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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....

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

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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.

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

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Oil Cooler Sandwich Adapter from CXRacing.com , $49.49
 
Last edited:
302 Hi Pro said:
Did you go with a plastic wiring harness cover type protective sleeve?
I'm using that plastic cover in several spots including the other hose in my photo with no issues. But it this spot it won't be enough and what Grant posted should work much better.
 

drano38

Wayne
1,130
318
I used the Improved Racing hose protection also--seems like a good product, but I haven't inspected it close since install. Need to do that . . when it stops snowing.

Dave, if you haven't bought your cooler parts yet, consider -12AN hose instead of -10 (assuming you can transition to that off your oil plate). A little more room to flow, and I'd guess cost won't be much higher. Hose will be a little bigger, but should still fit thru the areas.
 
My DIY Oil Cooler Install (a few pics)

I've learned a lot from this thread. Doing my own spring cleaning by fixing small leaks and simplifying with a Mishimoto sandwich plate vs Greddy's remote oil filter mount (this will be for sale along with Cooltech's hanger, lines, and Moroso sandwich plate. All that's missing is the oil cooler and mounting hardware).

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It's nice that Mishimoto includes two 1/8 NPT ports. I look forward to super easy oil changes again. Is consensus in this scenario to put the pressure sensor on the sandwich plate's return port and temperature sensor on the outlet port?

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I put my temp sensor in output side of the plate. The port that goes to the cooler. I wanted to know exactly the max temp my oil was getting before it was cooled. My pressure sender is in the block where the idiot light sender use to be.
 
F.D. Sako said:
Was there any fitting issues with the mishimoto sandwich plate?
I remember reading about gaskets barely making contact?

I'll get under the car tomorrow, but from what I've read, bad fitment stemmed from interface with the OEM oil/water cooler (which I don't have). I'll report back when I find out.
 
Just got done reading thru this thread. Great info here!

I've got some questions hopefully you folks can answer as I look at the various differences between the DIY kit and the Misimoto Full kit.

1: In regards to the full Mishimoto cooler kit that is available, does anyone see any show stoppers in terms of its design that the DIY Setrab cooler can do better? I notice that the Mishimoto cooler has its AN fittings on top of the unit verses the Setrab which has its connections on the bottom. Is there any benefit to the gravity feed configuration used by the Setrab compared to the "Uphill" flow setup used by the Mishimoto? Does this even matter in a pressurized system?

2: It appears the the DIY kit hose routing takes a much longer path to reach the samich adapter compared to the Mishimoto kit which brakes right towards the driver side and down stright towards the samich adapter. Based on the experience of those who have installed the DIY kit can you comment on why the longer routing path was chosen for the hoses compared to the shorter path used by the Mishimoto kit? Any reason to think the Mishimoto routing path is not good?

3: For a non Boss regular GT owner who doesn't have a factory oil cooler to begin with is there any real benefit going this DIY route verses the already assmebled kit? It appears the concern from the Boss crowd was that the Mishimoto unit still needed to run "In Addition To" the factory Boss oil cooler which leads me to believe that the Setrab may be bigger but is there any downfall to running a bigger unit?

4: In general, do these Air/Oil Coolers require any maintenace or are they a set it and forget it affair?

5: It looks like with the DIY kit one would need to assemble there own hoses. How difficult is the assembly of a 10AN hose and fittings, what kind of speciality tools are required and is there any reason to think a preassembled hose setup with fittings already attached is any better or less likely to fail?

Thanks for any info you can provide
 
IMHO, the mishimoto testing procedures are not adequate. They claim a 35 degree temp drop. But if you follow the link below and then scroll down to the lower half of the page under “Product Engineering” Click on the “read the full engineering report”. What you will find is they did all their testing on the street. I question whether the mishimoto cooler will work as advertise on the track. Ultimately the link is provided so you can make your own choice, but for me I decided on a DIY Setrab kit as described here.


http://www.mishimoto.com/ford-mustang-5-0l-oil-cooler-kit-11-14.html
 

Grant 302

basic and well known psychic
I took the longer hose route on my GT, because I have the OEM Boss cooler stacked. I *think* if you add the sandwich adapter to yours, that you could come up with a shorter route. I fought with mine for a while before deciding to route to the passenger side. Just didn't have the real estate to cleanly route to the driver side with the Boss cooler in series.

