02 July 2023
Slow progress today. Worked on relocating the oil cooler, and will have to work on it some more. Still not quite happy with it. The -10AN fittings are pressing against the bumper beam, and this will not be an ideal solution, as wear and tear are going to happen. Also, I am mindful that even the most minor accident would cause damage that would not normally occur. If something like this happened far from home, then what was already a bad time for any Crossfire owner could turn into a real problem for this car. Each thing that is done to this car has an element of this type of thinking involved. What if this system broke far from home? Can replacement parts be easily found and installed? Are the parts being used common enough that a fix can be applied? If not, what spares need to be in the car? Do we want that many spares? What about tools? All of these questions need to be answered, and a good risk mitigation approach needs to be applied. Obviously, a catastrophic wreck nullifies this all, anyway, but common breakdowns happen to everyone. No sense in making a bad situation worse!

Also worked on plumbing the intercooler circuit lines. Going from the original intercooler pump location, since most people know where that is. It is re-plumbed the following way: Water comes OUT of the supercharger/intercooler, and down to the Bosch 010 pump. This feeds a 3/4" hose the runs underneath the front bumper beam, into the left fenderwell area, up and over the wheel arch, and to that space at the bottom rear of the fender, just ahead of the door. This is a mirror of where the washer fluid tank is on the right side. This goes into the inlet of the Killer Chiller (KC). The outlet of the KC feeds a 3/4" hose that runs up through that nice oval hole below the fuse box, and runs between the fusebox and the fender, to a new hole that goes into the cowl. From there, the hose runs across the car to a matching hole in the cowl, putting the hose directly behind and above where the battery used to be. This is where a water tank will live (hoping to have it made in a couple of weeks). This tank will hold about 2.5 gallons. Another 3/4" hose will attach to the tank, and then runs under the tank to a mirrored oval hole that currently sits under your battery. This hose goes through a large number of 90° elbows to prevent the hose from kinking, but follows a path to the front of the car, and just under the right headlamp, it feeds back to a new Pierburg CWA100 pump. This pump then feeds the inlet side of the intercooler. The dual pump arrangement provides a lot more flow, as well as some redundancy in the event of a failure.

Tomorrow will finish the oil cooler, and then move onto a project that I neglected to do when the engine was out. I will drill and tap a 1/4" NPT fitting into the upper oil pan, a little behind the A/C compressor. Why do you ask? Another item to be added will be a Mann ProVent oil/vapor separator. This is like a catch can, but better, as it filters and automatically drains oil back to the crank case. Moisture leaves the separator and is vented off and/or sucked into the intake. This prevents oil in the intake, while preventing contaminated oil from returning to the engine. I have used these separators with great results in SRT-4 projects. Check them out: Provent 100 While this project will not be completed immediately, the drain hose is the tricky part of this, and better to do this with no oil in the engine. The time to have done this should have been last week when the pan was off the engine, but alas, it was forgotten about! Lower oil pan will be removed to ensure no metal chips will enter the engine's bloodstream. The hose will be installed, but capped for later use.