The G90 and G99 M5 are incredibly well sorted from a cooling standpoint. Even in a road course environment with extremely high ambient temperatures, the S68 engine tends to operate beautifully, with consistent oil and water temperatures. BMW M invested a great deal of time, money, and effort into designing a cooling system that worked in nearly every condition that the vehicle would be tested in.
Although excellent ducting, good core design, strong fans, and other factors all play in to how well a cooling system works, there is one ultimate factor which cannot be circumvented- you must have enough heat exchanger surface area, and you must have enough heat exchangers. When examining the front of a G90 and G99, then, we see the hard work of the M engineers in packaging the various cooling components of the car. Everything had to be accounted for, and given ample space, surface area, and ducting.
Unfortunately, as with previous vehicles, this leaves the S68 engine’s oil cooler precariously exposed with no protection. A direct impact to the oil cooler can have catastrophic effects, draining the S68 of all of its oil in seconds, a fact that more than a handful of F8X, F90, and G8X owners have had to learn in a painfully direct way.
Having seen that this was a critical need in previously M cars, IND worked with Fall Line Motorsports to develop a robust oil cooler guard, specifically designed to shield the S68’s oil cooler from large road debris and prevent disaster.
The new Fall Line Motorsports oil cooler guards will be constructed from thick stainless steel plate, and will fasten directly to existing frame members on the vehicle, spreading any impact across strong structural components. Special care was taken to ensure that the opening in the oil cooler guard matched the shape and size of the existing BMW oil cooler air outlet, ensuring that proper air flow is maintained.
As an added benefit, the leading edge of the 'protection cage' extends down into the airflow beneath the car. Anyone familiar with the airfoil that BMW installed at the leading edge of the oil cooler on G8X cars will know that as the air has to flow around this piece, it creates a slight vacuum effect, thus pulling the air through the cooler and marginally increasing its efficiency.