The main reason to go DIY like Rick mentioned is the cost, and then there's the ability to choose a larger unit.

With the air to oil in series with the Boss cooler, I think it would be hard to oversize. The Boss cooler is also an oil pre heater. My GT warms up very quickly...I think faster than my Boss because of the piston cooling jets. Without the Boss cooler, I think an air to oil cooler could extend oil warm up times and that would be the only problem I'd worry about if you run in cooler weather or this is your commuter car.

I can't think of any real maintenance issues...I've only visually checked for rock damage to the cooler.

As for assembling hoses...I think it depends on how mechanically inclined you are. I've mentored a *lot* of people over the years, and I think some people can screw just about anything up! But this is also the guy who forgot to tighten one fitting before firing up after this cooler install. ::) It's not hard, but that's totally up to you if you think you can do the hose assembly! Ask if you have any questions!!
 
Thanks for the info guys. I think you've talked me into going the DIY route also on this. Of course I've got a few more questions now though ;D

In terms of a proper mounting bracket setup for the Series 9 Setrab cooler has anyone used this one shown below found on the improved racing website which is said to be made by Setrab? It almost looks like some folks are using a different brand based on a few of the pics earlier. The one shown below has several holes in it that the ones shown earlier do not have.

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Also, is this lower mounting bracket something that was purchased or was it a homemade setup? If it was purchased, anyone got a link to it?

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Lastly, did the Mishimoto sandwich adapter (w/thermostat) come with everything needed in order for a GT owner to mount it flush against the engine block or are other items required to do that?

Thanks
 

drano38

Wayne
1,130
318
If you can change brake pads and rotors, I'm pretty sure you can figure out how to install a DIY oil cooler. Like Rick said, watch videos for hose assembly. Or ask here!
For the bracket, get one from member 06mach1. If he doesn't have one in stock, pm and ask if he'll make one.
Lower bracket--those are mine in the photo. All they are is 1" x 1/8" aluminum strap cut to length, holes drilled for cooler, and one hole for a sheet metal screw into the bottom of the front bumper. Prime and paint black. Small rectangle pieces are also aluminum. The others are rubber belt (farm store round baler belt) used as vibration absorber.
The Mishimoto sandwich plate will come with the adapter bushing that will hold it onto the engine's oil filter fitting. Then the oil filter screws onto it. Its a female to male adapter that also holds on the plate.
My DIY was not a cost saver. I got a fairly big cooler, added Improved Racing's thermostat, and put the honey comb protective sheet in front of it. But in the end, I got more, for the same price as the kits.
Keep us posted on your progress.
 
drano38 said:
If you can change brake pads and rotors, I'm pretty sure you can figure out how to install a DIY oil cooler. Like Rick said, watch videos for hose assembly. Or ask here!
For the bracket, get one from member 06mach1. If he doesn't have one in stock, pm and ask if he'll make one.
Lower bracket--those are mine in the photo. All they are is 1" x 1/8" aluminum strap cut to length, holes drilled for cooler, and one hole for a sheet metal screw into the bottom of the front bumper. Prime and paint black. Small rectangle pieces are also aluminum. The others are rubber belt (farm store round baler belt) used as vibration absorber.
The Mishimoto sandwich plate will come with the adapter bushing that will hold it onto the engine's oil filter fitting. Then the oil filter screws onto it. Its a female to male adapter that also holds on the plate.
My DIY was not a cost saver. I got a fairly big cooler, added Improved Racing's thermostat, and put the honey comb protective sheet in front of it. But in the end, I got more, for the same price as the kits.
Keep us posted on your progress.

Thanks for the additional info. I will be putting this kit on my list of next upgrades for sure.
 
So I am trying to piece together my oil cooler but I am taking a different approach. I will be keeping the stock oil cooler and using this one in tandem with the new oil cooler which brings to a different approach then the majority of the threads that I have been reading.

Right now I will be grabbing the Moroso sandwich plate with their -10 to -12 fittings running through some -12 lines into my oil cooler (which I am not certain which one I will be using yet. I sent an email to Setrab to see what they recommend) along with a oil cooler and the factory oil filter.

Does anyone have a link to a M22 x 1.5 oil filter fitting that I can use? I have seen one but I have no idea if it is a quality piece or not. Also, from my understanding I wouldn't need to run a thermostat since I am keeping the factory oil cooler on the car correct?
 

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