1986 LS2 Conversion

I had that same Setrab and didn't feel it adequate as well. I put in a much larger cooler that I V mounted on the drivers side and ducted air to it from the fog light and lower grill opening...

FrostedFlakeJake wrote:Rich you ran both oil coolers with your vented turbo style front bumper, right?

I ran them with a fiberglass vented panel, a reproduction of the 924 turbo header panel with the 2 outer vents blocked off. I also put louvered panels in the hood to let air escape into the low pressure zone on the forward part of the hood. Worked great with the rx7 cooler!

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Hmmm i see.
The fiberglass header panels are about $200 and my header panel is only worth ~$50. Looks like I'm going to probably try to vent it myself.

Tires mounted and boy am i relieved to hear that none of the wheels I have are bent. i was really concerned with how some of them were shipped

They scuffed up my paint a little and admitted that their mounting tool would never touch the wheels in that location... just careless workers not giving a damn. Oh well.

It appears my compressor/impact combo doesn't have the beans to get the crank pulley bolt off...looks like i can take some steel and bolt the steel to the block and to the rear crankshaft area where the pilot bearing goes. That should hopefully allow me to use a big cheater bar and get that bolt free.

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Anyone have and suggestions on oil coolers to put in that header area? Does the whole stacked plate construction not really make as big of a deal as I thought?

I would look at coolers with the inlet and outlet ports on the side, when i was shopping around most of the coolers with the typical top mounting ports wont fit height wise under the header panel. Look at the slimline of oil coolers from Setrab. I dont know the exact dimensions of the RX7 oil cooler but i think its around 22-24inches wide. So that is a good starting point for the core size you will need based on Rich's experiences.

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Techno Duck wrote:I would look at coolers with the inlet and outlet ports on the side, when i was shopping around most of the coolers with the typical top mounting ports wont fit height wise under the header panel. Look at the slimline of oil coolers from Setrab. I dont know the exact dimensions of the RX7 oil cooler but i think its around 22-24inches wide. So that is a good starting point for the core size you will need based on Rich's experiences.

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Yeah the setrab cooler I did have would have to be tilted a little to get the ports connected.

The cooler i have has a btu/hr of 27k-39k and the biggest slimline setrab cooler that would fit is 29k-40k btu/hr which is why I didn't pay the premium (twice as much) for it.

You could probably fit the same series Setrab i bought that's next size up, especially if you tilt it. That unit (50-920-7612) has 35k-50k btu/hr.

Just throwing out ideas, but maybe consider cutting out the factory support between the two frame rails and making one that bolts up to the bumper mounting points like TPC used to offer back in the day. With that out of the way you open up a lot of options. Otherwise i would look into mounting elsewhere, are you keeping the fog lights?

Techno Duck wrote:Just throwing out ideas, but maybe consider cutting out the factory support between the two frame rails and making one that bolts up to the bumper mounting points like TPC used to offer back in the day. With that out of the way you open up a lot of options. Otherwise i would look into mounting elsewhere, are you keeping the fog lights?

I'll look into that thanks. Can't visualize the front end well enough to exactly follow so I'll have to look when I get home from work. But I'm not sure I want to put that much work into it.

I originally was thinking of putting one by one of the fog lamps but I couldn't see how a large enough one could fit. Since I have no intentions of running the intake into the header panel I think It'll be easiest to get one that fits there. According to my measurements 25 wide by 7 tall might fit with the cooler tilting back.

My problem is that most places don't advertise their btu/hr so all I have to compare is core size but I end up comparing stacked plate to tube & fin type which I think is a little like comparing grannysmiths to red delicious'..

This is the biggest stacked plate cooler I can find that'll fit in the space. With lines and connectors I wouldn't go much wider unless I wanted to take a chance having to return something again.

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It's a little expensive for my taste.... it'll cost more than my radiator even after I had to pay someone to modify it...

But hey maybe someone wants to spend that much

Nothing too crazy been happening.

Got the radiator back, ordered this oil cooler, ordered fittings for the hydroboost system and lines, and been working on a gas pedal mount.

I'll post some pictures of the gas pedal mount soon. There is probably a thousand better ways to do it but I'm using existing gas pedal mounting areas. I just hope it's sturdy enough.

Plan this weekend is to finish the pedal and work on the hydroboost firewall mount and make my fan shroud. hoping that goes well.

Sounds like some progress though. Post some pics. How did the HB unit fit in the end? The origonal pedal mount area is pretty solid. I used the same location for my DBW pedal and it is rock solid. Have a good weekend.

Oh no I hadn't started on the hydroboost yet; I was planning on making the mount. I have since decided I don't have enough time to do that, and I really don't want the hassle, so I ordered one; Kent had it in stock.

The gas pedal mount is not pretty but I can spend some time cleaning it up and rounding edges. Photos start with where it mounts in the car (no pedal in that photo)
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Also have almost finished the shroud. The two 11" fans are absolutely maxing out the available area on this rad... I'm going to have to weld in a support beam that runs across the middle of the radiator from top to bottom in order for the shroud to have enough strength where the two fans meet. It'll make more sense when it's finished and I can show it.

