Oil Cooler Upgrade Power Stroke Diesel

Homemade Oil Cooler Project for 03 Power Stroke Diesel


Mess.


More Mess.


Top of motor.


OEM top.


hpop reservoir.


Bad hpop filter screen. I ordered the stainless steel replacement from bullet proof diesel. $20


Donor plate from press.


Cut out plate, used sawz all! Squared up edges on large belt sander. Cleaned both sides with sand paper. This plate was already extremely flat from previous mill work and required no facing.


Checking plate clearance between heads.


Plan, I changed my mind about the blocked off coolant and will be putting a hole there instead. Have to check coolant path in the intake to make sure that it does not supply anything other than the oil cooler and egr cooler.


Simple transfer with pencil.


Simple transfer using scratch awl.


As you can see in this layout I will have to drill a long hole sideways through the plate to accomodate the placement of the original pressure and temp sensors and also the supply of oil to the turbo.


Drill transfer. First I used a transfer punch then a letter "R" drill. There is a paper template between the original top and my plate to create an additional pattern as I go.


Drilling on small mill using the transferred spot drill points and a very careful eye. Used the "R" bit again.


I did this all with a rubbing of the block and transfer punches and common sense. I have calipers, micrometers, and precision scales but it just was not really necessary. I will measure everything carefully (later) and post a drawing for anyone who may want to make their own.


Tapping Plate for 1/2" pipe fittings. I will be using JIC or AN type fittings in these holes.(fittings available at McMaster Carr)


Milling view


Plate bottom view 1


Plate bottom view 2


This is a bottom view of the plate, so you are looking at the side that mates with the top of the motor. The horizontal slot supplies low pressure oil to the rest of the engine while the vertical slot supplies oil to the hpop reservoir. The threaded hole on the far left is coolant supply to the egr cooler. The threaded hole on the far right is oil coming from the lpop now rerouted out to the external filters and oil cooler. The threaded hole in the center is for the oil returning from the filters and cooler to supply the engine with low pressure oil. The threaded hole center at bottom of horizontal slot is simply a pre-existing hole that was in the donor plate and it will have to be plugged, lets just call it the hpop reservoir inspection hole. I could mount a pressure gauge in this hole! I think I might, it would be nice to pop the hood and view the pressure of the lpop at a glance.


OEM top, will add some notes later. (will be eliminated)


OEM Cluster Crap! Will add some notes later. (will be eliminated)


No your eyes are not wrong, yes it is bent but it was cheap and pressure test good, came from Nascar team.(ebay, $65) This is a Setrab but there are others out there that would work just as well.


External filter housing, will post source that I bought it from soon. Specs on napa filters claim 9 gpm for each filter for total of 18 gpm. Pic is deceiving they are actually plumbed in parallel so gpm is double, oil is only filtered one time split volume between the two filters. Also note original first rubbing of block is laying under filters, who says dirt and oil are not useful! The other single filter mount you see here will be plumbed in later in parallel and will have a very small micron filter on it to remove micro crap from the oil. (bought from Hedman Performance Part# 1030 for $48.81 includes shipping)

Stay tuned, more to come in next few days.


By the way here is my truck..... Pic in Jacksonville Florida. I purchased and drove it home to Indiana. (My wife named it Jack)


Trial fit of all items on plate.


On mill again.


Installing sensors in threaded holes.


Oil cooler installed in front of radiator.


Oil cooler installed.


I simply cut off the turbo oil line o-ringed fitting and replaced with flare fitting below.


Modified turbo oil line. This setup will be reliable and allows for easier adaption to the plate.


I cut the fuel filter away from the oil filter. The oil filter will be discarded and a bracket will be fabricated to hold the remaining fuel filter.


This is the swag tool I bought at Harbor Freight tools. They are a import tool store that sells really cheap tools. I dont do to much tube expanding so I went cheap on this tool, however it worked just great.


Making the oil passage hole.


This hole is threaded for a 1/4" plug.


Passage hole drilled on mill to provide oil pressure to the sensors and turbo line.


Ok, this is the oil cooler bypass valve. Look at the incredible wear on this thing. So how effective can the stock cooler be if it is bypassed so much?


Look at the groove in this thing, wow, wonder how much it got stuck open?


Look at the scratches in this photo. These scratches suggest the valve was moving with debris in the valve that caused these marks.


Twins.


Upwards shot of filters installed in front of radiator.


