*AE Performance Oil Cooler Kit*

wavehogger

I did my install this weekend. I was on and off it all weekend but total time is about 4 hrs if you take your time. I have some info/tips for those interested and here is a link to the photos they sent me (1-24) for the install so you can get a better look at the job. Pics 25 and up are my install pics which will help a lot. AE Performance Oil Cooler 370Z install pics

I want to thank the guys, Dustin, Casey & Ryne, at AE for getting this kit to me by this weekend so I'd have time to get it in before some events. The only thing they could have provided with this kit is some written instructions, you just go by the pics they send you. It's not a big deal, but as with all custom applications there are always tips/notes that can really save some time and frustration.

1) You need to either get the car on a lift or use some drive up ramps as I did so you can get under the car to work. You don't need a lot of height just enough to do an oil change really.

2) Remove bumper, which there are plenty on threads around with that info. (Stillen has it in the G3 Intake instructions which you can grab off their site)

3) I won't go through the whole process the pics take care of the major things but I will mention some little things.

4) Be sure that the threads in the adaptor plate are clean and smooth. I ran into an almost failure because when I started to thread one of the nipples in it only went in about 1 1/2 -2 turns and started to bind up. I know it wasn't crossed and it felt fine at the start but I had to fight to get it out and it ended up ruining the nipple and the first thread on the adaptor. I went to a local speed shop who had nipples and he ran a tap through the adaptor as well to clean up both threads. We noticed that the threads weren't perfect as it came and when we were done the new nipple went in like butter. I used Never-Seez Pipe Compound with Teflon, as the lubricant/sealer and both nipples went in a good 4 threads and got nice and tight. I'm going to call AE and let them know about the threads so they let whoever know to be sure they are done perfectly.

5) The biggest pain in this job is relocating the power steering cooler. You do have to move it for the oil cooler to fit. The pics here show the washer fluid container is an aftermarket because of the intakes they are using. With the stock one it's a bit tight to get at one of the fittings you need to remove to put the longer hose on for the relocated cooler. I didn't remove the washer fluid container but after fighting to get the old line off the aluminum fitting and putting the new one on I wish I had. You can decide for yourself but it is do-able. Be sure to catch the 1/2 - 3/4 quart of PS fluid that is going to come out when you disconnect the lines. I didn't try to reuse it and needed to add about 3/4 qt, use Nissan's or Dexron VI only.

6) Mounting the adaptor was easy, it pretty much points forward and I angled mine downward just a hair so that the top line, which uses the straight end has a little space between it and the wiring for the alternator. Now be sure to run the lines correctly to the cooler for flow right. It is marked on the adaptor for the flow. But if you look at the pics, the angled end on the bottom of the adaptor will connect to the bottom of the oil cooler as well, and the top to the top. Each line has one straight and one angled and they each go the opposite on the adaptor and cooler. Be sure to use some Never -Seez again on the nipples that thread into the oil cooler itself. BUT DO NOT use anything on the actual hose lines that screw on, those should be dry and don't over tighten them, just make them snug with an extra little push or you'll strip them out.

7) Another thing I noticed was that you want to mount the cooler to the mounting bracket with it slightly leaning forward. There is a little play in the two bolts on each side. If it's straight up vertical the back side of the cooler will rub against the outside temp sending unit; You can see in the pics in front of the PS cooler. I bent the bracket for the sensor back a bit as well and then nothing hits. You also need to bend the horn a little so it's not rubbing.

8) When you mount the front bumper aluminum support brace back up keep an eye on the lines as they go in-between the washer res, it's very tight and it seemed no matter how I did it they were going to rub the back edge of the brace which was a little sharp. The lines are coated and it probably wouldn't be a problem but to be sure I wrapped the lines in some clear hose and tie-wrapped it for an extra barrier.

9) Remember to fill your PS fluid back up and it will go down when you start it up. Be sure to add it right away to the low cold line again. You will hear the PS pump making a little noise until it gets the air out and fills back up. With a new oil filter I needed about 6 1/2 qts to fill it up, up from about 5 qts normally.

10) Be sure to run it up to temp while you have everything open so you can inspect for leaks everywhere. I did a short drive and re-inspected, and all was fine. I only had a chance to run it for about 25 minutes but it was 90 and humid and normally the temp would hit around 200 and creep to 230 as I cruised around without really pushing it too hard. It never went over 180 today. AE said that at the track it would never go over 240 no matter how hard or long they pushed it. Without the cooler they could barely get in a lap before limp mode. So I bet I'll never see 240 again, or on the street at least. If you guys have noticed that normally once it's getting hot and is over 200 sitting in traffic the fans could never bring down the temp. But when I was at a light and it was just over 180 the fans came on and I watched it drop to 170, which was awesome and a first!

