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914World.com _ 914World Garage _ /6 front oil cooler installations cut the front bracing?
Posted by: Tdskip May 15 2021, 04:32 PM
Hi folks - just doing some planning here for 3.2L build and it looks like most of the front oil cooler installations end up cutting the factory bracing extends from either side of the car near the headlights to under the front latch.
The Patrick Motorsports kit from the shapes in the kit seem to presume that but I wanted to ask what most people end up doing. Some recent big$ sales on BAT took the cut/remove approach but I’m a bit reluctant to dive in with the cutting disks.
Example picture attached
Thanks!
Posted by: Chris914n6 May 15 2021, 05:44 PM
So you have a 73 or 74 which has the added reinforcement?
Maybe the shroud fits underneath it?
That car is likely a 70-72 and nothing was modded, just cuts for air holes.
Posted by: SirAndy May 15 2021, 06:00 PM
Early cars didn't have the cross brace.
Stupid question, why do you think you need a front mounted cooler for a 3.2L?
Are you going to take the car to the track on a regular basis?
Posted by: Tdskip May 15 2021, 10:11 PM
Early cars didn't have the cross brace.
Stupid question, why do you think you need a front mounted cooler for a 3.2L?
Are you going to take the car to the track on a regular basis?
Ah, didn’t know that the early cars didn’t. Thanks Chris. It is a 1974 car.
Andy! the 3.2L in the 911 needed a front cooler so assuming a 3.2L will here too (plus generally accepted build approach).
Hope you had a good Saturday.
Posted by: Steve May 15 2021, 11:29 PM
The 3.2 did run cooler than my 2.7 did. The only time my front cooler fans came on with my 3.2 was when I was stuck in traffic in the middle of summer. It does get pretty toasty in Southern California compared to Northern California. However mine is a Euro high compression motor. The US motors might run cooler.
Posted by: mb911 May 16 2021, 07:06 AM
This is how I did mine. Remember I have an rsr sized cooler in mine
Posted by: arbitrary May 16 2021, 10:27 AM
The guy who is Classic Retrofit, maker of blade fuse panels and electric AC kits for 911s, is working on a rear mounted oil cooler for 911s. It’s not yet ready for production but would seem to be a candidate solution for adding an oil cooler to a 914-6 without cutting up the frunk and running oil lines to the front of the car?
Posted by: mate914 May 16 2021, 10:47 AM
Is this what your looking for?
Posted by: live free & drive May 16 2021, 11:21 AM
I had the area reinforced pretty close to AJ's formula, but somewhat simpler (cheaper). We took advantage of the restoration design corner reinforcement pieces (that are now available) and notched them rather than the elaborate sectioning and piecing that AJ did.
This also allowed us to have the crossbars land on thicker reinforced pads that spread the load into the sheet metal.
In the diagram the red rectangles are 4 mm sheet steel the smaller ones are contour bent to match - the larger one is just flat. The green rectangles represent the 1" x 1" x 1/8" wall steel cross members.
The yellow lines show where the RD stamped corner parts were notched.
This was all done by Chris at Tangerine Racing.
The blue rectangle is the exhaust air cut-out (shown 2 pic below).
The last pic shows the flow cap, prior to welding (this part is available at Mittlemotor)
Posted by: SirAndy May 16 2021, 01:09 PM
Andy! the 3.2L in the 911 needed a front cooler so assuming a 3.2L will here too (plus generally accepted build approach).
I know of several bay area 3.2L 914s that only run the engine mounted cooler. Those are street use only cars though.
Posted by: Tdskip May 16 2021, 04:07 PM
Sounds like the consensus is that the factory panel between the headlights introduced after 70-72 isn’t needed then?
Posted by: Cairo94507 May 16 2021, 04:14 PM
I have the PMS oil cooler in the front of my car and the 3.2 typically runs about 195 while driving. If I am in stop and go traffic it will creep to maybe 215 degrees. A cool thing (to me) is that as soon as traffic opens up I can watch the temperature gauge go back down to 195. So no heat issues and I am glad I have the cooler. 
Posted by: Montreal914 May 16 2021, 04:29 PM
Sounds like the consensus is that the factory panel between the headlights introduced after 70-72 isn’t needed then?
By removing that reinforcement and the horizontal spare tire, you will remove crash protection on a now heavier car.
914-6 GT were setup for race, will your car be street driven?
Why would Porsche install a panel in a low cost car if it wasn't needed?
Posted by: sixnotfour May 16 2021, 05:11 PM
The guy who is Classic Retrofit, maker of blade fuse panels and electric AC kits for 911s, is working on a rear mounted oil cooler for 911s. It’s not yet ready for production but would seem to be a candidate solution for adding an oil cooler to a 914-6 without cutting up the frunk and running oil lines to the front of the car?
save trh FRUNK...
Attached thumbnail(s)
Posted by: Tdskip May 16 2021, 05:51 PM
Just to be clear, I’m asking about this in red.
Posted by: mate914 May 17 2021, 05:57 AM
Just to be clear, I’m asking about this in red.
I say save it. Half circle shape adds strength.
Matt
Posted by: Steve May 17 2021, 07:55 AM
AFAIK the PMS cooler fits under there.
Posted by: Mark Henry May 17 2021, 09:08 AM
AFAIK the PMS cooler fits under there.
The the real GT and Mazda RX7 cooler won't fit under the brace, the RX7 cooler is about a 1/2 inch too tall.
I have not tried it yet but if I have the correct dimensions the MB W126 cooler should fit no problem.
Posted by: Maltese Falcon May 17 2021, 10:02 PM
I've used the Mazda RX4 coolers on a couple 914s and a 930 turbo; fit on the 914 goes flush to the top of the arched sheet metal piece, and the f'glass shroud fits great over everything.
@http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showuser=21666 ... I have an extra RX4 cooler on hand...needs some rehab and an ultrasonic cleaning. Check it out when you pick up your headers 
Marty
Posted by: Tdskip May 18 2021, 07:55 AM
Thanks for all the responses and I’m going discussion. It appears that there was a very narrow date range when Porsche added that bracing? I have four 1973-1974 cars and only one of them actually has it?
Posted by: Chris914n6 May 19 2021, 02:38 PM
The bracing was added along with the bumper 'tits' to accommodate new impact bumper regs.
The 75-76 BUBS don't have that brace. Different reinforcements were added for the bumper shocks.
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