FI Build-up - German Plenum/TB & MS-1

[Vee Dub Nut]

ehh.. no cutting holes in my car

Stand offs are doing fine.. Looking at my oil temps as they sit now, I fully expect to have to add an additional cooler when the heat really comes on this year. So far I think its doing pretty good for just the stock dog house cooler.

[Vee Dub Nut]

Actually just bought a 96 plate mesa cooler this afternoon (kinda big I know, but the price was right). I'll be getting a thermostatically controlled sandwich plate to plumb it into the system. Plan to mount it under the package tray. I'll initially try it without a fan, as I think it will plenty big enough to naturally convect off the extra heat I need to shed out of my oil.

[ToRy 70]

Be sure to rubber mount it and hang it at least an inch below the sheetmetal. Pretty obvious I know, but yours truly did that and guess whose cooler had nowhere to shed heat to.

[MarioVelotta]

Be sure to rubber mount it and hang it at least an inch below the sheetmetal. Pretty obvious I know, but yours truly did that and guess whose cooler had nowhere to shed heat to.

In my car I had a real hard time with this placement. It is all to close to the clutch lever and cable. Maybe if you angle it onto the heater duct panel you could make some room.

[ToRy 70]

That's very true. I have even less room because of my IRS trailing arms, so it was very hard to find a good spot. The clutch wingnut literally comes within a half-inch of the setrab fan. So VDN, when you mock up your placement try to give yourself extra room just in case!

[Vee Dub Nut]

Good tips guys.. Once I get it here I will have to start playing with mock-up to see where I can get it mounted

[MarioVelotta]

I put mine under the tranny, attached to the frame horns. Great spot but I would like to find a little thinner fan though. It is a little lower than my sump but directly between the wheels so the height is constant.

[Chip Birks]

I couldn't fit mine under the package tray, not even close with the rubber mounts. I am going to put it by the drivers torsion bar tube. I've seen this done a few times and think it should do the job.

[raggdout63]

I've attempted to put a cooler under the package tray with great failure. I talked to a couple of different shops and where they mount them. Most weld a couple of little tabs to area's under the driver side package tray. The cooler then mounts off the tab at the torsion tube, as well as two holes in the frame horn. The fourth tab is then mounted off something near the spring plate, or shock tower. I dont remember. Plenty of airflow and ground clearance.

[56speedster]

Seemed to have gotten all the small oil leaks solved except for one little drip off the left hand valve cover. My newly installed crankcase breather lines seem to work nicely.

Hey Vee Dub Nut,

Did you hook something up to the plastic oil fill breather? I noticed in one of your pics that you had a filter attached to it but didn't notice it in a later pic. I have my valve covers and distributor plug vented to a breather box and don't have any leaks but was curious to know what you did with the oil fill breather port. I doubt that the tiny hole that the breather has would do much at all but who knows. I would really like to find some sort of metal replacement for the plastic filler.

[Vee Dub Nut]

Yea.. I have it run up to the breather box along with the two valve covers. I too would like to find a metal oil filler. I thought about trying to get one fabbed up from aluminum. I'm not proficient enough with the tig to pull that off, but know a few folks who might be able to help.

Also got my 96 plate cooler in and.... DANG that sucker is huge Also got my thermostatic sandwich adapter too, so in a few weeks I'll try to get it all mounted up. I'll be sure to post pictures.

[56speedster]

If you do manage to get someone to fab one up for you; if you'll have them make two, I would gladly pay for both of them if you could ship one to me.

I don't remember the brand of oil cooler that I installed but it works great on my car. I believe it is a 72 plate but really am not sure.

[Vee Dub Nut]

If you do manage to get someone to fab one up for you; if you'll have them make two, I would gladly pay for both of them if you could ship one to me.

I don't remember the brand of oil cooler that I installed but it works great on my car. I believe it is a 72 plate but really am not sure.

I'll keep that in mind.. I'll be pulling my engine again at the end of the summer to do some bottom end changes, so if I end up fabbing up a new filler, it likely won't be until then. Got a baby on the way here in a couple of months, so my car activity will be laying low for a bit.

[56speedster]

.[/quote]

Got a baby on the way here in a couple of months, so my car activity will be laying low for a bit.[/quote]

Congratulations!

[Vee Dub Nut]

Boo... Got some not so great news today. The last time I changed the oil in the car I thought I noticed a little bit of metal shavings in the drain pan after dumping the oil. I couldn't confirm it though, since I didn't know for sure if the pan was clean before draining, or if I just washed crap off the bottom of the engine. Well fast forward to today and I'm working on my secondary oil cooler install and needed to drain the oil. Got my drain pan and made sure it was squeaky clean along with the engine, and then I drained the sump. Sure enough, little flakes of metal coming back out of the engine again. Grr.. no strange noises or loss of power. I just don't want to keep driving the car if something is letting go. Don't want to risk anything else...

So the engine is coming out. I'll be using this opportunity to do some much needed upgrades in the bottom end (forged crank, upgraded rods, new cam, ect). The bad news is that it will more than likely be around early fall before I'm back in service. Don't see my budget available before then, and I will not go into debt for the car. Oh well, with the baby almost here my time is fixing to start FLYING.. LOL