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My DIY Oil Cooler Install (a few pics)

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Seeing as how I am not made of money, I decided to see if I could beat the Ford price on an Air/Oil Cooler.

Here is my story....

label.jpg
This is the heart, a Setrab 925 oil cooler. Price, $387.08 and $77.77 for the Setrab fittings including shipping

Jegs10anPushlocHose_zpsacc87540.jpg
This is 20ft. of Jeg's -10an Pushloc hose. In my case it was about 8-10 ft. too much. Price, $67.99, free shipping.

Jegs10anPushlocFittings_zps327df3a4.jpg
Jeg's -10an Pushloc fittings, $35.98, free shipping

oilcooleradapter_zps07ce11ae.jpg
Oil Cooler Sandwich Adapter from CXRacing.com , $49.49
 
Last edited:

Grant 302

basic and well known psychic
302 Hi Pro said:
@ Grant 302:

What sandwich plate did you decide to go with? I'm getting ready to do the same and will also use the Setrab 925 cooler. Thanks for your help.
302 Hi Pro

I'm using the Moroso plate with -10 AN O ring boss fittings from here:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/mor-23699


Smilieboy said:
Is anything special needed to make sure no air pockets form in the cooler?
Nope. At full flow, the cooler core area will not hold any air. If there is any in the system it would be a small amount at the very top of the cool side end tank. And even then it wouldn't be there for long. Full flow should be enough to carry small bubbles down despite their buoyancy. Nothing to worry about.

2012Boss302 said:
Hijacking my own thread here.

Seeing as how I'm going to have to tear this thing apart again I want to replace the grille. From an airflow point of view is the Roush grille any better than the 302S grille? Or are they both equally better than the stock grille? :-\

I think the Roush grill should be better than the 302S grill which has very turbulent bar profiles. The stock grilles are terrible from a flow perspective. Enough so that I'm using it on the street to help make sure the oil isn't over-cooled.
 

ArizonaBOSS

Because racecar.
Moderator
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The 302S Grille bars actually increase in area towards the rear of the grille face (tapered), so the perceived open area when looking at the front only is larger than what is actually there.

The Roush/Billet grilles use flat bars so the airflow area is constant, not to mention there are less support bars blocking the airflow.
 

302 Hi Pro

Boss 302 - Racing Legend to Modern Muscle Car
2,009
441
Southeast
Air Flow, Turbulence an interesting discussion. I use the Boss 302R grill which I think will work fine for me as I don't track my Boss every weekend like many of you here.

Also during the Boss racing program of the 2010/11 and 2011/12 race season they seamed to work well for the race teams or did they have to switch these out to something better because of air flow problems with the FRPP 302 R/S grill?

302 HP
 

Grant 302

basic and well known psychic
The 302S grille will work fine in most situations. The 302S and R cars have better radiators, bulkhead sealing, engine compartment venting on the S, lack of a condenser, lighter weight etc. so I don't think they compare directly to the street Bosses.

Hot days and high altitude have proven to be problems for cooling with several street Bosses at the track. Better flowing or removed grilles seem to be the solution.
 

302 Hi Pro

Boss 302 - Racing Legend to Modern Muscle Car
2,009
441
Southeast
Thanks you mention some good points. No A/C condenser is a big consideration in keeping things cool.
302 HP
 

drano38

Wayne
1,130
318
I've got the Saleen grill. Since it doesn't use a GT surround, its very open.
Since I don't have temp sensors, I can't verify my oil or coolant are better. But my Aeroforce gauge ECT seemed lower after installing.
Saleen is all plastic, but the bars are straight (not "V" shaped like stock or 302).
Its another option.
 

drano38

Wayne
1,130
318
Finally got my oil cooler installed. Since I left the water/oil cooler installed, I'll add to this thread.
My components:
Moroso sandwich plate from Summit Racing
Setrab 934, thermostat, hose, fittings, hose sleeve, from Improved Racing
Straight fittings off sandwich plate and into thermostat.
45 deg out of thermostat
90 deg into oil cooler
Getting the thermostat mounting figured out was a huge pain. In the end it was pretty straight forward--bolted it to a 1" aluminum strap and bolted that onto front end bracing.
Thanks to everyone for their posts on how to do this.
Here's pics--
I used Black Boss's idea and moved the cooler down/forward with 3/4" square tubing, and his thermostat mounting location--Thanks!
IMG_20140715_204938_839_zpsf910c64a.jpg
Gives 2 fingers widths.
IMG_20140715_210248_956_zpseedff6c6.jpg
Thermostat. Painters tape used for easy marking of hole locations.
IMG_20140716_202230_826_zps4d1deafc.jpg

IMG_20140716_202256_808_zps14489a5c.jpg


Support straps for bottom of cooler that go to bumper.
IMG_20140716_225830_018_zps5bafdff2.jpg

I added honeycomb, and cut out the honeycomb from behind the oil cooler so air can easily move thru that gap. I should have only covered the oil cooler that is exposed thru the grill--the part behind the bumper doesn't need protection.
IMG_20140720_081914_906_zps8d62e3ce.jpg

Lower support bracket, used 1/4" sheet metal screws into lower bumper.
IMG_20140720_081957_755_zps0f32996d.jpg
 
Update.

