crow is tasty this time of year. i should know because this post is me eating some major crow.

changing the oil cooler seals is easy to do without removing the engine. it should take you about an hour if you have some good basic tools like:
13mm wrench, 13mm socket and ratchet-1/4" drive is better, 10mm deep socket 1/4" drive , 10mm wrench, long flat head scerw driver, a pointed scribe

remove the oil filter, catch oil drool

1975/76 remove teh heater tins on right side, the one from exchanger to fan housing
retract j tube disconnect it first. should have slotted cheese head screws

remove speedo cable from trans. pull it out of the way to the fire wall

the outboard side of the oil cooler has a bracket that holds it to the fan shroud. 13mm bolt

the bracket holds the cooler with a 6mm cheese head , loosen that also to enable bracket to wiggle on end of cooler

move teh cooler forward. this allows the 13mm 1/4" drive socket to fit in teh void of teh oil cooler's chassis

now you can remove teh oil filter attachment. this one was leaking

RTV is evil shizt when used wrong. too much squish into the cavities

the oil cooler bracket will hang up on teh fan shroud. wiggle it out and away and teh cooler will slide out leaving ample room to CLEAN EVERYTHING WELL.

i plugged teh oil galleys during cleaning

the oil cooler is held to the block with 3 10mm nuts. i used a 10mm gear wrench for teh 2 on teh cooler body and a 10mm deep 1/4" drive for teh single one on teh inboard nose of teh cooler. i put a glop of grease inside teh socket, placed teh socket, then put the ratchet to it. the grease holds it in place

my rachet is an 88 tooth fine. i love this thing

you can glop some grease on teh oil cooler seals so that when you stick them up in there, they stay in place. I use a locktite flange sealant that is non hardening

i put the gooped up seal ont eh end of a scribe. i place it, then push it in with a long flat head.

contaminants will cause leaks. your surfaces and insertion tools must be clean, clean, clean!!!

before you slide teh oil cooler back, reinstall teh oil filter adapter . i replaced teh nuts with 12mm wrench size nuts. this makes it easier to get a 1/4" drive 12mm socket on them

teh 2 nuts on teh cooler body are easy, teh one on teh oikl cooler's nose requires you to be more clever than teh nut. i glued it to my finger tip. i placed in on teh tip of teh stud, then placed a 13mm shallow socket with a very small extension to spin it on. i placed another nut inside teh socket to push teh driven nut forward. this extra nut was gooped in place. once teh nut started on teh threads, remove teh extra nut and switch to the deel socket

it is easier to place teh socket first, then follow in with the ratchet handle

Thanks for confirming that it CAN be done, Sean

i talked so much crap about this and it turned out to be so easy.
yup, i said it. easy. under an hour (on a lift)

Dang it! You were able to remove the intermediate flange for the oil filter/oil filter adapter with the engine in the car. I thought that was impossible so I dropped the engine to replace it. You've shown me the way ...

Nice write up Sean! I nominate this for Classic status!

it is very easy
I told my customer we needed to drop the engine to fix the leak that made his teener into a Bond car. he is bummed out. as an experiment, i went in and fixed it just to see how it would go. the best part is that now I get to tell him its fixed for under $100 bucks. its not often that I get to tell a 914 owner good news. cant wait to see the look on his face

I second the nomination


I've looked into trying to do it several times and it looked like it COULD be done, but never did attempt it (yet).

I can see that having a lift would make it more pleasant. I recently had to replace a leaking fuel hose on the Westy - had to lift it 'up & down' several times to get it at the multiple heights it took to reach everything