This is one of those projects that I arguably should have done over three years ago when I first acquired my car. Our
oil coolers, as trick as they look with their dual -10AN braided lines and hardware, are horribly too efficient! That’s right…during normal street driving they do such a great job of cooling the
oil that many of us have had to fashion block off plates or disconnect the lines entirely just to get the
oil up to a proper operating temp.
Here are some pics of my install. I chose this location mostly because I didn’t want to relocate my existing oil breather tank (hey, I like the looks of the set-up and I NEVER get any oil residue on the motor) and I thought the t-stat would be functional there and easier to plumb. That part held true (functional and easier to plumb), but I also learned that you can’t plumb a thermostat without having A LOT of AN fittings and hoses going every which way. I'm still playing with the hose angles from the t-stat to/from the cooler.
The toughest part of the install was (1) figuring out how to best loop the line from the remote oil filter to the t-stat (second pic) and (2) thread the cooler lines through the front cowl with the -10AN fittings already installed. For (1), I chose a 45 degree fitting to improve the flow slightly over a 90 degree option. I’m still not sure this configuration will survive my aesthetics test for “clean”, but it will do for now. For (2), I was able to accomplish this on the passenger side (wrapping the fitting in electrical tape to protect it from scratches), but there was barely enough room on the driver’s side to feed the hose through. So I pre-installed the fitting at the oil cooler, fed the hose through the cowl, and then carefully installed the t-stat fitting using a couple adjustable wrenches with their jaws wrapped in electrical tape. No nicks or scratches, but what a PITA. If you track your car and run -12AN, you already know this all too well.
The Canton unit is quite robust and has a nice anodized look on the billet housing. It’s preset to flow oil to the cooler at 215*F.
But the band clamp mounting bracket is a little flimsy and the stiff braided hoses actually keep it from flopping around. I added some rubber spacers below each end (you can’t see them in the pics) and this removes much of the slop that vibration will induce.
I'm not sure if locating the t-stat above the frame member will place a measurable amount of additional pressure on the oiling system, as I have to pump the oil uphill a little. Would appreciate inputs on this.
-Dean #747