I decided to fabricate airdam vents for oil coolers

[EVIL]

Here are some pics of a fab i decided to tackle and some of the tools used.

The tranny cooler will be on one side and the engine oil cooler on the other. I still haven't decided which is going where.

I bought the parts at Lowes for $30.00

notice how the grill and bent lips slide under the vent lip? I will rivet it all together when ready to install.

See how neat the folds are? I used a small torch and heated the plastic from the inside and the folded it over while it was soft and held it till it cooled

The air vents were trimmed on an angle since the coolers will also be on an angle.

The fan will be behind the coolers pulling the air.

 

[EVIL]

more pics

 

[EVIL]

and more pics

 

[EVIL]

last pics for now

 

[Little6pack]

Nice JOB Looks pretty killer!

Can I order one for $50- :biggrin:

 

[EVIL]

For you? $55

I do believe the hardest part will be fabing the mounting hardware for the coolers.

We'll see what happens.

D

 

[WSLN 6]

Nice idea! The only thing I would do to finish it is paint the metal scoops a satin black to blend in a bit better.

 

[TURBOPOWERED68]

looks good dude

 

[ijames]

Looking great so far. I suggest powedercoating the metal cones when done, you might have problems getting spray on paint to stick to the galvanizing.

 

[EVIL]

I was planing on sanding them and then painting them. If i don't like them after i paint them i will powdercoat.

D

 

[larry33kc]

Looks great.

 

[Squid4life]

Looks real sweet! Can't wait to see them mounted. Very nice work!

 

[EVIL]

I've been really busy but finally was able to do some more work on this project.

Here are a few pics of the set up mounted for test fitting.

There is a strip of metal that sticks out inside the passenger fender that was perfect to mount a bracket to. Why is the strip there for anyways?

I used some aluminum that is used for trim on a house to make the brackets. The kind that goes around a door and such. The folds are one inch and i just cut the lenght to size.

i made two brackets for the side closest to the grill. They mount to the bottom hole on the cooler and one goes to one of the bolts of the air dam and i mount the other the the bumper support bolt.

The cooler is very sturdy and does not touch anything.

After mounting i had to trim quite a bit off of the vent since it interfered with the cooler. Now only about a third of the cooler has direct access to the vent opening.

I will have to come up with some fab work to open up the back a bit more or go in search of another vent style.

When all the pre fab work is done then i will paint everything black before the final mount.

I will take measurements of everything i do and keep a full description of everything i do.

 

[DavzGN]

I would keep an eye on the brackets. Vibration tends to stress aluminum and cause it to break.

David

 

[MGTech30]

That's pretty neat bro.

 

[EVIL]

Talk about time consuming!

Here's where i'm at now.

In fabing the ducts i realized they weren't lining up properly with the position of the coolers so i had to cut them then make some side pieces that allowed me to lift and change the angle or direction the vents were aiming. They were riveted on.

They now cover about 3/4 of the coolers and should work good.

All of the brackets have been made.

i have painted the brackets and the inside of the ducts. I left the outside of the ducts unpainted since they will not be seen but i may change my mind and paint them in the end.

I also had to take out about a half inch from the height of the front opening of the ducts since they were a bit larger than the maximum that i could cut the dams. They now fit in perfectly.

The next step will be attaching the vents to the dams permanently with some rivets.

Here are some pictures.

 

[EVIL]

Almost done now. Tonight I put the vents and the airdams together.

Originally i had riveted the the vents to the airdams but the rivets could be seen through the screen so i drilled them out and use some flat head screws from the inside and nuts and lock washers on the outside. They mount very flush and can't be seen. This can be seen in one of the pics.

I also had to drill a hole in the outer corner of the vents so i could get a wrench in there to hold the outer corner nut.

Since the inside was all painted black the only visible thing is the outer bolt head. Once the final install is complete i will take a small brush and dab it with black paint through the mesh.

They fit really nice. I used all new bolts and lock washers and they are very solid.

I can't believe how hard this has been but it does make me smile when i see what i've done.

 

[G NASTY]

Looks freaking sweet!! awesome job

 

[EVIL]

Thanks brother. I must have over 25 hours into this. I bet i can do it in about 4 to 5 hours now from memory.

Next i will be relocating my oil filter relocation kit since it was originally mounted where the cooler is now on the passenger side behind the head light.

It may still fit there but when the filter has to be removed then oil would drip all over the cooler and we can't have that.


D

 

[Squid4life]

Looks very good, nice work and nice documentation of steps/supplies, etc.