Rear Mount Oil Cooler Planning, Ok, leaking oil again... Options

[BeatNavy]

With the addition of my 2270 I'm now pushing oil temps toward 230 on an 80 degree day. I am not surprised, but wanted to run it for a bit just to make sure an external oil cooler is truly necessary.

I think it is truly necessary.

I've researched and planned this some, but I'm still looking for sanity check, comments, and answers where appropriate. You'll notice I'm trying to stick with Setrab for most of this under the assumption that the pieces should work together.

1. This will be rear-mount cooler: Setrab Series 1 19-row w/Fan. It looks compact, has the fan, and was recommended to me. It will be mounted somewhere under trunk / over gearbox, probably passenger side.

2. Sandwich plate adapter. I've considered going with CFR's system, but I'll probably stick with the sandwich plate route at this point. Which sandwich plate? I assume it needs to be low-profile to avoid interference with cross-bar, but these things run from $26 to over $200 depending, I guess, whether or not they have thermostat. I was thinking of going with this one: 3/4 x 16 1-inch Sandwich Plate

3. Oil line fittings. I guess I need 2 for the sandwich adapter plate and 2 for the cooler itself. From a planning standpoint should I assume straight, 45 or 90 degree angled, particularly for clearance purposes off the adapter?

4. Oil lines. Going with steel braided, and I was thinking about 10 feet of AN8. Any advantage/disadvantage to AN8 versus AN10?. I'm going to get the Koul Tool oil line tool to help fabricate these.

5. Thermostat fan switch - was planning on the Setrab 190 degree thermostat switch.

6. Then I guess I need to go fused or relay on the power. Need to research that a bit more.

7. Am I missing anything or any other gotchas before I start ordering stuff?

As always, thanks for advice and help. Adding an external cooler obviously makes everything a bit more complex and crowded underneath. I guess I should have stuck with the original 1.7L I had years ago. NOT! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy11.gif)

[BeatNavy]

Alright, apparently I like blowing seals (no jokes, sil vous plait).

Ordered the seal replacement kit from Setrab and it arrived Saturday. Hooked up Sunday morning and took a couple of spins in hot weather. Oil temps weren't as cool as I would like, but then again I still needed to add some oil. Good news, no major leaks.

Took it for another spin today after bringing it up to full oil level, and when oil hit temp of about 180 it started leaking badly again out of the adapter. I was only a mile or two from the house, but I had to add oil and watch the OP idiot light to make it home while dripping badly along the road (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif)

Post mortem shows that I blew the seal the same way in the same damn place -- directly across from the hose fittings on the adapter. What gives here??? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif) I was careful not to spin the adapter while torqueing it down. That was what I thought I did last time. Here are my working theories. Input is more than welcome:

1. Still didn't seat the seal correctly on the lip of the oil filter console. I had left the AN10 oil hoses connected to the adapter so I didn't have to tighten them again after putting the adapter on (to avoid any side loading on the seal / adapter), but I thought I was careful. Maybe I torqued it down with the seal not in the exact correct spot. Again.

2. AN10 hoses are putting rotational torque on the adapter, especially if they move around during driving, and that tears the seal. I didn't THINK the hoses were especially tight/kinked as they curved to the adapter, but maybe during driving they shift? These hoses are coming down through the J-tube hole and curving to the adapter place.

3. Oil pressure is blowing it out. I wouldn't think so, and I was careful driving, not getting close to 4K RPM particularly with oil below 140 degrees. I don't have OP gauge, so I don't know.

4. There's a bur somewhere on the console or adapter plate that's cutting the seal. If there is, I can't see or feel it.

Fortunately when I bought the seal kit they sent 2. So I have one left I can put on. But I don't want to try until I have a better idea of root cause. I was ready to buy some different AN10 fittings (e.g., 45 degree bends) to see if that would take pressure off of the hoses/plate, but I'm not sure that's the issue.

Getting up to the NE outing is starting to look sketchy for me... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)