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Hey everyone I just finished installing an oil cooling system on my 1970 Trans Am. I also installed a remote power steering reservoir and power steering cooler. please take a look at the video I made and let me know your thoughts.
http://youtu.be/8eTnjiDxDew
Myself.....I would have filtered the oil before sending it to the thermostat. The return line from the thermostat to the oil filter also concerns me.....it's resting on the upper control arm? It is also running near your hot exhaust headers and this can damage the hose....at least put some heat sheathing on it and get it away from the moving upper control arm....same for the run coming out of the motor it's by the exhaust! The lines through the radiator support need a grommet on the sheet metal edges so the hoses don't get sawed through by the sharp thin edges of the support. Your power steering cooler plumbing runs by the battery....hope that's the negative terminal....then runs bare past the radiator tank....the outer braid can act like a hacksaw against that aluminum radiator tank...you can cover it with clear tubing from Ace hardware so the braid isn't vibrating against the aluminum.
Thank you LT. tonight I wrapped some hose around the power steering lines where they passed by the battery and the radiator. I will pick up some heat shielding to wrap the lines this weekend. I intentionally put the filter after the thermostat and the cooler to filter out any debris that may come out of the thermostat or the cooler. I appreciate the great feedback exactly what I was looking for Thank you.
While your system is done, & will work fine as-is, I'd like to add a few comments for others researching oil system plumbing.
I like to minimize hose runs, fittings, and extra component mounting. Using your car as an example, I would use a sandwich plate on the stock engine filter mount, but use an Earls thermostatic sandwich plate which allows the filter to screw on the bottom. That eliminates the need to mount the oil thermostat up front, & also there would be no need for the remote oil filter. There would be just two lines to the oil cooler from the sandwich plate. Less loss of oil pressure from the 6 extra fittings, and less expense/clutter.
http://www.summitracing.com/search/b...s?autoview=SKU
The down side is the Earls thermostatic sandwich plate perhaps does not have as much flow capacity as your larger thermostat and some times there isn't room for an oil filter in the stock location. When that happens, I put the sandwich adapter on the remote oil filter mount.
On LS engines, there is a side port with two bolts to attach a thermostatic diverter plate. The oil filter can stay in the stock location.
If your PS system makes groaning noises, lengthen the pressure hose to around 19" minimum, per a tech sheet I have. A longer hose will dampen pressure pulses better. Your PS cooler is plenty big & should run cool. The pump inlet fitting is rather fragile where it screws into the pump body. It would be nice to see a longer more flexible hose between the reservoir and pump but yours may work OK. I like to see an inline filter used on the return line. If using a rack and pinion, I'd use a filter no question.
Thank you David. I just went out for a test drive and oil pressure appears to be good it's at 26 pounds at idle and around 65 pounds when I'm driving if I get on it it goes back up to 80 pounds. I did see the oil pressure needle bounce about 5 pounds a couple of times. for example it would be at 65 pounds and then bounced down to 60 for just a second and then back up to 65.
thank you for the advice on making my power steering pressure line longer. the pump is making some groaning noises and that may in fact solve the problem.
I'm headed to Home Depot now to get some pipe dope to help seal the oil temperature sender to the remote filter mount it is leaking. It is NPT fitting so a high temperature pipe dope should solve the problem.
I recommend you look for a thread sealer intended to seal automotive fluids such as this ARP PTFE Sealer 100-9904. The home depot stuff may work for a while, but eventually I'm sure it will lose the battle.Quote:
Originally Posted by jtwoods4
I actually have some of that stuff but the hot oil just washed it away. I know it's not recommended to use Teflon tape but I used the yellow teflon tape that is resistant to gas and petroleum and it worked like a charm.
With electric senders, Teflon tape, or annodized aluminum can prevent proper grounding. Single wire senders need a good ground through the threads. Just something to watch out for.