Oil cooler/ heat exch mounting-TCD stg 2

[M. Holtmeier]

Alright, I'm waiting for gaskets to come in to finish my TCD turbo build and had a couple of Q's. You guys have been great help( I wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for this forum) so far but I've been lookin' for about 3 days and can't find what I need. Waiting for parts sucks...
1. The best place(to me) for turbo feed and oil cooler lines is at the filter header. If that's right, that makes 3 ports that need tapped and I don't know exactly where to do it.

2. Is the best place to mount the 2 heat exchangers where the batt sits?. Has this been done before,if so, that's my third qeustion;

3. Is there kits available to mount the batt in the trunk?

I appreciate any info and thanks for the help so far!!

[Kyle in NO]

Find a filter canister from an oil cooler-equipped engine instead. It will make things much easier, as the cooler ports are already there. And yes, you should tap the housing for pressure to the turbo.

[Duke]

Is the best place to mount the 2 heat exchangers where the batt sits?.

Yes and no. Yes if you make a cold air box for the HE's. You will have to cut out the bottom and back of the battery box and cut as much material out of the head light bucket and grill as you can to allow air to flow through better. Mount the HEs in the battery box and them build an aluminum cover that will direct the air through the headlight area, the HEs and then out the bottom/back side of the box. I am doing this myself and mounting a 11 X 11 HE with an aux fan in this location. I have moved my my battery to the trunk already.

No, if you have the HEs exposed to the engine compartment heat with nowhere for the air to flow.

[M. Holtmeier]

For me, tapping the oil filter header is easier than waiting for another to show up. I read the post about where to tap for turbo feed but want to make sure I know where to go for cooler circulation.

Duke, since you have experience with this, would you consider sealing the batt box for use w/ HE's and relocating the battery something I should just do right the first time- or have seen other setups that work okay for less effort? The way I look at my engine comp-the way you described to me would look the cleanest and seem to be most efficient.

[Duke]

Duke, since you have experience with this, would you consider sealing the batt box for use w/ HE's and relocating the battery something I should just do right the first time- or have seen other setups that work okay for less effort? The way I look at my engine comp-the way you described to me would look the cleanest and seem to be most efficient.

I have not seen any other installations in US cars. The way I described makes the most since and would be very efficient. Hopefully, other US spec E28 owners will chime in with what they have done.

I did mount one of the two HE that came with the kit right behind the kidney beans -



When I have the front of the car off to do the air duct and battery box modifications, I will be looking for a place to mount he second HE from the kit. This will increase my HE capacity by 300% of what I have now.

[Skeen]

I've got my HE mounted side-by-side behind the valance, below the level of the bumper. They share the openings in the center of the US valance (basically, where Duke has his oil cooler and water tank in the pic above). My tank is up top, right under the plastic cover.

[M. Holtmeier]

Skeen, you didn't have to cut anything did you? I have a euro valance, bumpers and lights that go on the car too.



*I'm looking out for a spoiler if the price is right also...

[Skeen]

Nope, didn't cut anything. And to be clear, I've got two (same size as Duke's) mounted side-by-side down there--I didn't make that real clear in my last post.

[Shawn D.]

For me, tapping the oil filter header is easier than waiting for another to show up. I read the post about where to tap for turbo feed but want to make sure I know where to go for cooler circulation.

It won't be possible to do that to the stock filter head -- there's no way to tap it so that it can have both a supply to and a return from a cooler and have it be filtered. Tapping the unfiltered side and then the filtered side would give you the pressure differential you need, but then you'd have unfiltered oil. What you'd need is a way to create a pressure differential within either the unfiltered side or the filtered side so that the oil will flow to the cooler -- the supply (unfiltered side) passageway is too short and is inaccessible anyhow, so tapping it in two places and putting a plug between them wouldn't work.

You could make a sandwich adapter between the filter head and block or an adapter between the filter head and filter canister, but that'd probably take longer than waiting on the filter head with the fittings.

It would be possible to have it run to a cooler and then dump back in to the crankcase, but that would cause a loss of pressure and wouldn't supply that cooled oil to the galleries.

[M. Holtmeier]

You're right.
I was looking at it on the bench and it would be very difficult to make it flow right. Does anybody know of an aftermarket or reasonable priced oem for sale? So far, I'm looking at about $300 for just a filter header.

[Steve in No Va]

As far as the oil coolers, the 535is front spoiler gives you room to mount them where the fog lights go. That is how mine are mounted. Make some metal tabs to hold them in place and you're good to go. Not much room otherwise.

[M. Holtmeier]

Oh man, I was so close to getting a filter from Rich in Tulepo but got a response that it was just sold HOURS ago. No matter where the coolers go, one things clear; I need a filter header ported for a cooler.

Once again, thanks everyone for your help-I'm gonna post a WTB in the for sale thread...

[Maddog]

You guys do know that you can get turbo oil supply from the pressure fitting on the back of the head where the oil pressure sender is. I can get adapters for people interested in doing that. I'll post up a picture of mine sometime.

George