engine and drivetrain E30 oil cooler adapter modified for the "02

[Fishhead]

I ended up getting a cheap oil cooler adapter off an E30 to put on my '02. I knew it wasn't going to be a bolt on as I had seen someone else on here do the same thing and they also had to modify the adapter to fit the '02. I like the E30 adapter because it looks clean and has a built in thermostat. Aftermarket “sandwich” plates just look “aftermarket” to me.

Pic E30A shows the oil cooler adapter as bought. The bolt that it mounts to the E30 engine has a “male” end and the '02 needs a “female” end to bolt to the engine oil filter bung. I found a fitting to convert the end to a female at the local truck hydraulic store (shown in pic). My plan is to cut the bolt to length and weld the female end on to the E30 mounting bolt.

(Pic E30

I figured out the total length needed of the bolt and how much to cut off to get the bolt fitted with the new end to the total length needed (more on that later). I bored out the fitting to 17.5mm (the outer end was smaller than the threads for a compression fitting) and cut the bolt down to length.

(Pic E30 C)

shows the bolt cut down and the end of the fitting bored out to be a tight/press fit together.

(Pic E30 F)

I remeasured my dimensions and they were off by a lot. The length of the cut bolt/ new fitting would had the new end sitting out past the end of the adapter. I ended up having to cut the bolt down even more and cutting the length of the fitting down to keep it from interfering with the O-ring seal on the bolt. It was welded up and the tips of the hexes on the nut had to be tuned down so the whole mounting bolt would fit through the adapter.

(Pic E30 G)

Done. The new female fitting is now sitting about 2mm inside/below the filter O-ring seal.

I haven't mounted the adapter yet as I cant find fittings for the oil cooler in/out lines yet. The hydraulics place didn't have anything that would fit. Does any one know the thread size of the line ends?

TIA

Fishhead

[c.d.iesel]

....

...... or ?

[Lee]

Fitting an S14 oil head will make your life much easier. Bolt-on dude...

[BLUNT]

agreed lee but i admire his skill. s14 heads go for 100 used and m20 heads are a dime a dozen. you dont get the temp sensor and pressure bungs but still nice for a cheap upgrade if you have machining skills

[Fishhead]

For the total cost of about $9 and a half hour of my time, I'll use it.

Some people have limited budgets.

I can't see spending a bunch of money on either NOS obsolete parts, or high dollar used parts when I have the ability to make or modify other parts to work from other applications.

Pat Allen is the guy I "stole" this from. He has the same type of set up on his car.

Thanks, Pat!

[PatAllen]

For the total cost of about $9 and a half hour of my time, I'll use it.

Some people have limited budgets.

I can't see spending a bunch of money on either NOS obsolete parts, or high dollar used parts when I have the ability to make or modify other parts to work from other applications.

Pat Allen is the guy I "stole" this from. He has the same type of set up on his car.

Thanks, Pat!

Yup, no problem dude. It costed me like 50$ for the whole set-up, including the machining of the stub. What do you get for 50$ from a S14 engine...maybe one spark plug ?

lol...

limited budget, thats it.

[4x2]

Actually my S14 filter head was about 40-45$ ;-)

[Guest Anonymous]

I've got a few of the S14 heads, but using them without a remote filter puts the spin-on filter too close to hitting the steering gearbox. And once you've plumbed for a remote filter, there are plenty of AN fitted solutions to plumb a cooler without the added complexity of using the metric to AN adapters you need to find to work the S14 filter head. (I know there are pure metric ways to plumb a cooler, but for practical purposes using AN hose fittings opens up your choices of coolers.)

But, the question I've got here about adapting the M20 filter head is: Was it really necessary to change that hollow bolt? I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the easier path would be to take the standard 02 filter head and unscrew the 3/4-16 filter adapter it has. Then you'd simply bolt up the M20 part without modification.