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Got my new no-name rx7 radiator off ebay. Couldn't find one with AN10 fittings. This one has some funky UN fittings? Going to chop them off and weld in AN10 fittings.

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Also got 20mm wheel spacers for the back wheels and fitment looks stocks and clears everything

I had a fairly easy time when I mounted my hydroboost. Used the stock mustang mounting plate. I've had to take it on and off about 50 times since for brake line fitting and such. I was able to reuse the factory pedal clevis and all too. I sanded down one of the plastic bushings in the pedal so it slides over just slightly. And everything looks like it lines up perfectly. My only concern is that the reservoir might interfere with the hood. Haven't checked yet.
I even had space to mount 3 of the truck coils I have to the valve cover on OEM brackets. I put the other one on the side of the strut tower. A stock wire could be used then.

I've been making everything I possibly can up to this point and $80 felt like safe insurance especially since my schedule these days is very full.

Is there anything you would recommend I do before I put the engine in? Is there anything that's very inconvenienced by the engine being in the way? Like messing with the fuel lines in the engine compartment? Or brake lines for the hydroboost? Is the hydroboost much harder to install after the engines in?

I have to move on the 31st so this weekend I planned on putting the engine and trans in the car for the final fitment and leaving it there. That way I can put the front suspension together and figure out what size wheel spacers I need for the front so I can roll the darn thing out of the garage and start cleaning the garage out.

I have an early car (84), so I'm not sure how much is the same as far as hose routing and such.  The brake lines seem fairly easy to work with.  I cut the fuel line at the firewall and installed a  10mm swagelock to NPT to -6 JIC/AN fitting before installing the engine.  Made routing a braided line really easy.  I have aftermarket rails though.  
I made my mounting holes and such for the hydroboost before the engine was installed.  But I have taken the hydroboost in and out multiple times since the engine was installed.  The difficult part will be getting the clevis to slide over the brake pedal while the hydroboost is installed.  I have to finagle it a bit to clear the valve cover.  
It seemed pretty simple to install the engine though.  Dropped right in.  I had to take it in and out a few times because of how I was holding it with the lift.  I kept having clearance issues with the lift points I used.  But once it was set right, it took 5 minutes to get in.  I didn't have the bellhousing bolted up though.  I will need to do that first next time.  It doesn't seem possible to reach the driver side bolts otherwise.
The AC lines on my car run right between the block and firewall, and seem to touch the block. So that might need some tweaking.    
With all that said, I have not had a chance to fit anything with exhaust manifolds attached.  Unfortunately, TPC seems to be in disarray right now, orders are way backed up.

The AC lines on my car run right between the block and firewall, and seem to touch the block. So that might need some tweaking.

Yes I'm finding those guys need to come out. Dropped the engine in to do the driveshaft alignment.

Also putting the front driver side suspension/spindle/control arm assembly together so i can figure out what size wheel spacers I need. Having trouble fitting my inner front wheel bearing on the spindle. Spindle looks to be in great shape but the bearing must be hanging up somewhere. I triple checked the bearings and they should be the right one for the spindle. The outer fits beautifully.

I'm going to take some 1000 grit to try to clean up whatever the bearing is hitting.

So I'm a little confused as to what to do with the top bolt on the strut housing. I believe this is for camber adjustment?? How does this work in confunction with the camber plates? I have placed a washer on both sides of this bolt which strongly limits the amount of camber possible. With the camber moderately (eye level) neutral, i have 1-2cm clearance between the inner wheel and the spring with NO spacer....


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I've discovered that eccentric bolts are supposed to be used in the strut housing. Bolts which I've lost many moons ago! Trying to read online about the difference between camber adjustments at the strut and on the camber plates...

Ordering the two eccentric bolts.

Couldn't find anything on this in the search...

My bellhousing is hitting the..firewall/frame on the driver side. There is not enough clearance to get the driveshaft in the correct position. Is this normal? Should I beat the car with a hammer or grind down the bellhousing?


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Are you twisted in the slotted holes in the cross member? It is close on that side in my car, but not touching.

Odd, didn't have that trouble. Do you have headers on the engine? How even is their clearance at the frame rails one side to the other? I wouldn't recommend grinding away at the bell housing, a few of those have been reported cracked.

Do you have headers on the engine?

Nope

How even is their clearance at the frame rails one side to the other?

I measured from the pan and it appears to be even. I'll try again to make sure but it definitely wasn't off enough to account for the ~3/16 I need.

Are you twisted in the slotted holes in the cross member?

Perhaps. My next step is to attach the hoist and loosen the cross member bolts to see if this is the issue.

Are you kidding me. $50 for the two eccentric bolts and washers I need for the front

what a rip-off. maybe I gotta sweep the garage floor again to try to find them......

welcome to porsche ownership

Are you twisted in the slotted holes in the cross member?

I was hoping this may have been the case so I loosened the bolts and re-tightened them in a series of ways - none of which helped.

Looks like I'm going to drop the engine and dimple that area of the firewall?