Definitive Elephant Racing Oil Cooler Install Guide (for noobs, anyway)

[garment]

So, my Elephant Racing oil cooler and fan is in, and I have to say it was a very satisfying project to complete on my ‘83SC. Early observation is that the kit is doing an excellent job at keeping the oil at a manageable temp. For example, I drove from the Philly ‘burbs to DC on Father’s Day, temps were 93 degrees, and it was pure stop/go traffic on the Blue Route (I-476) for 15+ miles, and the temp needle was pegged at the 9 o’clock mark, no higher. Normally, I would see the needle approaching the red zone in similar conditions with the POS trombone cooler. NICE! Plus, Chuck from Elephant was very patient with my questions along the way.

A couple of items to guide you if you are installing this kit:

1. A noob like me just didn’t get how this was not a real plug-and-play install. Everything from bending the stone guard to get it to fit the cooler frame to having to dremel off the old trombone connecting nuts to the fan wiring required a bit more “component persuasion” than I was initially comfortable with. Now I am!
2. However, too much “persuasion” isn’t a good thing – I cut WAY too deep into the trombone nuts, and therefore into the threads of the oil pipes that run from the oil thermostat by the rear wheel well. Thankfully, the connecting hoses (from the cooler to the pipes) have a kind of conical internal connection, so I don’t have any leaks, the cone fitting saved me from myself. Use a lighter touch than me, for sure!
3. The fan is POWERFUL. So much so that when it’s on, and I pull into my garage, and shut the engine off (but leave the key in the “ACC” position), it only takes a minute or so before the fan shuts down (temp falls below minimum start temp). I’d liken the volume of air flow to one of those super-strong hand dryers in a bathroom. That said, I cannot hear when the fan is on when driving. Imagine my surprise (and huge smile on my face when I realized I DID IT) when I got the car up to temp following the completed install, parked in a lot, and put my ear to the wheel well and heard the fan going!
4. Directions could have been clearer/more specific. For instance, I couldn’t wrap my head around how the huge thermoprobe could fit in between the radiator fins. Turns out, you bend a couple of fins in the process. This was not clear to me – why would anyone bend the fins on a brand-new cooler? Biggest a-ha though was the fact that the fan MUST be mounted to the cooler BEFORE applying the stone guard, removing the small but powerful clips that hold the stone guard to the cooler frame is tough (which I had to do, doh!). There’s some type of spikey connectors (4) to attach the fan to the cooler that also gets passed through the radiator fins, and then attached with other clips – you can’t attach the clips for the fan with the stone guard on.
5. There was an existing bracket (which didn’t appear to be doing anything, but may have supported the trombone cooler at one time?) on the rear of the headlight that I had to cut off with an angle grinder. This was the single “wish” I had with this kit, as in, “I wish the existing bracket could be used as the top support for the cooler. I am not used to taking an angle grinder to my pride and joy! However, a bit of cutting, grinding down, and bit of stone guard from a rattle can made it look like the original bracket was never there.
6. Both the cooler and the stone guard have a slot at their respective tops. Make sure you align the slot at the top of the stone guard with the slot on the cooler before attaching the stone guard to the cooler with the included clips. The reason is you will need the up and down play provided by the slot once you mount the cooler to the bracket you install on the headlight. I didn’t do the alignment correctly, and so I had to use my dremel to lengthen then slot to get more play at the bottom of the “slot range” to match the slot on the cooler.
7. Speaking of those clips to attach the stone guard to the cooler – they are super strong, and hard to get on the cooler/guard frame. I used a pipe clamp to get them on, no way could I have used my bare hands.
8. You’ll need some tools that may not be in your kit today. For me, it meant a riv-nut tool and a step drill-bit. I didn’t have the huge wrenches required to crank down the connecting hoses, so it was off to my local wrench for a few bucks to do this last bit for me. Definitely have some extra butt connectors handy (see point 11 below).
9. I used a bit of wite-out to create the drilling reference for the bottom bracket. I didn’t need to do so for the top bracket, because I had a happy accident – when I ground the existing bracket off the back of the headlight, and then applied some stone chip to the now-bare metal, I didn’t wait for the stone guard to dry sufficiently. When I offered up the cooler to the back of the headlight, some of the stone hip was transferred to the top bracket, and of course smeared the stone chip I had sprayed on the back of the headlight, giving me a drilling point to aim for. Bonus!
10. Wiring the fan took some ingenuity! I routed the wiring through the passenger headlight harness, a tight fit. I used a drinking straw to create a temporary conduit for the fan wiring. The fan activation sensor (thermoprobe) was routed fairly easily. The controller was located at about 11 o’clock as one is looking down on the spare tire, against the left side of the frunk. The black wiring tube in the photo was from sourced from Home Depot if memory serves (I had it laying around from another project).
11. Finally, be sure you are wiring the fan controller properly! There are several configurations for the fan. Elephant configures the fan for a “pusher,” but the first diagram (and the one I followed) sets the wiring for a “puller,” which meant the fan was blowing rear to front (and you want front to rear air movement). That required a quick re-wire to correct the situation.
12. Had some “duh!” moments along the way. For instance, when wiring in the replacement horns (I used Fiamm 74100), for the life of me I couldn’t figure out the location of the second spade connector for the ground. A helpful Pelican came to my rescue (thanks!).