Overall I think the kit is top notch and I will update the thread later after I've really tested it out.

ChrisSlicks

Nice write-up on the install, and good pics to go with it. You're almost local (Lowell, MA here), want to come and do mine?

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Hotchkis ARB | Stillen CAI | Art Pipes | Berk CBE | Stillen AP Racing Brakes | AE Performance Oil Cooler | BC Racing ER Coilovers | Doran Control Arms

wavehogger

Thanks. Yeah, you're only 45 mins away, cool. So you're thinking about the Nismo or AE? I think the AE is a great kit, don't have any temp #'s yet under more intense conditions but I'm confident it's going to work nice. If you want a hand let me know, i'd be glad to help. You know any other local 370's? I wish we could get some people together.

fuct

Paul it looks as though you CANT just flip the damper around for the Nismo model. I want to keep the damper and use your cooler. is this possible?

ChrisSlicks

I've counted at least 4 massholes on here, maybe more. We will have to arrange a get together sometime that's for sure. I do Auto-X fairly regularly during the summer at Ayer, MA so if you think you want to check it out let me know (visit or drive).

Originally I was going to go with the Nismo but I'm leaning towards the AE right now because it has the same cooling capacity but is lower profile.

__________________
Hotchkis ARB | Stillen CAI | Art Pipes | Berk CBE | Stillen AP Racing Brakes | AE Performance Oil Cooler | BC Racing ER Coilovers | Doran Control Arms

wavehogger

Yeah I was up at the Auto-X a bunch of years back in my 350. I'll PM you later about it to see when you'll be going next. It's so hard to find time when everyone is free but we can try.

An update on the cooler performance: It's actually better than I expected. I haven't tracked it but it's been hot and humid here 90+ and I was stuck in some traffic and from 180, it slowly, over 20 mins, creeped up to 200 and held there. Before the cooler it would have been 230+ easy. And I did have some fun keeping the revs up for a little bit and again I just touched about 210, where before I would have been 240. (And I run Amsoil full synthetic) It runs consistently 30-40 degrees cooler. The coolest it went was about 175 at night with low rpm cruising. The best part was I never felt any heat soak or loss of HP in the low end or at any time. In comparison as I posted in another thread regarding the effects of higher temps above 240, you can feel the power just being sucked right out of it.

The great thing it can do now is cool down on its own just by driving or the fans. When it gets up to 210 now after traffic or playing, once you drive normal it will go back down to 180. Before forget it, once it hit 220+ it wouldn't cool down if you drove it for 30 miles slowly. Now it cools itself off fast. Lovin it!

Paul@AEperformance

Glad your happy with it Wave and Thanks for the detailed write up.

Now that were nearing the hotter months customers are now realizing the urgencey of this kit for their cars.

Not sure what happened to the pic's on the first post, i'll have the guys look into it, Thanks.

Fuct: We have two members on here w/ Nismo's, our kit and their dampers. I'll shoot them PM's and see if I can get some more details for you!


ChrisSlicks: Are unit greatly excedes the cooling capacity of the Nismo unit. Our 3rd option we tried on our car before we designed this kit was essentially identical to Nismo kit and it wasn't enough. Close but no cigar. More so we had issues w/ the car coming up to temp under normal driving conditions. This is also very importaunt w/ running large cores like these. That is why our shorter runners keep Oil Pressue up and also the car to get to proper op temp right away.

Feel free to Contact Myself, Casey or Dustin if you guys have any further Questions.

And Thank you all very much for your business!

Stay Cool

-Paul

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djohnson1967

I installed the AE Performance oil cooler kit on my 40th Anniversary edition this past weekend. I will post a couple thoughts and a couple pictures.

The Good:
This kit seems to work great! I live in Tucson, so cooling is critical. I was previously running about 225 degrees on average. Getting up to 250-255 just driving around town was not unusual. Now after the install, I am right at 180 degrees while driving steady on the highway. It gets up to 190-195 when driving in town. That is a nice improvement and I now feel more confident taking it to the track. I will let you all know how that goes.

AE Performance is great to work with. Before ordering I spoke with Casey at length on the phone. Also, when packing my kit, they noticed a very small ding on the cooler core and called me to make sure it was OK to send it. They even gave me a small discount and the damage was hardly noticeable.

The kit is very high quality.

Installation was not that hard. I installed the Stillen Gen 3 CAI at the same time and the whole job took me and a buddy about 6 hours (with a lunch break).


