat exchanger and this looks to be an upgrade for it.

Why oil to water heat exchange? Not sure to be honest. I would guess to save weight of added coolers and prioritize aero through the bumper instead of adding coolers in the openings. The GT3 Z4 had some pretty significant aero. The engine is likely designed and tuned to run at much higher coolant temps then we are used to seeing.

oil to air is more efficient. Yes, oil is denser and doesn't shed heat as well but the oil to air temperature differential is significantly higher than water to air so you still get better cooling through a dedicated oil cooler. Oil and water also flow through different parts of the engine so with separate systems it's easier to keep the head/combustion cooler for performance with low coolant temps and then cooling the oil separately. But you have to take the weight penalty and add complexity to the build to add more dedicated coolers.

[DRLane]

I guess “heat exhanger” is in the name… Seems like they’re more prolific in Porsches.

Ok, case closed. I’ll retain my oil cooler.