Oil squirters
#1
Oil squirters
I have a converted diesel that I get to start over on because my wife caught the car on fire (long, painful story). Something I've noticed is GM, Ford, and Chrysler are making use of oil squirters to cool down the pistons in their hi-performance engines. They obviously see a benefit that outweighs the additional cost. Has anybody tried doing this on an Olds? Any comments? Is this a terrific observation? Am I a flaming idiot?
I live in an area where 91 octane qualifies as premium (Tulsa, OK) and was thinking this would help against pinging, keep the engine running cooler, etc.
I live in an area where 91 octane qualifies as premium (Tulsa, OK) and was thinking this would help against pinging, keep the engine running cooler, etc.
#2
The oil circuit inside an Oldsmobile engine is designed from the factory. The only way I know of to modify the flow of oil in an Oldsmobile engine is to put restrictors in the oil galley leading to the heads. Unless you are racing and doing a hi dollar performance build there's no reason to even consider this.
#3
If your Olds engine makes above 1.2 hp/cubic inch and you have thin rings and excellent windage control, you could consider oil squirters. You would need to engineer this feature so that you don't overload the cylinder wall with oil. You must balance the extra oil use versus pump capacity so that you don't starve bearings and other essential destinations for the oil. You would also need to design and add an auxiliary oil cooler.
And after that work, your octane requirement may not go down much--piston temperature doesn't usually get hot enough to change the detonation threshold by much.
I've not heard that car or boat racers use squirters in Olds engines. If it raised power and increased durability, you would think they would have done it.
Faced with detonation, most would reduce compression, cut timing, buy fuel with higher octane, or switch to higher-alcohol fuel (it cools the intake air more than straight gasoline).
But I don't want to dissuade you completely; your proposal sounds like a really cool science project.
#4
Or just use a thermal barrier coating on the piston tops.
However on your avg carbureted street performance build, most of this would be a waste of time anyway.(Except the Heads).
However on your avg carbureted street performance build, most of this would be a waste of time anyway.(Except the Heads).
Last edited by cutlassefi; March 4th, 2019 at 02:48 PM.
#5
Olds already did that.
Olds designed engines with it. It's a small groove in the rod at the rod cap interface on the rod side. Factory bearings had a small notch at the parting line in the bearings that lined up with the groove.
#6
#7
The easiest and most efficient way to do piston Squirters in an olds would be to drill a small hole that passes through the rod bearing and accesses oil pressure on the crank journal.
The small hole would point straight up the beam of the rod or slightly angled to offset the wrist pin.
some rods oil all the way through from the rod bearing up through the wrist pin bushing, and have small holes pointing at a 45 degree angle just before the wrist pin bushing....
These really keep the wrist pin bushings from wearing and keep the piston cooled at the same time.
I won’t say this technology isn’t useful to us, but for most Oldsmobile applications, it is overkill because of the typical lower-rpm power band that these engines are driven in.
Polishing the piston crowns and chambers will help a lot with detonation, and thermal coatings on the chambers, valve heads, and piston crowns will help even more.
You can also just go to an E85 fuel and cool things off a lot more than running any other type of gasoline, this cooling effect of the alcohol combined with high octane makes it a hot-rodders dream, once you get past the additional fuel system complexities and if the fuel is easily available in your area.
The small hole would point straight up the beam of the rod or slightly angled to offset the wrist pin.
some rods oil all the way through from the rod bearing up through the wrist pin bushing, and have small holes pointing at a 45 degree angle just before the wrist pin bushing....
These really keep the wrist pin bushings from wearing and keep the piston cooled at the same time.
I won’t say this technology isn’t useful to us, but for most Oldsmobile applications, it is overkill because of the typical lower-rpm power band that these engines are driven in.
Polishing the piston crowns and chambers will help a lot with detonation, and thermal coatings on the chambers, valve heads, and piston crowns will help even more.
You can also just go to an E85 fuel and cool things off a lot more than running any other type of gasoline, this cooling effect of the alcohol combined with high octane makes it a hot-rodders dream, once you get past the additional fuel system complexities and if the fuel is easily available in your area.
Last edited by Battenrunner; March 7th, 2019 at 09:20 AM.
#8
Many small British engines had a small hole in the connecting rod, which lined up with a hole in the top rod bearing to send oil to the pistons, Jaguar XK engines had an oil supply to the small end (wrist pin) journal as Battenrunner describes. Others relied on oil leaving the big end journals getting thrown up the bores. Renault light truck turbo diesel engines had nozzles pointing up the bores sending oil to the pistons.
Having said this, if your engine left the factory without any of the above, you haven't modified it and don't habitually drive with the pedal to the metal, leave well alone.
Roger.
Having said this, if your engine left the factory without any of the above, you haven't modified it and don't habitually drive with the pedal to the metal, leave well alone.
Roger.
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