Starquest IC/relocated oil cooler install

I'm really into Stealth, so I sprayed the IC with BBQ paint to hide it from the prying eyes of the Kalifornia SmogNazis. You can't even notice it unless you bend way down to look up into the radiator opening. I just barely dusted the IC with paint, just enough to get it black. It shouldn't affect the cooling capacity with such a light coat.

 

I bent 2 90deg aluminum brackets and welded them to the bottom of the IC to line up with 2 holes in the radiator suport that had captured nuts in them. Checking the fit with the bumper in place.

 

Checking the fit with the bumper and plastic ducting (trimmed to fit - removing the ducting is a bad idea, as that ducting helps guide the air through the radiator. Without it in place, the air can swirl out under the IC and some won't go through the radiator, possibly leading to overheating issues) in place.

 

I bent up a custom top mount and welded a gusset to it, it bolts to the hood latch and the top of the bumper.

 

Another view of the top mount.

 

A closeup of the top mount, showing the gusset.

 

Yet another view of the top mount.

 

The enlarged hole for the 2.25" IC inlet pipe. I just cut the stock hole larger.

 

When I first installed the IC, I still had AC on the car, so I bumped the 2.5" IC outlet pipe out to fit around the AC drier.

 

The 2.25" lower IC pipe, it's just a simple pipe with a short 90deg bend. It barely clears the alternator and aftermarket fans, I don't think a 2.5" pipe would have fit.

 

The upper IC pipe off of the car. All aluminum mandrel bends TIG welded.

 

A closeup of the BOV flange. Note that it's just a 1/2" plate with an arc ground in the bottom, welded directly to the pipe. After welding, I ported out the flange and transition to the pipe.

 

Before painting the IC...

 

After painting the IC.

 
Relocating the 90 oil cooler

Mounting the stock 90 oil cooler in the driver's foglight opening was trivial once I had the bumper cover off and could see what needed to be done.

I just cut the triangular stiffeners on the bottom flange (I flipped the oil cooler over so the outlets are on top), bent the flange 90deg to the cooler, placed it against the bumper bottom, and one of the holes lined up with a semi-circular cutout in the back plate of the bumper (where it is bent 90deg to meet the bottom of the front plate of the bumper), so that when I drilled the hole for the bolt, the bolt head was captured in that cutout, holding the bolt still for tightening the nut. The other bolt head rested up against the back plate of the bumper, also holding it for tightening its' nut.

Looking under the car, there is an unused captured nut in the radiator support right where it's needed to bolt a support on for the third hole to mount the cooler. I just got a piece of angle steel, cut and bent it, spotwelded it for strength, and bolted it into that captured nut and to the cooler. The entire mounting process took me maybe an hour with the bumper cover off of the car, once I figured out what I wanted to do.

As for plumbing the cooler, I used a 3/S relocating kit from Alamo Motorsports, it's basically just 4 Press-Lock banjo fittings and 7-8 feet of high pressure line. It was somewhat expensive at $100, so you might want to check some industrial supply shops, NAPA, or truck stops for the parts, as you can probably get the parts cheaper (or maybe MIKE@RRE can source some and add them to his HackerTweaker page - Mike?). The nice thing about the Alamo kit (and you can probably find these fittings elsewhere) is that it uses Press-Lock fittings - just lube them with oil, push the rubber lines on, and you're done, no clamps needed. They haven't leaked on my car in over 3 years, the connection is rated to something like 300psi blowoff pressure.

I probably could have used the stock lines by bending the heck out of them, but didn't have the time at the time to mess with it. Another thing you can do is get a set of stock lines, cut the rubber out of them, flare the ends, and clamp high pressure line to them. You can get 300psi line that will never leak with proper clamps on it (use fuel injection hose clamps). That's the Cheap Bastard Mod (which I would have done, naturally, if I had had the time).

 

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