eyeball kid

I want to run this set up with the spare I have. anyone got pics of his install or advice or part list or even somewhat informed opinion?

Thanks

Dan

Jeff N.

Hi Dan, I just went through this and here's the reader's digest version.

- Dropped my on track oil temps from 260 and still rising after 20 minutes to a constant 230 or thereabouts.
- I installed the coolers in series
- I used the two existing factory lines and just extended them where needed.
- I used barbed fittings, oeteker clamps with high temp oil hose. Didn't do the armored s/s lines. Looked like pain in the **** and couldn't see much benefit.
- I did 10an to simplify some of the connections. Hardware costs are higher with 12an due to the lack of a 32mm female to 12an barbed hose fitting. (you can get them in 10an)
- Only reason I might do 12an is that is the size of the factory lines. However, no issues with my 10 an setup so far.

Re fitment, i could not make this work and keep my AC. Condenser hard lines are in the way. I hear this is only a problem on the 86 but couldn't tell you for sure. Others have reportedly not had this problem on years other than the 86. Something you'll want to verify.

General parts list for 10an setup. I got all the hose parts at BATinc. They seem to have the best selection and prices were competitive. They also have the key 32mm female to 10an barbed hose connectors.

- donor cooler and mounting hardware (gromets, bolts, etc)
- 1 plastic ducting for the factory cooler
- about 3 feet of hose
- 2 sertrab M22 male to 10an connectors to install in the new cooler.
- 1 10an 45 degree barbed hose connector (top of new cooler)
- 1 10an 90 degree barbed hose connector (bottom of the cooler)
- 1 26mm metric male to male extender (connects to factory oil hose removed from hard pipe by radiator)
- 2 32mm female to 10an barbed hose connectors
1 - connects to the factory hard pipe on by the radiator
1- connects to the male to male extender

If you want go 12an, you have two problems. Problem one is is getting the 32mm female to 12 an connectors. You'll need two pieces to make it work. The second problem is connecting to the factory oil line where you need a 26mm male to 12an connector. The standard male metric to 12an port connector thread length is too short to seal to the factory line. You'd still need to put in in the 26mm male to male extension and then you have the problem above with problem one. Maybe there's a graceful solution for this but I couldn't find one.

I have been told that others have used a second set of factory oil lines in lui of most of the above. I didn't have them handy so I can't comment on that. Might be worth exploring that especially if you have them available and in good condition.

Re installation, expect to pull the radiator so you have access to backside of the mounting rail. You might be able to get it in without doing this but I was swapping my radiator at the same time so it sure made it simpler. You'll need to cut the cooler ducting to make it work in reverse. The top side of the cooler competes with a fat *** factory harness. To get the cooler to mount, I had to carefully open up the harness and break it into three bunches and re-route the headlight and dryer unit wires - a pain in the *** but no way around it. Others don't discuss this requirement but I think they are all racers and removed that harness leg.

Not the simplest job in the world by any means. I can see the value of a KISS type kit if you can put up with mountings. A fair mount of dicking around to get it all to fit. If you're not a guru in metric to AN fittings (I wasn't), expect your head to swim a bit as you try to sort out all the hardware. Took me 3 orders to finally get it right (thank god for a good return policy).

In the end I'm pretty happy. Works well....looks neat and clean. My AC didn't work anyways and I plan to pull the compressor and drop the alternator low at some point anyways so it wasn't the biggest loss.

If you want to know more, I'd be happy to discuss on the phone. I'm 90% positive my parts list is correct but would likely want to double check if the 26 and 32 mm items to be sure.

Cheers!

Jeff

Ski

Invert the second one, the radiator support bolt holes line up perfectly. Here you go.

Van

Search is your friend: https://rennlist.com/forums/racing-a...arallel-3.html

eyeball kid

Thanks all. Jeff, I have the factory lines, so I'm going to try to use those. Would you have gone that way in retrospect? Thanks so much for both the list and write up. That took a lot of time and will be very helpful.

