Two Carrera Oil Coolers for the 3.6 Finished! - LONG

[surflvr911sc]

Planning on a 3.6 conversion for my ‘81 SC this summer required me to decide what I wanted to do about cooling the beast. A big part of the decision making was my desire to keep the exterior of the car looking completely original. This eliminated the options changing the bumper/valence or cutting the valance for a front mounted cooler. I decided that a Carrera cooler in each front fender would be the best way to have both good cooling and retain the stock look. I went w/ two Elephant Racing Widemouth coolers and an aftermarket fan for the right side cooler. I bought one installation kit (for the right side) and two rock guards. The left side was going to require some custom made brackets.

I started the project by taking off the front bumper. I couldn’t imagine doing this with it on now that I’ve done it.


Then I removed the windshield washer reservoir and the fuel evaporation tank from the right side fender. These things are huge!


Next were the horns on the right side. I removed the two horn brackets and took them over to the trusty vice. After a little modification they were able to be installed facing forward and the horns fit beautifully. I even took this time to replace them since they haven’t worked as for the last 6 years of owning her. Man they are loud when the front is jacked up and the bumper is off in the garage.


I looked at all my parts, then scratched my head and kicked the tires for about two days. I didn’t know what I was suppose to do w/ two of the three brackets on the right side and I didn’t have clue where to even begin on the left.

I started to see how the left cooler was going to fit since I was going to have to do more custom fabrication on that side. It ended up not dropping in like I hoped, realizing that the space between the chassis and the bumper/valence is much narrower on the left due to the battery. I planned on installing the cooler upside down and backwards compared to the way it would sit on the right so that the fittings would be down and facing forward.

A few modifications to the cooler were going to be needed. I started by cutting off the forward inboard edge so that it would clear the reinforcement for the bumper shock mounts.


Then I had to remove all but the center of the upper mount (normally lower) so that it would clear the inside of the fender.


To be continued...

[surflvr911sc]

The cooler was going to have to sit higher than I wanted it due to the narrow space. I fabricated a block-off out of .032 stainless steal to force the airflow though the cooler and keep it from going under the cooler. It mounts to the bottom edges of the cooler, a rubber spoiler bolt, and a tab that I welded to the chassis.



For the mounting, I fabricated two brackets, the upper one bolts to the headlight bucket and the lower one picked up the fender/valence support bracket.


I used a factory rubber mount for the lower bracket and a thick rubber washer at the top bracket due to the limited space at the top of the fender.


The rock guard ended up sticking out too far for the tire to clear so it was cut down so that it only stuck out from the cooler a ½” top and bottom. This was enough to clear the tire but boy is it close when the tire is turned full right.


That was the finishing touch on the left side.



To be continued...

[surflvr911sc]

The right side was much more straightforward. I had a problem figuring out the three mounts. I knew which one went on the bottom but that left two for the top. It finally hit me that it depends on whether or not you have a bracket coming off the back of your headlight bucket. I didn’t, so I used the one that was made to weld on but I decided to bolt it on instead.


The fan and wiring were next. I went with the Elephant Racing after market fan kit. I think the fan is a little bigger and the thermostat is adjustable from 210-260 degrees. It is also set up so that it can be wired w/ the a/c so it comes on whenever the a/c is turned on.



Then the oil lines needed to be made up to go from the right cooler to the left cooler. I used fittings from Elephant Racing, one 90 degree and three straight, took them and the garden hose I used, to get the routing and length (great tip Chuck!), down to the hose shop and everything went together beautifully.


The last thing I needed to do was come up w/ a replacement for the fuel evaporation tank. I made up an aluminum tank about the size of a coke can thinking that I would be able to mount it on the front behind the bumper. It turned out that it wasn’t a very good spot considering the oil lines were taking up so much room right there. I ended up putting it in the luggage compartment for now until I figure out where I want to permanently mount it or redesign it.


I finally got to the point where I could start her up. I drove her around the neighborhood so that it would warm up just enough to open the external thermostat. I had to add three quarts of oil to make up for the two coolers and lines. Last check for leaks and I took her for a test drive. After driving over 20 mins, at 4k rmps minimum, w/ 90+ degrees ambient temps, the temp would not exceed 200 degrees. I came home and let her idle in the garage and still they wouldn’t increase. Finally, after revving and idling for about 30 min, the temp reached 210 and the fan would kick on and off but the temps wouldn’t get any higher. I turned on the a/c, still idling in the garage, and the temp still stayed right at 210. I think it was a successful test.

The last thing I have to do is modify the bumper. I’m cutting openings on the bottom on both sides to allow more airflow to the coolers. All I need now is a Cool Collar!

[Chuck Moreland]

That looks like a really clean installation. I'm sure it will handle your 3.6 just fine.