I replaced the CXRacing sandwich plate with a Mishimoto thermostatic plate. The CXRacing piece blew out the o-ring between the factory cooler and plate. The Mishimoto is way expensive but it is a well made piece. I'm still cheaper than the Ford external cooler, yea me.....
 

drano38

Wayne
1,130
318
Didn't someone (06mach1?) post a wile back that the Mishimoto 0-ring didn't engage much on the factory water cooler plate? But if its a flat o-ring, that may help compared to the round o-ring you replaced.

If it works, it will be much easier than mounting the Improved Racing thermostat like I did in the above post. In the end it was easy, but sure took me a long time laying under the Boss trying to figure it out.

Hope your system works.
 
Yes, the Mishimoto plate does not allow the entire surface of the flat o-ring to seal tight against the oil cooler plate. But, it does seal tight against the block, which in my case works as I have eliminated the factory cooler. I have a whole year on the setup and no leaks so far (knock on wood!). If it was me, I would not use a Mishimoto plate up against the oil cooler, but directly against the block only. If you look closely at the pic you can see the mark left by the greased o-ring. It is only sealing by about 1/16 of an inch.

llon.jpg
 
2012Boss302 said:
Update.

I replaced the CXRacing sandwich plate with a Mishimoto thermostatic plate. The CXRacing piece blew out the o-ring between the factory cooler and plate. The Mishimoto is way expensive but it is a well made piece. I'm still cheaper than the Ford external cooler, yea me.....

I am not sure why a cx racing plate would blow out the o-ring? If I remember correctly, the o-ring has full contact with the plate. Maybe the round o-ring is the issue compared to being flat like Mishimotos?
 

302 Hi Pro

Boss 302 - Racing Legend to Modern Muscle Car
2,009
441
Southeast
Anyone install the Cool Tech oil cooler? They have 2 options, one without and one with a 185F thermostat. The T-Stat option comes with a remote mount oil filter base.

They use a Setrab Series 1 72 row cooler, (40,000 - 60,000 btu/hr rating), which really fits nicely above the bumper beam, keeping excellent air flow through the cooler unit.

Like to hear your thoughts on their kit. Here is a link: http://www.cooltechllc.com/ford-boss-302-parts-accessories/87-boss-302-oil-cooler.html

- Dave
 
Dave, I have the cooltech kit with the thermostat and I like everything about it except for the hose routing. The hoses cut it a little close to the bottom driver side corner of the radiator (to the point where I had to wrap it with something to mitigate abrasion damage), and the hoses are tight snaking over to the remote mount cooler.

The remote filter mount makes it tougher to changer filters too, but it's not too bad. On the bright side, you can install a temp and pressure sensor into the it (it has two fittings) for monitoring purposes.
 
As part of my preseason check of my car I pulled the plastic panels from under the engine to check my oil cooler install. It's been on the car for over six months and maybe 5 track days. The one area where I didn't like how I routed the lines was by the steering rack. As you can see there was some contact between the SS hose and rack and I placed a small piece of ABS plastic between the two. How have others routed their lines in this area? There's not much room to move them anywhere else.

IMG_5190_zpsxn1vtd4z.jpg
IMG_5191_zpsqsgowdjf.jpg
 

TMSBOSS

Spending my pension on car parts and track fees.
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I routed mine the same way. Stainless lines are the way to go in cases like this.

The pad may not be needed but Never a bad idea.

I'll be pulling mine apart soon for "Spring Cleaning" also.

I'll let you know what I see.

Tracy
 

Grant 302

basic and well known psychic
TMSBOSS said:
I routed mine the same way. Stainless lines are the way to go in cases like this.

The pad may not be needed but Never a bad idea.

I'll be pulling mine apart soon for "Spring Cleaning" also.

I'll let you know what I see.

Tracy

Actually, this is part of the reason why I'm running a stainless inner only hose. It won't abrade other stuff while maintaining burst strength.

My hoses are in about the same area, and no such issues on the hose side for me either. I put protective sleeves over some of the potential contact areas.
 

302 Hi Pro

Boss 302 - Racing Legend to Modern Muscle Car
2,009
441
Southeast
Grant 302 said:
Actually, this is part of the reason why I'm running a stainless inner only hose. It won't abrade other stuff while maintaining burst strength.

My hoses are in about the same area, and no such issues on the hose side for me either. I put protective sleeves over some of the potential contact areas.

Hi Grant:

Did you go with a plastic wiring harness cover type protective sleeve? I'm installing a Setrab system soon and thought about using this material as a protective sleeve.

Thanks,

Dave
302 Hi Pro
 

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