Hi folks - just doing some planning here for 3.2L build and it looks like most of the front oil cooler installations end up cutting the factory bracing extends from either side of the car near the headlights to under the front latch.

The Patrick Motorsports kit from the shapes in the kit seem to presume that but I wanted to ask what most people end up doing. Some recent big$ sales on BAT took the cut/remove approach but I’m a bit reluctant to dive in with the cutting disks.

Example picture attached

Thanks!
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So you have a 73 or 74 which has the added reinforcement?

Maybe the shroud fits underneath it?

That car is likely a 70-72 and nothing was modded, just cuts for air holes.

Early cars didn't have the cross brace.


Stupid question, why do you think you need a front mounted cooler for a 3.2L?
Are you going to take the car to the track on a regular basis?

Ah, didn’t know that the early cars didn’t. Thanks Chris. It is a 1974 car.

Andy! the 3.2L in the 911 needed a front cooler so assuming a 3.2L will here too (plus generally accepted build approach).

Hope you had a good Saturday.

The 3.2 did run cooler than my 2.7 did. The only time my front cooler fans came on with my 3.2 was when I was stuck in traffic in the middle of summer. It does get pretty toasty in Southern California compared to Northern California. However mine is a Euro high compression motor. The US motors might run cooler.

This is how I did mine. Remember I have an rsr sized cooler in mineClick to view attachment

The guy who is Classic Retrofit, maker of blade fuse panels and electric AC kits for 911s, is working on a rear mounted oil cooler for 911s. It’s not yet ready for production but would seem to be a candidate solution for adding an oil cooler to a 914-6 without cutting up the frunk and running oil lines to the front of the car?

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Is this what your looking for?

I had the area reinforced pretty close to AJ's formula, but somewhat simpler (cheaper). We took advantage of the restoration design corner reinforcement pieces (that are now available) and notched them rather than the elaborate sectioning and piecing that AJ did.

This also allowed us to have the crossbars land on thicker reinforced pads that spread the load into the sheet metal.

In the diagram the red rectangles are 4 mm sheet steel the smaller ones are contour bent to match - the larger one is just flat. The green rectangles represent the 1" x 1" x 1/8" wall steel cross members.

The yellow lines show where the RD stamped corner parts were notched.

This was all done by Chris at Tangerine Racing.

The blue rectangle is the exhaust air cut-out (shown 2 pic below).

The last pic shows the flow cap, prior to welding (this part is available at Mittlemotor)

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I know of several bay area 3.2L 914s that only run the engine mounted cooler. Those are street use only cars though.

Sounds like the consensus is that the factory panel between the headlights introduced after 70-72 isn’t needed then?

I have the PMS oil cooler in the front of my car and the 3.2 typically runs about 195 while driving. If I am in stop and go traffic it will creep to maybe 215 degrees. A cool thing (to me) is that as soon as traffic opens up I can watch the temperature gauge go back down to 195. So no heat issues and I am glad I have the cooler.

By removing that reinforcement and the horizontal spare tire, you will remove crash protection on a now heavier car.

914-6 GT were setup for race, will your car be street driven?

Why would Porsche install a panel in a low cost car if it wasn't needed?

save trh FRUNK...

Just to be clear, I’m asking about this in red.

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I say save it. Half circle shape adds strength.
Matt

AFAIK the PMS cooler fits under there.

The the real GT and Mazda RX7 cooler won't fit under the brace, the RX7 cooler is about a 1/2 inch too tall.
I have not tried it yet but if I have the correct dimensions the MB W126 cooler should fit no problem.

I've used the Mazda RX4 coolers on a couple 914s and a 930 turbo; fit on the 914 goes flush to the top of the arched sheet metal piece, and the f'glass shroud fits great over everything.
@Tdskip ... I have an extra RX4 cooler on hand...needs some rehab and an ultrasonic cleaning. Check it out when you pick up your headers
Marty

Thanks for all the responses and I’m going discussion. It appears that there was a very narrow date range when Porsche added that bracing? I have four 1973-1974 cars and only one of them actually has it?

The bracing was added along with the bumper 'tits' to accommodate new impact bumper regs.
The 75-76 BUBS don't have that brace. Different reinforcements were added for the bumper shocks.