M10 filter heads were produced in many different iterations, and while my memory could be wrong, I'm pretty sure I've been able to unscrew the 3/4-16 threaded steel filter pipe out of some of them in the past. I know some have a hex on that hollow pipe that you can fit a wrench on for that purpose. Removing that one piece on the M10 filter head seems a lot simpler than re-engineering the M20 hollow bolt.

[c.d.iesel]

......so back to Mr. FishHead "no oil hoses" issue ?

now why not keep it simple with E30 hoses

that came from the E30 filter head ?

[Guest Anonymous]

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the easier path would be to take the standard 02 filter head and unscrew the 3/4-16 filter adapter it has. Then you'd simply bolt up the M20 part without modification.

Of course, I could be completely wrong if the M20 filter head has different thread size on that hollow bolt. Do you know if it is std 3/4-16 ?

I will have to check at home, to see what size was on the other end of the M10 filter pipe, but I think both it & that bolt in your picture match.

Anyone know for sure?

[kbken62]

I have an S14 and an aftermarket (slightly larger) oil cooler I'll be putting in when done.

With regards to why not use the stock oil lines, I'd say only depends on where you mount the cooler. Maybe not long enough or too long?

But having said that, Stainless Steel lines look cooool!

I'll follow this one, I want to see what the option turn out to be on this.

[PatAllen]

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the easier path would be to take the standard 02 filter head and unscrew the 3/4-16 filter adapter it has. Then you'd simply bolt up the M20 part without modification.

Of course, I could be completely wrong if the M20 filter head has different thread size on that hollow bolt. Do you know if it is std 3/4-16 ?

I will have to check at home, to see what size was on the other end of the M10 filter pipe, but I think both it & that bolt in your picture match.

Anyone know for sure?

when i did that long time ago, i did try to unscrew the stub from the 02 oil filter head, i broke 2 of them so i concluded it was not "unscrewable" and anyway it is not long enough. The M20 stub has inverted threads so it cannot be screwed on the 02 head. I ended up machining the whole piece instead of cutting the M20 one and welding a nut on it.

For the 50$ i paid i had the whole set-up, crimped hoses, head and radiator. In other words, i took the M20 set-up "as is" and put it on the 02, with only the stub modified.

[Fishhead]

I think the earlier '02 "canister" type oil filters may have the removable bung on the oil filter head.

The bung in my oil filter head wasn't removable and that why I took this route of modifying the E30 bolt.

The threads in the bolt and on the E30 oil filter bung were different. The threads on the bolt were (larger) metric and the oil filter bung were standard.

I haven't found the correct fittings locally in my general area. I'll find them or get a used E30 hose to rob the ends from. I'm in no hurry to get it installed.

Here's the "tentative" set up. I'll probably mount the cooler behind the kidney grills and then possibly move it down to the spoiler area when I get a front spoiler. The oil cooler was a Carlisle $5 find and the E30 adapter has been taken apart and ultrasonically cleaned.( the modified bolt has the rest of the fitting that came with the piece that I modified to fit the E30 bolt)

[kbmb02]

That's a creative, low-cost solution - nicely done. If you consider making 'em as salable items, I'd like one for the rental '02 race car I'm putting together...

[Fishhead]

$23 in fittings and some 1/2 inch hose I had in stock (red) until I replace it with black fabric braided hose.

Pic E30 1

The fittings and the modified adapter.

(E30 2)

The before pic. I relocated the battery to the trunk to free up some space up front.

(E30 3)

The adapter mounted and the hoses run to the front. I'll end up solid mounting the hoses where the pass through the front bulkhead.

(E30 4)

The radiator mounted. The bottom is mounted with aluminum brackets to the 2 holes that were already in the "brace" for the hood hinges. I will probably make a mount to support the top of the radiator.

(E30 5)

What's seen with the grills mounted. Once I get some more black hose it shouldn't be noticeable at all. (Pic was take at a low angle to show the cooler also)