Thanks for reading Pelicans!





See the white plastic straw?



Fan wires pushed through the straw, and into the frunk:



Then pull straw back through the frunk:



The thin black wire above the right-most horn is for the thermoprobe. Note use of the hole in the horn bracket as a routing channel.









Installed!

[Ayles]

Did you consider painting the stone guard?

[garment]

Originally Posted by Ayles

Did you consider painting the stone guard?

No, I didn't. If you are wondering if I or anyone else notices the bright shiny stone guard, the answer is definitely no. With the wheel mounted, you have to do some serious "peering around the corner" to see the thing. Also, the guard definitely dulled since installation.

I wouldn't bother painting it.

[Ayles]

Thanks! I got my package from Elephant today and starting to plan...

[Sicklyscott]

Good points and nice write-up. I wish I had this when I did mine ~6 months ago!

A few points that I'd like to add:

1. The oil lines are a pain in the a$$ to separate. I ended up soaking them in penetrating oil for a week and did multiple rounds of heating and cooling with a plumber's torch. You can buy heat protection insulation from your local Home Depot to place behind the lines so you don't burn your paint on the fender. Use 2 wrenches!!!! Can't stress that enough.

2. There are measurements that I found in a post here on pelican to show where the lower bracket should go. I tried welding mine on, big mistake. After numerous attempts at welding and lots of time spent grinding failed attempts down I decided to riv-nut the damn thing on. Should have started with that.

3. The bracket you mentioned on the back of the headlight bucket was for the optional oil cooler that replaced the trombone. The OEM cooler would have used that bracket. On my car the back of the headlight bucket was cut out to make way for projector lights. I ended up drilling a hole and using another riv-nut. I took some flat stock and bent it up to meet the oil cooler. The top bracket in my car is purely to protect fore/aft movement so I wasn't worried about vertical strength.

4. I used Hella supertones for my horn replacement. Although the car now sounds like a Subaru the fitment worked well.

5. I had to undo one of the brackets holding the oil lines to the body. I ended up not putting it back on. The lines seemed stable enough and there was no way the OE bracket was going to reach. Time will tell.

6. Lastly I didn't use the clips to hold the stone guard on to the cooler. I ended up drilling small holes and used a machine screw / nut setup. I was concerned about tightening the top bolt with everything together and figured if the stone guard was more easily removable it would help down the line.

Here are some pictures of my install:

These are the horns I used. I re-used the stock brackets and had to make one my own. They fit well without any interference.

Untitled by sicklyscott, on Flickr

The dark black you see on the back of the headlight bucket is tape but you can also see the metal bracket I made holding the top.