Van I did search and got nothing, but that's not a surprise is it? Thanks for the link to that thread. Other than the one piece you fabbed, did you need any other parts. What would you recommend as an alternative to the fabbed piece as I don't see me welding up that piece.

A general question, does it make sense to have custom lines made up at a hydralics shop?

Van thanks for the pics those are great.

Dan

Van

I don't recall if I said it in that thread, but I had to cut open the wiring harness by the 2nd cooler and re-route some wires so there was clearance. It's not hard, but knowing you're going to do it will save time in the planning.

To modify the plastic duct work I used aluminum that I could cut with tin-snips, bend in the vice, and attach with pop rivets. The only welding that I had to do was to the little connector I made out of 2 extra hard pipes. Not difficult, but, for me, it was free. An obvious thing to do would be to have a hydraulic hose shop make that whole run one piece. They may be able to reuse the fittings... can they can't, and can't find the fittings, converting to an AN size is an option.

Jeff N.

Here's a few pics to help illustrate.

From the bottom, looking up along side the radiator rail. Note the wiring harness at the top. The hole in the black (cracked) plastic is where the condenser hard pipes where. Condenser has been pulled.



Harness splayed open for re-bundling.



Finished, adjusted harness.



Cooler mounted



Hoses to the cooler.

eyeball kid

Thanks those pics help a lot.

Jeff N.

Glad to share .... I never found a clear post on how to do this so happy to try to help a bit.

It could make sense to have a hydraulic shop make your lines. Early in my planning, I stopped by shop and discussed approximate pricing and they estimated something around $200 to $225 (IIR) - not too much more than building your own lines like I did.

This might make more sense then trying to do the factory lines like Van used as you can get them made to the correct length and optimize your supports. You'll need a shop that can supply metric fittings to work with the factory stuff. I would take them one of your spare hoses so they can confirm they fittings will correctly seat as the off the shelf stuff I bought had problems in this area.

If you look at Van's picture, it looks like he had to modify the factory hard pipe on the existing cooler. I tried this (to straighten the run) on my first fabrication attempt and can tell you it's not really feasible to bend that pipe (we heated it with a torch but it kinked a bit creating a blockage & weak point). If you want to go this route, I'd suggest cutting the bend out and brazing in a straight section or removing the bend all-to-gather. Ski's car has something different still - looks like the hardpipe is gone and the feed from the engine also routes along the existing cooler. Not sure how they all connected things on the factory cooler side with his car.

In the end, I just used the factory pipe as is. There's not much room in that area with the fan housing....I have a detailed pic of that as well I could post if you're interested.

Van

I'd forgotten about the hard pipe on the 1st cooler. You're right, I did have to bend it a little (I heated it up and carefully bent it, using pliers to help squeeze to prevent kinking...)

Jeff N.

ah..you're a better man than I am.

Mine kinked a just a bit and we also fatigued a small section creating a weak spot. We tried to put a patch on it to strengthen it but in the end it just didn't look very solid and I had no way to pressure test it.

We really needed some high temp sand or something to fill the pipe prior to trying to alter it to maintain the shape but we didn't have any available.

eyeball kid

Anyone have pic of "adjusted" hard pipe?

Van

Just this one... you can see where my heat burned off the cad plating...

I just had to flex it a little bit to be able to use that hose with the 90 degree elbow on the the 2nd cooler. The hose that's above the sway bar (going to my homemade coupler) used to connect to the hard pipe.

Jeff N.

Looks like it was a bit short without the bend? Did you remount the fan unit? Any rubbing? The bend in the hard pipe also helps clear the fan bracket.

I'll post a pic tonight of how mine connected to the unbent hardpipe for comparison.Think I have a closeup. The fan bracket is installed in the pic and you can get a sense of the available clearances.

And can I say one more time that I covet your sway bars???

Van

Those sway bars are great! Easy to adjust.

FWIW, I'm running a single fan (non-AC type), so I have more clearance on the right side of the radiator. Unsure how the dual-fan shroud would fit, now that you mention it.