First off, I know welding is a preference for some for various reasons. Not going there.

Just started pinning coolant lines and having a hard time figuring out how to get to one that is directly below the coolant filter housing? The one on the housing facing aft should be fairly easy. The other with the 90 deg pipe not so much. Looks to require removing a bunch of stuff on top of the motor, but not entirely sure. Any input?

 

are you trying it in car?
easy job when engine's out

 

Engine is out. I have the 4 lines pinned towards the rear of the engine. Three on the driver side and one on the passenger side. But I need to know what I need to remove to access the one that is straight back underneath the engine oil filter housing.

 

think you mean these 3...intake plenum off yet?..easy access

 

Plenum is still on. Is removing the plenum alone enough access?

 

Yessir

 

Sweet! Thanks.

 

did mine without removing anything. i used a harbor freight 90* drill and a long drill bit. tapping the hole is harder than drilling it

 

The tapping the part that concerns me.

 

i ended up using a tap with a small socket on a long extension and ratchet. took my time and went very slowly keeping a lot of pressure on the top of the ratchet. blstered the snot out of my palm actually!

 

Gotcha. So you come in from the top or side?

 

i want to say i came in slightly from the side but honestly its been 2 yrs ago. doesnt matter were the allen bolt goes as long as it goes thru the housing into the fitting. i think i used 6mm allen stainless steel bolts with red locktite on them

 

When you drill and tap, are you using grease, crisco, snot to keep the aluminum shavings/chips from entering the cooling system?

 

For drilling i use grease in the bit to catch the shavings. For the tapping I use tap fluid. Grease for tapping aluminum causes galling. With the engine out you can flush the lines of any shavings fairly easily. Honestly though, the small shaving from tapping won't hurt anything in the coolant system. Our coolant systems probably have way more solid contaminants over time than tiny aluminum shavings from a tap. That being said, i will flush the system regardless.

 

So, i had to remove the intake manifold on the drivers side to get the forward pipes under the oil filter housing. Was a huge pain in the ***.