One thing you might do, if you haven't already, is notch the bumper for improved airflow like the Carreras.

Congrats on a great job.

[Tyson Schmidt]

I can't believe how far your car has come since Big Bear Run #1! Great car Ryan. You do very good work!

[ChrisBennet]

Nice! I was thinking of something along those lines.
No problems with air getting trapped in the upside down cooler?
I put in a new cooler and added a block off. My temps seemed higher so I removed the block off and things seem fine now. Weird.
-Chris

[Steve W]

Man that is awesome! I kicked the idea around trying to figure out how to mount an extra Carrera cooler or a 28 row brass cooler on the left, but it looks like your figured it out. Great work.

[dean]

Nice work

[JonT]

Great work! I may need another carrera oil cooler in mine when I start tracking the car more this fall/next spring.

[Jadams1]

Nice installation and photos, thanks!

[Bill Verburg]

Great job, nice pics!, I agree w/ Chuck, "notch the bumpers", the bigger the notch the better. Clean, copious air flow is still critical.

What did you do to replace the wiper fluid bottle?

[ChrisBennet]

I'm going to replace my wiper bottle with the "high intensity cleaning" reservoir (911 628 027 00).
Edit: Here's the parts list:
911 628 027 00 reservoir
911 628 077 00 cap for reservoir
-Chris

[plain fan]

Great job!
If you don't mind me asking sort of an o.t. question, what part does the fuel evaporator box play in the CIS system? Could it be removed entirely?
Thanks

[Vipergrün]

Ryan, dood, great install!!

Okay, couple of comments on the right side. Any chance that return line on the upper-left can collapse when it gets warm, or is there plenty of space where it's passing thru? Also, is the one on the 90 degree fitting protected from chaffing where it passes between the foam and the body of the cooler? Sorry to nitpick....

Do you already have a line on a 3.6? I wish I could keep up with the Jonses Then again, an SC with a 3.0 motor may be a collectors item some day!

[surflvr911sc]

To answer a few questions...

Originally posted by surflvr911sc
The last thing I have to do is modify the bumper. I’m cutting openings on the bottom on both sides to allow more airflow to the coolers.

Got the bumper notching covered. I'm cutting them on a mill so that they will be identical.

There are no problems w/ air getting stuck in the upside down cooler b/c oil passes up and down through it anyway. If it were a problem a right side up cooler would have the same problem.

I haven't replaced the wiper bottle yet. I haven't used the thing for the last 6 years so I can really take it or leave it. If I find one <1 gal I will mount it in the forward right corner of the luggage compartment. I'll check out the one Chris posted.

The fuel evaporation bottle could have been removed entirely and capped off w/o hurting anything. It's not so much a CIS thing as an evaporative emissions thing. I decided it was easy enough to keep it in the system.

The oil lines have plenty of room to pass though the rock guard on the right. Chaffing was a concern for me so I put a rubber edge in two places, one on the outside edge of the right rock guard where the line goes through (there is a little more room there than it looks), and the other was on the valence edge where the lower hose goes to the left cooler.

Thanks for the great feedback. I’m really happy w/ the way this project came out. I just need to keep my fingers crossed that it provides the 3.6 w/ plenty of cooling. The 3.0 is loving it, it has a cooler for every liter of displacement.

[pbs911]

Very professional job. The set up looks like it came from the factory. I don't think you will have any problem keeping the 3.6 cool. I could not get mine to go above 200 with the dual coolers and the 3.0. It sounds like you have the same cooling capabilities. I think you will notice the 3.6 will flutuate in the temp depending on whether you are moving or not. See ya at BB3!

[TerryBPP]

Nice!

[911pcars]

Ryan,
Nice fabrication job. Looks neat and tidy! Good job.

As Chris mentioned, there might be an issue with air trapped in the driver side cooler. You could drill and tap the upper tank of the cooler and install a bleeder screw. This way, you're assured of a completely filled oil cooler. However, at a max. of 200ºF, you might want to quit when you're ahead.

Regards,
Sherwood Lee
http://members.rennlist.org/911pcars

[Chuck Moreland]

I don't think the inverted cooler poses any problem for trapped air. Normally mounted Carrera coolers flow down, then up. Ryan's flows up then down. 6 of one, half dozen of the other.

A bleeder would not help. Roughly 25% of the volume moving through the cooler is air due to an over-driven scavenge pump. From that fact alone, its pretty clear the cooler has no trouble passing air.

Now, passing gas is whole different problem

[RickM]

Great job! Thanks for the very clear pics.

For other windhield washer assemblies you can try JC Whitney...they have a few different configurations including a unit with a heavy resevoir bag.

Also, did you consider running hard line? I know it would be alot harder but you'd also have some natural heat radition from there as well.

In any case...it looks great and sounds like it works great...congrats.