When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
For what it's worth, my older CWR, Crooked Willow Racing, dual 19-row oil cooler kit uses a similar front cover connection. I changed the 90 deg fitting on mine for a stronger one after reports of cracked fittings and oil loss. I have a rubber-lined p-clamp hose holder thingy holding one of the thermostat connections to the cross bar, it's flexible enough to prevent stressing the front cover. Never had an issue.
I had the Mocal 180 degree thermostat on my car and it never got hot enough. Unless you live somewhere where its hot all the time I would go with the higher temp version of the thermostat. I switched mine out for the Improved racing one and it has helped with my oil temps. They finally get up to temp now. Too cold of oil is a problem also!! The provision for mounting is easier on the IR unit as well, it has provisions for a bracket to be screwed to it.
Thanks for the info. I feel better using the high temp version, especially my area doesn't get hot often. Any chance you have pictures of it mounted?
Originally Posted by neit_jnf
For what it's worth, my older CWR, Crooked Willow Racing, dual 19-row oil cooler kit uses a similar front cover connection. I changed the 90 deg fitting on mine for a stronger one after reports of cracked fittings and oil loss. I have a rubber-lined p-clamp hose holder thingy holding one of the thermostat connections to the cross bar, it's flexible enough to prevent stressing the front cover. Never had an issue.
Any chance you have pictures of how yours is mounted also? It would be nice to see other mounts.
You can use PTFE sealant or even anti seize on the fittings and threads. Just be careful not to get it in the line you're working with obviously. A lot of people will tell you not to use any sealant, antiseize, or anything.
I had leaks no matter what I did using a multitude of different fittings. I built my own kit and used cheap summit fittings initially and thought that was the cause of the leaks, then I switched to Earl's, Fragola, Russell, and ultimately liked XRP the best. I tried the conical seals as well and those mostly worked except where they didn't. I spent way more money in the end building my own kit trying out all of these fittings trying to prevent leaks. In the end I could've used any of the fittings with the sealant and been ok. However I am glad I discovered the XRP fittings because those really are the best in my opinion.