Hey there,

The 350 I'm swapping into my car has a different style oil cooler than what my 305 had. This one is aluminum and uses 2 outer hex bolts to attach it to the block. My old one was shorter and just used the center bolt.

Now the issue is that the pipes that carry coolant down to the oil filter area extend too far and won't line up with the ports in the oil cooler. My question is, can I just cut the metal pipes back a bit and then run heater hose from the pipes to the cooler?

Maybe I'll post pictures if this makes absolutely no sense...let me know!

 

I would just get rid of the oil cooler. If you keep it and cut the pipes, a hose might not seal. Keep in mind those hoses will have about 15psi, or whatever your radiator cap pressure is. Just one more thing to leak.

 

It serves no useful purpose? But I would still need to install the cooler to the block so I can install the filter right? I just wouldn't run the hoses? How are oil filters installed when an oil cooler isn't utilized there?

 

Are you sure it is a oil cooler?
There are other things that can be bolted between the block and oil filter

It screws straight into the factory adapter that bolts to the block

 

This is what it looks like:

http://images.trademe.co.nz/photoser.../147992671.jpg

GM 14088854, it has something to do with coolant so I just assumed it was a cooler. I've got no problem removing the piping and adapter if it can be more of a problem then it is useful. Car is never driven in the winter, so if it's an oil "warmer" then I don't need to worry about that.

 

does that oil cooler send oil out to a cooler, or take in coolant from the rad and circulate it around the oil?

 

As I asked ,that is not a cooler ;
just a adapter to allow the oil lines to be connected to a external cooler.




If you are not running a remote cooler then remove it and fit oil filter direct to block

 

so it sends oil to an external cooler. just what i wanted to hear.

 

OK, so the old unit I had with my 305 was an oil cooler, since it had the coolant pipes coming down to it. In this case, the aluminum unit that came with the 350 is used to route oil to an external cooler, and has nothing to do with the coolant pipes that my 305 used.

What a disaster that would have been if I had hooked them up!

I wonder how hard it would be to block off the coolant pipes that go down to the oil filter. Anyhow, I'll order one of those stock adapters, thanks for the help guys!

 

The stock metal cooler pipes end right next to the right motor mount. If you delete them, just run the heater hose form the heater core stright to the radiator or water pump.

 

old thread, but I'll give it a try...

I've just acquired one of these cheaper than it would cost for the stock adapter for the oil filter, and as I'm dealing with a 400 block, I want to cool everything I can.
Does anyone know the thread size for the pipes going into the adapter?
vetteoz, does your diagram have the legend to go with it and if so, doe sit mention the thread sizes?

 

Sounds like you have the cooler off of a truck.

Might want to look up cooler lines for those and see if you can find out what their threads are.

Heater hose would DEFINITELY not work if there's pressurized oil going to be in them.

I'd also suggest looking at the enormous number of posts on the truck boards where people took those off and raised their oil pressure by 10 psi or whatever, and got rid of the leaky and otherwise failure-prone lines. Those guys HATE those things. I think if you want that type of cooler (as opposed to the "warmer" that came on these cars) you should look at good-quality aftermarket ones, not stock truck ones.

 

Oh ok, thanks for that, I'll check out some of the truck forums.
I can't see how it would cause a drop in oil pressure though, doesn't the return line still travel through the filter, or is it a bypass?

High oil pressure is only relevant for high rpm motors isn't it?
I was just more worried about keeping the 400 block cool.

 

Yes, there are 2-3 different oil coolers that I have seen. 2 use coolant and 1 uses oil.