So I finished up my custom oil cooler lines today and they work great with only one easily rectified leak. I wanted to post an AAR for everyone to read; hopefully it can help someone else out in the future.
First out shopping list. I went to Summit Racing but Jegs or any other speed shop would work. You will need about 10 feet of -8 braided hose (I bought a 15 foot roll and had plenty leftover), two -8 straight hose ends, one 45 degree -8 hose end, one 90 degree -8 hose end, four -8 to 3/8 NPT adapter and two 3/8 NPT couplings.
Part numbers for Summit Racing are as follows:
QTY 2, EAR-991003ERL - 3/8 NPT COUPLINGS
QTY 4, SUM-220846 - 3/8 PIPE TO -8 AN ADAPTERS
QTY 1, SUM-220887 - 90 DEGREE -8 HOSE END
QTY 1, SUM-220886 - 45 DEGREE -8 HOSE END
QTY 2, SUM-220890 - STRAIGHT -8 HOSE END
Get whatever length of -8 braided hose you want, I bought a 15 foot roll because I needed leftovers for other projects. I think a 10 foot roll would have gotten the job done with only a couple feet leftover.
After we round up our materials we are ready to tear out the old lines. Make sure to save the brass adapters that are threaded into the block, we will need these when we make our connections into the hard lines up top. At the aluminum hard lines, thread the brass adapter into the GM o-ring fitting, thread the 3/8 NPT coupling onto that and then the 3/8 NPT to -8 AN fitting into that. The finished product should look like this:
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Granted this is completely assembled with the hose end and braided line but I’m sure you get the picture. See where the brass fittings from the block are? Summit Racing didn’t have an adapter to go directly from the GM o-ring fitting to -8 AN. That’s why we are using the 3/8 NPT coupling, the female NPT gives us a way to get that -8 flare fitting on. It sounds worse than it is but I searched high and low for another way to do this but this is what I came up with.
On the block end of things, thread the 3/8 NPT to -8 AN adapters into the holes in the block where the brass fittings once were. That sets us up for our hose ends. Measure out your desired length and cut away. Be sure the assemble your hose ends in a vice with brass or wood blocks, that way you wont mar the crap out of your shiny new fittings.
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The uppermost block fitting uses the 45-degree hose end and the lower fitting uses the 90-degree hose end. You might be able to use a 45 degree fitting on both but I only bought one 45 degree fitting, so a 90 degree fitting was the ticket. On the lower hose end I had to put a little loop in the hose to make the hose route right. The line clears the manifold just fine and you might just be able to make the OEM clamp work; I didn’t but I’m sure you could.
It will look like this when we are done:
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Last step, tighten everything down and check for leaks. I had one but a little snug fixed it.
Finished product:
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If you have any questions, improvement, advice, tips or tricks please post it.