The "not so good":

The kit does not come with any instructions. It is a fairly straightforward install I suppose, but I always have a few questions on the details. I am sure Casey or someone at AE would have been more than happy to talk me through it on the phone, but I think a kit like this should have some pretty good, detailed instructions included. I am not sure what we did before the internet. Postings by other members is ultimately the only thing that gave me the confidence to try this. Without this forum, I couldn't have even gotten the front bumper cover off!

One of the hoses included in the kit for relocating the power steering cooler was way too short. I had to go to the auto parts store and buy another hose. I suppose I may have relocated the power steering cooler differently than AE intended, but without instructions, who knows?

In addition to the small ding on the cooler core, there were paint chips on the mounting bracket.

I relocated the outside temperature sensor to get it away from the heat of the power steering cooler and the oil cooler. However, it is still reading about 15-20 degrees too high. Not a big deal, but I will try another spot for it next time I feel like taking the bumper cover off.

Overall, these are small complaints and I am very happy overall with the product quality, AE's service and the performance of the modification.

Attached Images

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	cooler.jpg (395.6 KB, 81 views)
	cai.jpg (425.7 KB, 85 views)

wavehogger

Hey D, glad to hear your cooler install went well and is working well. I think this is one of my fav mods. I'm happy that my 3.7 is now happier and will live a healthier life. I saw that you also didn't get enough power steering hose. I'm a little surprised because I spoke with Casey and the other guys at AE and explained to them that they weren't including enough hose and at first they actually didn't think I was correct. They then told me they would change that in future kits and add some, but I guess they forgot or thought I did something wrong. AE are you guys listening? I hope they make up some instructions and even use some of my notes and pics. It would just make it faster and leave less head scratching at times. Keep us posted on how high your temps get up to out there in the real heat, especially if you track it.

ChrisSlicks

Ok I installed mine yesterday.

Good news:
They now have very thorough printed instructions with pictures . All the parts were perfectly packed and in perfect condition and they even included new hose clamps for the PS lines to replace the stock spring clamps. Install was straight forward and I had no problems at all following the install guide.

Bad news:
They are still including the useless 1 ft section of PS hose. I didn't measure but it is at least 6 to 8 inches short of the required length. Fortunately because I was replacing the stock cooler with the Stillen PS cooler they supply a 3 ft section of hose as well, so I was able to chop it to length to complete the install without a trip to the store.

Better news:
The engine is now cool as a Canadian cucumber. I will be beating on it at the track this weekend and let you know the results.

__________________
Hotchkis ARB | Stillen CAI | Art Pipes | Berk CBE | Stillen AP Racing Brakes | AE Performance Oil Cooler | BC Racing ER Coilovers | Doran Control Arms

ChrisSlicks

Track update.

Just did a 2-day track event at Calabogie Motorsports Park which is a beautiful new track an hour outside of Ottawa. On this track you are full throttle a lot even through many of the turns.

On day 1 my peak temp was about 240F but I was taking it easy while I still learnt the track, on day 2 when I really beat hard on the car the temp climbed to 260 with 90F ambient, and in one session when I was really spanking it hard I did touch on 270. But all in all the cooler did its job well even if they were a tad higher than I was expecting. I'm pretty sure if I had anything else in the car limp mode would have been a certainty.

__________________
Hotchkis ARB | Stillen CAI | Art Pipes | Berk CBE | Stillen AP Racing Brakes | AE Performance Oil Cooler | BC Racing ER Coilovers | Doran Control Arms

daleks

How did you fit the Stillen power steering cooler in combination with the AE oil cooler? My understanding is the AE core runs laterally and requires moving the power steering cooler up to the vertical bar that runs across the center of the radiator. Are you running the Stillen unit vertically as well? Pictures?

ChrisSlicks

Yes I fitted the Stillen unit vertically. Technically you could sandwich the Stillen PS cooler behind the oil cooler, there is room. I will post up a pick as soon as I locate it.

__________________
Hotchkis ARB | Stillen CAI | Art Pipes | Berk CBE | Stillen AP Racing Brakes | AE Performance Oil Cooler | BC Racing ER Coilovers | Doran Control Arms

antbear

More AE Performance reviews:

AE Performance Oil Cooler Review

Cuban Z

...any thoughts after over a year of running the cooler for more than a year? Does anyone have the detailed instructions? Corner3 is doing the install and I bet it would help. If so please send my way. Thanks to SS_Firehawk for giving it up. Hope this keeps the temps cool this summer.

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処女 / Shojo
Audrey Blue
Series 1 240Z (10/70)