Got my cooler installed!!

banjomike · banjomike's Garage

It took the whole weekend, but I did it. During the early morning cool drive out to Modesto where the install took place, I was seeing it steady just over 210 (probably about 220). On the way home in the late evening I never saw above 210 (averaged about 195). I'm looking forward to getting a chance to give it a work out on a hot afternoon.

I took lots of pictures. I'll post some of the better ones tomorrow. By far the hardest part about it was that the lines were slightly out of kilter and had to be convinced into the right shape. I was thinking about writing up a tech bulletin about installing an external cooler on a car that doesn't have one, but that will take some time. Shout out to my Father-in-law who let me use his shop and lent me his experience and skills. And Kudos to all of the collective experience here that made me belive that I could pull this off!

k9handler · 06-23-2003, 02:12 AM

Wuf! Wuf! Great job, don't it feel good to complete a good DIY project?

Enjoy it.

banjomike · banjomike's Garage

jacked up

oil lines before

empty fender before

removed the rocker panels. Looked like a race car without the rocker panels, very cool.

to be continued....

banjomike · banjomike's Garage

I hung the lines in there and sure enough they barely fit (needed some bending)

I got the thermostat to line up this way but trying to get a wrench on the nuts was a joke, so I took the whole mess out put it on the workbench, connected the thermostat there, and then put them back in.

After much fiddling with the various brackets trying to see how it snugs up, and making it fit, I drained the oil from the oil tank (had an oil change 2 weeks ago so I didn't change all of the oil or the filter) then I started on disconnecting the old oil line.

this wrench can only be used in one direction. (in this picture clockwise bad, counterclockwise good)

tune in next week, same bat time, same bat channel

banjomike · banjomike's Garage

the trombone went on first, and this was no small job. The trombone required a fair amount of 'reshaping' to get it to line up.

here's where the new lines will go

and here they are

ain't that purty!

to be continued...

banjomike · banjomike's Garage

some soapy water and this wasn't as bad as I thought it would be

put back together and filled up with oil, letting it run until those lines get hot (the gauge read just over 180 when they started to get hot)

stay tuned for the conclusion...

banjomike · banjomike's Garage

couldn't have done it without his garage, tools, and help.

ready for the ride home

new cruising temp!

check that oil for the umpteenth time since yesterday evening.

All told I started by about 10am on saturday, worked until dark, started about the same sunday and was cleaned up by 7pm. Of course most of sunday was spent driving around the greater Modesto area looking for 1/4" 5/16" brass hose splice to repair the fuel leak (more like an extra spray nozzle just above the clutch linkage) I discovered when I started the car up. God knows how long it had been leaking but that is another thread.

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I hope I haven't abused the bandwidth, I compressed and resized each of these photos.

RickM · RickM's Garage

Mike, great job. Thanks for the pics!

VincentVega · 06-23-2003, 11:55 AM

Good work!

Silveresrty911S · Silveresrty911S's Garage

Great Job Mike,

Only a week or so to go and I'll be doing the same thing, only on my 3.2.
Thanks for the pics.

Rick

tmctguer · tmctguer's Garage

great job and photos. brought back memories of when i did that to my '73 911E. probably the best DIY job i've done so far. it was not cheap, but it provided much needed cooling relief for hot days at the track.

MotoSook · 06-23-2003, 08:42 PM

Very NICE! Great job Sir Mike. WUF! WUF!

arrivederci · 06-24-2003, 03:18 AM

If you spend any time at the track, you may be replacing the trombone with a radiator type of cooler. My '72 had temp issues (225+) at the track...my choices were to back off when the temp got up there or add an oil cooler. I chose to add a fender mount radiator cooler from a carrera.

Now, on the road, it'll get up to 180. At the track, though, it'll still get up over 210 when running hard on a hot day. I don't think that the trombone would provide the necessary cooling for a 3.0L on a hot day (based on the fact that I'm borderline at the track with my radiator style cooler).

Silveresrty911S · Silveresrty911S's Garage

Josh,

What size engine in your 72? Did you do any additional air routeing for the carrera cooler. I've got the heat sink type(14 brass tubes) and was wondering if that's the type you used.

Rick

arrivederci · 06-24-2003, 05:06 AM

My engine is a slightly warmed 2.4L T motor. It is running a higher compression, boosting HP from 140 to 170. I used the cooler from the later carreras. I know the brass tube cooler was used in '84...

The passenger side battery box (early cars had two batteries) was removed and air can now flow directly through my right side horn grill at the cooler.

Here is a pic of the installed cooler. Hope this helps.

Fritz · 06-24-2003, 06:07 AM

Hey Josh,

What type of bracket did you use at the top of the cooler?

I've got an early car and am getting reacy to mount the cooler. I have the top bracket that came with the cooler kit but what did you mount that to?

Joe Bob · Joe Bob's Garage

Parts Heaven gave me a REALLY good price on a NEW Carrera cooler. Since I already had the brass row one...minimal mods were needed.

Pelican has a complete kit with the rock guard and mounts as well....

arrivederci · 06-24-2003, 07:31 AM

I didn't install it myself...and I also haven't had to take it apart for any reason. So I'm not sure what was used to mount it. Sorry.

Chuck Moreland · 06-24-2003, 07:58 AM

Fritz

The top of the cooler mounts to the back of the headlight bucket.

The factory setup is a metal bracket welded to the bucket. A rubber isolator connects the mount to the tab that is welded to the top of your cooler.

banjomike · banjomike's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by jpinkert
If you spend any time at the track, you may be replacing the trombone with a radiator type of cooler. My '72 had temp issues (225+) at the track...my choices were to back off when the temp got up there or add an oil cooler. I chose to add a fender mount radiator cooler from a carrera.

Now, on the road, it'll get up to 180. At the track, though, it'll still get up over 210 when running hard on a hot day. I don't think that the trombone would provide the necessary cooling for a 3.0L on a hot day (based on the fact that I'm borderline at the track with my radiator style cooler).

Your 'temp issue 'was my interim goal!! I have run it autoXing on a hot day and let me tell you that no external cooler at all was VERY INSUFFICIENT. I managed to keep it mostly under 250. I changed oil that tuesday. I vowed not to run it like that again until I had more cooling. My normal cruising temp on a cool day was just over 210. Getting hard into it even for just a few turns would get it up to 240 easy. I have not seen above 210 since sunday, though the weather has been very cool.

Since I had no external cooling, I was able to afford this as a staged project (and then only if I did the work myself). Phase one was to get all of the lines and thermostat to the front fender. Since the trombone was essentially free with the lines that was the obvious solution. Even with this compromise solution it cost me a pretty penny to get this far. This should keep the temp safe and sane through the summer commutes and autoXs.

If I had gone with a carrera cooler at this point that would have meant the two short lines, the cooler, rock guard, brackets, horn relocation kit, and the foam seal bit, which would have doubled my parts costs.

The next phase will be an upgraded cooler in the fender and depending on cash availability at the time the cooler fan may have to wait until phase 3. The next autoX in my region is in july and I hope to stress test it then.