Working on replacing the oil cooler lines on an 85 se that I recently picked up. The car has it's issues but then again I purchased it for a very reasonable price. On to my point:
While removing the longer oil cooler line I noticed this:



Why would this chunk of aluminum be here? It's only on the drivers side. The car has a few dings and a bit of rust but no signs of a collision. An attempt to level it perhaps? I'm really at a loss and want to know if I should remove it since it's only on the drivers side. I'm concerned it could cause strange handling characteristics and the like

My apologies, the photos were taken with my call phone in semi-poor lighting.

 

That's an odd one. Somebody's attempt to compensate for a warped chassis (or a bent crossmember) is the only thing I can think of.

 

on both sides? very odd... are the engine mounts stock?

 

 

I got nuthin'.

That's weird. Have you had the car aligned, ever? This should show up on an alignment as an issue, unless like the others have said, it was done to try and correct a torqued frame.

Could also be a right-turn-only, reverse direction, award-winning track car that somebody found the super-secret winning setup component, then returned the car to stock...!

 

LOL @ long duck

that has got to be the weirdest thing i've ever seen

 

I've only owned the car a few weeks and haven't even had a chance to drive it yet due to the large oil cooler leak. I welded on -10 bungs a couple days ago and now have to make lines. Hopefully then I'll be able to comment on the way it handles.
I bought it from a guy who raped the front suspension from the se for use on his 85 gsl drag car with a v8 swap. It currently has se rear and gsl front. I'll locate replacements for the front soon. What do I need just the spindles? It may be strange running on 14's in the rear and 13's on the front. Not to mention it looks funny with the different wheels
The car did have a road atlanta sticker on the back window. Perhaps it did bless the track at one time in it's life. I really see no signs of a collision though.
Thanks for looking guys. If anyone else would like to comment please do!

Oh.... j9fd3s the engine mounts do appear to be stock.

 

Check your front fender arch height-above-ground... might give you a clue if it's a correction, or some kind of weird setup attempt.

Was the previous driver severely overweight? Compensating??

 

i was thinking someone wanted to space the subframe down for some reason, but only one side = crack, and thats whack!

 

Drag cars sometimes use pre-loading of the front suspension to help correct for torque-induced steering under heavy acceleration. Could be that he used that spacer to 'lift' the driver's side a bit, putting more weight on that corner for the launch. When the tires hook up, the tendency will be for the torque to steer the car to the left, and that extra corner weight on that tire would help prevent that. Might also explain why he stripped off the larger SE front brakes for smaller wheel GSL setup to lighter and smaller on wheels/tires for a drag setup.

See? I wasn't so far off in my original assessment afterall!

That car would turn like crap on the street, however - the bias in the front would wear tires strangely, have weird turn-in characteristics left to right, and probably look 'tilted' from the front. That spacer looks like 1/2" or more to my uncalibrated eye.

As to putting the SE front setup back on the car, the lower subframe is the same between SE and non-SE with the exception of engine mounts. Struts are fundamentally different on the SE, and struts from the GSL won't fit. All other components should swap easily, however.

Good luck in the rebuild.

 

The guy I purchased the car from bought the car just for the se suspension and rear end. He decided he was making so much power with the v8 swap in his drag car that it would be wise to simply have a custom rear end made. He got so far as removing the front suspension.
I don't think the previous owner was overweight but it could be a possibility
I will most likely take it for a drive before deciding to remove it. First on the list will be measuring the fender arches as suggested.
Thanks guys!

 

Just a guess, but often the left front corner tends to sit lower than the other 3. This may have been his solution to leveling or perhaps even a diy corner weighting.

 

I didn't realize that. Sounds logical. I wonder if it has adversely affected the handling?
I had some oil cooler lines fabricated today. I plan on installing them tomorrow. At that point I'll run it around the block a few times and see how she feels.
Now I have to track down a brake booster for this car!

 

Can I give you a tip on installing oil cooler lines?

Be sure to install the correct copper washers - this is CRITICAL, as they are there to crush when you tighten the lines. Then tighten the lines SNUG - but not tight - start the car, and let the engine warm up, then look for leaks. They are likely to be leaking at the front oil cooler connections. Gradually, and carefully, tighten the lines *just enough* to stop the leaking.

Overdoing the tightening of those lines is the leading cause of oil cooler cracks in the bungs, and once cracked, they won't cinch down - the more you tighten it trying to get the leaks to stop, the more it leaks. Ask me how I know this...

You want them just tight enough that they don't leak. Good luck,

 

Thank you LongDuck. Knowing of this issue I modified the oil cooler. One of the threaded bungs was indeed leaking. I cut them off and welded on -10 an male fittings in their place. I then went to a local hydraulic shop and found the appropriate fittings for the housings to convert them to male -10 an also. I reinstalled the oil cooler this evening. Tomorrow I will install the lines and fire it up. It's been soaking in Marvel Mystery Oil for the last couple of weeks. It should smoke nicely!