Monday, April 25, 2011

The Oil Cooler (or whats left after "Austin" happened to it)

The 15 row oil cooler I purchased for a thrifty $50 presented me with a problem. The fittings were, as expected, size 10 AN (Army-Navy) performance automotive fittings (they originated in the military, so they cost a pretty penny). Nearly worthless to me, because I'm using standard plumbing sizes and common 45* flared tubing connections instead of AN's weird sizes and awkward 37* flares (even though AN looks WAY cooler). Reason(s) being, AN fittings are ridiculously expensive, and you can't buy them at the hardware store.
As fate would have it, the inside diameters of these giant AN fittings were the perfect starting size for my 1/4" NPT (National Pipe Thread) tap. For the sake of space, I beheaded both the fittings, then tapped them out.
I then went ahead and plumbed an aluminum line from the oil filter to the forward side of the oil cooler. Not too bad.

Tune in next time.

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