Untitled by sicklyscott, on Flickr

Here you can see the trimmed stone guard. The original one I got from Pelican was stamped incorrectly (holes for the oil lines didn't line up) so I ended up cutting most of the top out. I did add an extension on the side since I have a turbo bodied car. I will say this is one area that needs some help as it's not forcing the air directly through the cooler but potentially around it as well.

Untitled by sicklyscott, on Flickr

[Ayles]

Thanks for adding to the thread Scott. Can you talk a little more about the rivnuts? Did you buy a tool or make one? Hesitant to buy since I only to install 2 inserts.

[garment]

Originally Posted by Ayles

Thanks for adding to the thread Scott. Can you talk a little more about the rivnuts? Did you buy a tool or make one? Hesitant to buy since I only to install 2 inserts.

I did rivnuts as well. PM me with your contact info, I have a spare tool, I think was about $20 and I'll send on some nuts so you don't have to buy those. Can you pay shipping as well?

[0396]

I don't have anything to add,other than a Big Thank You

[Sicklyscott]

Originally Posted by Ayles

Thanks for adding to the thread Scott. Can you talk a little more about the rivnuts? Did you buy a tool or make one? Hesitant to buy since I only to install 2 inserts.

I stupidly bought the tool but the good news is I tend to use that size a lot so it'll come in handy.

You can make your own tool, you basically have to "pull" the threads out or in other terms just over tighten a bolt.

Where do you live?

[tadink]

awesome work! thanks for sharing!! great documentation....

[Ayles]

I cut the old bracket off the back of the headlight. Wondering if anyone used that to locate the new carrera bracket?

[Ayles]

How am I looking on tire clearance? Gap is 1.5 inches.

[75 911s]

That's more than mine. I take it no fan?

What size wheel and tire?

[Ayles]

I have a fan. 205/55/16 tires. I just redid every thing with the later carrera horn bracket. So far that investment has paid off it seems. I just couldnt get the cooler far enough forward with the sc bracket.

[911 tweaks]

Great thread...
Question : has anyone also used the air scoop that is placed where the side marker light is on the car?
Maybe the fan is sufficient enough?
Thx, Bob

[75 911s]

I want the air scoop, but haven't bought it yet. Slightly peeved to pay 100 dollars for a small piece of plastic. I've run my ER finned lines with Carrera cooler and fan all summer in vegas and it's worked like a dream. Never got above 240 and ran at ambient 110 degrees in some cases. Don't really need the scoop but 1. It looks cool and 2. Can't go wrong with even more air hitting the cooler fins.

[timc]

Nice install. Used the same kit years ago. Just recently found fan below mentioned on the 930 forum, bought it, ran it side be side with the ER fan and there is just no comparison. The ER fan does not even seem like it's moving air compared to the AV fan, so I dumped the POS ER and installing the AV fan. It's worth the $29 just to buy it and see for yourself. Fan is also smaller, making it easier to install. I used 4mm bolts thru holes on the outside lip of the cooler when I previously installed the ER fan years ago, and the same with the new AV, as I did not like the cheap plastic ties.
Also, make sure you configure as push and nut pull, so I was told.

https://www.americanvolt.com/collections/6-inch-fans/products/6-inch-small-slim-electric-fan-12v-radiator-oil-cooler-atv-mini-tractor-mower

[911 tweaks]

Thx timc for your post...
So, did you use both er fan and the American volt fan OR two America volt fans?
Please clarify and if you have any pics please post. Thx

[timc]

I tossed the ER fan and will be using ONE 6" American Volt by itself.

If you lay these down and run them side by side, you will astonished at the amount of air the AV moves compared to the ER.


When I was in traffic with the ER, it would keep my temps down for around 15min or so, then they would slowly overtake it's ability to keep the temp stable. I am sure the AV fan will prolong this, but I don't think any of these fans will allow me to just sit in traffic indefinitely, and that's ok, it's nice just to buy more time....but then I generate more heat than a 911.

[Fixer]

Great thread guys