Re ford V6

[Dave K]

HI All
I am now carring out the first fit of my ford V6 Essex engine in my "New" ( Ive been at the build now 4 years.) 15ft Oak framed hull and am wondering about the need to cool the engine oil and the velvet drive gear box oil, whilst the boat will no dout be capable of faily high speed I do not intend to do much of this so do I need oil coolers? any help would be much apperciated.
Dave

[Alacrity]

For slow speed river running then no oil cooling will be needed for either in my opinion & you will probably be OK for short fast runs. For any sustained fast running then cooling is required. Most marine engines in our sort of boats are over cooled on the oil side, modern quality oils work best at their designed operating temperature which is, I believe around 90-100 deg C. Cheap oil doesn't work full stop. This has been covered on here before including a very well written piece by an ex. oil engineer, so you could try using the search facility to find out more.

[Dave K]

Thanks for that . I will look further into this. It seems from what you say I would best try the engine and gearbox out first with oil temp gauges fitted . the boat will not be ready for launch for some time yet . but at this stage of construction it would be good to minimize the plumbing.
Dave

[Alacrity]

That makes sense, if you plumb it so coolers can be added without a major re-work & run her withe temp guages you will be on the right track.