Please someone give me a start to finish guide on removing the stock oil cooler. Mine is totally disabled right now. (i.e. not hooked up to the radiator and capped off.) I have read countless posts on how to remove it, and I know the benefits of having it versus not having it, so lets not go there. I just do not feel confident that I have all the items needed to get rid of it.

Any help would be great!

 

If you have it disconnected from the water pump and radiator your almost done. Take the filter off, unscrew the filter boss extension and remove the cooler and lines. I believe you can also disconnect the lines from the cooler sandwhich. Once you have unscrewed the cooler from the block the original oil filter adapter that has been used on all Small block since the begining of time should still be haning on the block. The filter should screw on. to that. You may need to change the bolts that hold the original filter adapter to the block as they have a tall head on those two bolts and may not allow you to screw the filter all the way on to the block which would create a "small" leak, and you wouldn't want that now would you.

Hope this helps......

 

OK, sounds easy enough, thanks BTW

Does anyone have the exact size/length/thread needed to replace the longer ones. This is a one shot one kill deal here. I need to have alll the parts necessary to replace this thing in one try.

Also, what is the biggest oil filter that will go on there? I know the HP-3002 from K&N is taller than the HP-2002, but is that the biggest one that I can get?

 

Normal bolts for the filter adapter would be 5/16-18x1.12.
GM PART # 3951644 if you want to get them from a dealer for a couple bucks.

There also may be a difference in the filter adapter between the oil cooler and non oil cooler. They are different part numbers.
GM PART # 3952301 w/o oil cooler
GM PART # 10055722 w/oil cooler

 

BTW: Where do you get a hardware bolt that is 1.12

I got 1 1/4 and 1" and we'll see what works

 

Dont know if you heard this but I was told once to change the filter adapter on the block. The ones GM used, at least on LT1s, have a very weak bypass valve. Meaning if the filter is full or dirty, or sometimes for no reason, dirty oil will just bypass the filter and go right back through the engine. You can by "performance", if you want to call them that, adapters that have either no bypass or a heavier valve in them. Just a thought, I dont like the idea of dirty oil being recirculated though the engine, as long as you change your filter on time you wont have a problem with it getting full.

 

Just giving you the facts, buddy. It's up to you what you want to do with them.

 

I reused the filter adapter and it seems to be working fine. (10k+ miles) I just went to the hardware store and found some stainless steel screws the same size as the ones with the extended head on them and they seem to be holding tight. (I checked after the 1st oil change to make sure they were still tight)

Other than that you connect the bottom of the radiator to the H20 pump and take the bolt out that holds the two lines together and then pull them out the back.