How effective is the PS cooler?

[bensenvill]

I do have a computer engineering degree and have built 2 hydrofoil boats that had electronic stability control of the foils.... so I am a bit more knowledgeable about this topic than your average mad scientist. but honestly I dont know. Me and 2 other guys managed to build our stability control without too much frustration and I never killed myself riding the thing.

 

[Heywood]

We don't have alot of space to play around with for the coolers, so I opted for the more efficient plate coolers. My coolers were a little more complicated to install... but I took pics, I just need to get around to posting them.

Any chance you found those pics morbid? How hard is it to hook up the lines? This seems like a pretty simple and good improvement.

 

[morbid]

Any chance you found those pics morbid? How hard is it to hook up the lines? This seems like a pretty simple and good improvement.

Sorry... work is killing me and I totally spaced out this thread. If you're just doing the p/s cooler, you can use the radiator ties to hold it on (it's not that heavy). Mine is the 2" x 2" x 8-1/4" Earls (pn: 20706ERL)... the smallest they make. That model comes with the fittings for -6AN hose.... -6 hose fits the p/s lines. I used Earls Perform-O-Flex -6 hose (406006ERL) with Earls 90* 6AN fitting (809106ERL) for the right and 120* 6AN fitting (812006ERL) for the left, with two Econ-O-Fit -6 clamps (900106ERL) for the p/s lines. To hold the lines (and make it look nice), I used a pair of their -6 hose separators (167209ERL). That way was not exactly cheap and ended up running around $180 for everything (steel braided hoses, AN fittings, etc). It would be much cheaper with rubber hoses and push-on fittings (probably around $70-80). Either way... that tiny (2x2x8-1/4) cooler is theoretically more than 2x effective than the OEM p/s cooler.

For mine, I have an aluminum plate that I made into a shelf. It's about 24"w x 4"d x 3/8"h and I replaced the bracket under the condenser with it. I have the p/s cooler on the left and the oil cooler (81910ERL) on the right, and together they're about the same width as the condenser. I also made some brackets to attach the front shelf corners to the frame... but I need to add one to the center as it's starting to bow.

I'm about to redo all of my engine oil lines (again)... I'll be sure to take pics when I'm done with that.

 

[bensenvill]

daaawwwmmm, thats impressive, I defintely want to see some pics. reguardless, appreciative of the time you took to explain the little bits necissary to do it properly, I've never been good at selecting out all the proper fittings.

 

[Heywood]

Yes indeed, thanks for the detailed description. I take it you have not had any trouble since installing this. What sort of driving do you do with your car?

 

[morbid]

daaawwwmmm, thats impressive, I defintely want to see some pics. reguardless, appreciative of the time you took to explain the little bits necissary to do it properly, I've never been good at selecting out all the proper fittings.

Thanks! Yeah... I suck at mentally visualizing, so I do tend to get the wrong parts ("well, I thought those would fit"...). And I'm anal about this stuff, so if it's not "proper", it'll bug me until I redo it. So for my engine oil stuff, I'm currently on my 3rd set of hoses and fittings, and 2nd cooler. I think this Earls cooler is perfect for my current setup, but I need to move my remote oil filter to the other side of the car... and am going to get new fittings and hoses again (going from 8AN to 10AN).

For the p/s cooler stuff, I was lucky. The only thing I've changed since the original install is the left cooler fitting. It was 90*, but it needed more angle (120*) to clear the frame better.

Yes indeed, thanks for the detailed description. I take it you have not had any trouble since installing this. What sort of driving do you do with your car?

I installed these parts on 08-04-2006 and haven't had any problems, other than the slight bow in the shelf. I autocross and would eventually like to see how the car does on a track... also I'm generally not too nice to the car on the streets. But my cooling quest primarily stems from the Phoenix summers. Mid-summer heat would push the coolant temps beyond what the high speed fans could handle (about 235-240), and this was just mild driving. So the first thing I did (Feb 2005) was get a Derale air-oil cooler to replace the SVT water-oil cooler... I wanted to keep the oil from heating up the coolant. That helped, but the Derale's dimensions were off, so I got the Earls. Now, my mid-summer temps are around 210-220 (mild driving with the a/c on).

 

[morbid]

Yay... I found the usb cable and finally got around to posting pics... in the pics forum (http://www.contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?p=478444#post478444)

Here's a decent shot of the p/s cooler...

 

[Heywood]

Is it important to have the cooler with the inlet/outlet on the top. In that pic it looks like it would be easy to mount it upside down and to the side of the radiator. Also, did you need to take the bumper off?

 

[morbid]

Is it important to have the cooler with the inlet/outlet on the top. In that pic it looks like it would be easy to mount it upside down and to the side of the radiator. Also, did you need to take the bumper off?

Ideally, you want the ports on the top. You can mount the cooler on its side (only if the top is the exit), but you never want to mount them upside down or air will get trapped in it. I did take the bumper off for this.... it mostly needed to be out of the way when I added the 2 angle brackets, which are behind the bumper.

 

[bensenvill]

Is it important to have the cooler with the inlet/outlet on the top. In that pic it looks like it would be easy to mount it upside down and to the side of the radiator. Also, did you need to take the bumper off?

also note that if the hoses are on the lower side, you have to worry about road debry, especially is you use press fittings. I made this mistake, thinking that if the lines werent covering the radiator that it would improve cooling. and as soon as I lowered the car off the jack stands, it was pretty obvious that was a dumb idea.

 

[Heywood]

Bringing this thread back from long dead, I finally installed a copy of morbids setup on my car this weekend, in preparation for cal speedway in 2 weeks. It all went pretty smooth, the only issue is that the 6AN is very tight going onto the 3/8" lines. I had take 3 rest breaks before I finally worked them all the way on.
Thanks again morbid for the detailed description and part numbers. Hopefully I'll be as happy with this setup as you are.