Installed in truck. Think this thing needs a screen gaurd. Also maybe some flat black paint on filters, otherwise my truck is gonna look like it has buck teeth.


Used simple leather punches to make gasket for plate.


After test fitting the complete plate in the truck with the intake set in above I discovered a lack of clearance for the flare fittings. As a result I purchased some right angle brass units at the local hardware. These are not really heavy enough to be what I consider reliable. So these will be replaced with steel fittings but in the mean time these work for fitment purposes. With these right angle fittings I discovered that I needed some relief milled in the plate to allow the flare nuts to turn freely.


I also decided to counter bore the plate so that I could use the stock bolts but that would not be a real necessity if you just bought longer bolts.


Gasket.


First Drive


Pressure gauge at idle


Pressure gauge at idle.


More hardware from McMaster Carr


Drivers Side Hose (Supply)


Passenger Side Hose (Return)


Hoses assembled (hose from McMaster)


This bolt was added on the bottom of the plate because the hpop filter screen must be held down. Previously it was held in place by the bottom of the stock oil cooler. Another fringe benefit of this mod is the increased capacity of the hpop oil reservoir. The oil cooler used to take up most of this space. I am estimating that the reservoir has increased from about 1 pint to 2 quarts.


This is the end of the invisible egr cooler, made it this way just so we dont lose it. :)

Video Running1
You can view this video clip if you have quicktime by apple. This clip is truck running with pressure gauge showing 60 psi at idle.

Video Running2
Also of truck running outside.


Unfortunately this is the only pic I took of the turbo apart. I was really tired when I cleaned it and neglected to take lots of photos like I wanted to. I have read where some people claimed that if the turbo was rusty inside that it was ruined. What I found (not shown in this photo) was that underneath the rotating plate that is moved by the cam there is a ton of what really looks like rust, I mean it is really convincing. But on very close inspection I discovered it was a nice thick layer of carbon that was very pitted and would appear to be rust. I chipped some away and discovered it was about 1\16" thick or maybe just slightly less. I took an abrasive cut off wheel in a die grinder and began grinding the carbon away. I tilted the wheel so that I was at a steep angle so as not to gouge into the metal underneath. I could grind for quite some time before throwing any sparks. As soon as I saw a spark I moved to a new area. I continued with this procedure for about 1 hour. I followed up with some scotchbrite pads and then 1000 grit wet dry sand paper with a little oil. It cleaned up quite nice. The truck runs great and I have a nice turbo whistle and seems like increased boost. Cant verify because I have no boost gauge. In this photo you can see that the marks from the vanes indicate that the turbo plate was sticking and the vanes had limited travel.


Gasket.


This is everything I eliminated from the truck.

Update 1-1-10. I have now driven the truck 21 miles with no leaks. I have pushed it pretty hard from a dead stop a few times but have not been out on the highway yet. Will post another update soon.


Update 2-19-10 I now have driven over 2500 miles since the mods (i posted on diesel forum that I had gone 5000 but that is incorrect. I pushed it really hard going to florida with a 13,500 lb fifth wheel trailer. Top speed was 87 mph and I know I had the rpms over 3000 many many times. No leaks, no problems. After some consideration I have decided that I really don't want to build these plates right now and probably never will. You can obtain a similar and probably better product from bullet proof diesel. I like workin on my own stuff but don't really want the headaches of doing diesel parts full time. I am a EE by trade so electronics is my day job. Good luck all you do-it-yourself-ers!

Napa Oil Filter # 1773 (2x)
SETRAB OIL COOLER WITH AN-12 FITTINGS #6109
REMOTE OIL FILTER BASE BY TRANS DAPT #1030 (HEDMAN PERFORMANCE)
HIGH PRESSURE OIL PUMP SCREEN FROM BULLET PROOF DIESEL (FORD PART)
---MC-MASTER CARR PARTS---
BARBED HOSE FITTING 5350K78
HYDRAULIC HOSE 9459K381
HOSE CLAMPS 5443K16
STRAIGHT FLARED FITTING (JIC) 50695K69
FLARE NUT 3/4" 50695K532
FLARE SLEEVE 3/4" 5069K524
COUPLING 5/8" 50695K267
FLARE SLEEVE 5/8" 50695K628
STEEL TUBING 5/8" 9220K38
90 DEGREE FLARE FITTING 5069K289 (FOR PLATE)

Anderson Custom Electronics Inc.
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