Is there a better way to spend your Fourth of July weekend other than
installing an oil cooler in your Morgan? Don't answer that. Anyway, if
you want to know about the trials and tribulations of fitting one to a
+4 read on…
UPS delivered my oil cooler kit from Moss ($229.00 total) on Thursday,
so why not use the three day weekend to put it on? The kit consists of
a 13-row cooler (13"X4"), two stainless steel hoses with brass fittings
(with rubber hoses, it costs $10.00 less), an adapter that fits between
the engine and the oil filter head, bolt extensions so you can use your
existing oil filter head bolts, plates with holes to mount the cooler,
and bolts to mount the cooler to the plates. No gaskets are included,
so make sure you order at least two of them (one between the adapter and
the engine and one between the adapter and the oil filter head). They
are only 75 cents each, so you may want to order more in case you need
them in the future (like when you want to take the thing off). No
instructions are included.
I first removed the oil filter and the three bolts and a nut holding the
filter head to the engine. The nut screws into a bolt that is itself
screwed into the engine (what do you call a bolt with no head with
different threads at each end?). It holds the line to the oil pressure
gauge, so handle with care. I had to remove this two-sided bolt with
lock pliers, grabbing it in the center where there is no thread. A
slight rap on the filter head unstuck the head from the engine. After
removing the old gasket from the head (I had to do some careful scraping
to get it off) and removing grime that was previously inaccessible, I
held one of the new gaskets against the engine opening and screwed the
four bolt extenders in (don't reverse this process since the gasket
holes are too small to slide through the bolt extenders). The adapter
has two brass fittings (one for each hose) at a slight angle so when the
hoses are attached they will move away from the engine block. It slides
easily into the bolt extenders. I placed the three original bolts back
into the filter head and slid the other gasket into place. I then
placed the filter head assembly against the adapter and hand tightened
the three bolts. The two-threaded gizmo went on last, followed by the
oil pressure line and the nut holding it in place. After properly
tightening the three bolts and nut, everything seemed to be going just
fine, until…
I guess the kit is really designed for a TR3, not a Morgan. When you
try to install the hoses to the fittings on the adapter, the engine
mount bracket is in the way of the top hose! Not by much, but in the
way nevertheless. In the Moss catalog, the nice glossy picture shows
the hose having two fittings, a right angle one and 45 degree one.
Well, you don't get a 45 degree one. You get a right angle and a
straight through one. After considering all my options (calling Moss,
getting 45 degree adapter fittings, etc…), I decided it would be nice to
keep a straight through shot out of the adapter to avoid kinking the
hose, and I could do this by filing off about 1/4" off the offending
engine mount. I figured 1/4" out of a corner of the mount would not
cause the engine to fall off. I did just that and the hose now clears
the mount with about 1/8" to spare. Don't tighten the hoses into the
adapter until you install them in the cooler to avoid twisting the hose.
Next came mounting the cooler itself. Since by now it was dark, I
decided to call it quits until the next day. But first, I spray painted
the cooler with a couple of coats of high heat black paint so it
wouldn't look too obtrusive. The spray paint did not clog any of the
air passages and the cooler looked pretty nice black rather than
silver. The next morning I installed the cooler about 4" behind the
grill with its base at the level of the shelf behind the grill. This
position placed it about 4" in front the radiator. The top edge of the
cooler itself is higher than the base of the radiator by less than two
inches, so I figured there wouldn't be too much obstruction to the air
flow into the radiator. I used the mounting plates to attach the cooler
to the side shrouds (after bending them and cutting them to size), and
painted everything black. The hoses were too long, but you can't cut
them because the fittings are an integral part of them. I hanged one of
the hoses from the bottom right radiator bracket and attached it to the
left cooler inlet. I did the same with the other hose, hanging it from
the bottom left radiator bracket and attaching it to the right cooler
inlet. The lengths of the hoses is perfect for crossing them like this,
and everything looks nice and neat, with plenty of clearance between the
hoses and all the rods and whatevers of the car's front end. I also
figured that the longer stainless hoses would also serve as a radiator
of heat, increasing cooling capacity (yeah, I know, I always look at the
bright side). I then remembered to tighten the hoses at the adapter end
and inserted a new oil filter. Now to test it all.
I ran the engine for a few minutes with no oil leaks showing up. The
oil cooler heated up gradually, so oil was certainly flowing into it. I
also watched how the engine moved with respect to the engine mount and
the hose close to it to make sure there was no chance of a collision.
The engine twist seemed to move the hose parallel to the offending mount
and the clearance did not decrease, so I think I'm safe there, but I'll
keep my eye on it. The road test was a success. The engine does run
cooler as measured by my fairly accurate temp gauge hidden behind the
dash, but a thorough test of it will have to wait until Mog West later
this month, when about 50 to 70 Morgans meet in central California for
their yearly ritual. It's over a 500 mile round trip, parts of it
through the hot interior valleys. The cooler should show it's worth at
high speeds with lots of air blowing through it. By the way, you can
barely see it behind the grille, so overall, I'm quite pleased with it.
If you are thinking of installing a cooler yourself, take a close look
at the fittings that come with the hoses. You may be able to avoid my
problems.
Armando Picciotto
'63 +4
|