Rotary Car Club - View Single Post - Joff and MrsJoff's Chaste White BorgWarner FD build

joff · 01-27-2011, 02:43 AM

I really like these nutsert thingies -- I needed to remount the relay box for the Vmount, so I cut off one plastic leg, bent the other metal bracket straight and mounted it upside down near the hood latch. Once I figured where to mount the thing, I drilled two small holes in the sheet metal and used a special rivet tool ($15 at harbor freight) to press in the two pictured threaded aluminum nuts.

The other small detail needing taken care of because of the vmount was the power steering cooler. I got a $40 Derale cooler from Jegs, but the hose size and hose barb sizes are not a match for the stock barbs off the steering rack and fluid reservoir.

What I ended up doing to minimize fittings/adapters/couplers is cutting off the 10mm hard line on the rack near the drivers side and using a 10mm compression fitting on the end rated for about 4000psi coupled to a 1/4" NPT hose barb with the same size as the Derale cooler. From there I mounted the cooler on the Racing Beat sway bar brace with a couple more nutserts. The hose barb on the steering reservoir was also not the right size, so I drilled out the plastic barb, tapped the reservoir with 1/4" NPT and used some power steering fluid compatible resin to lock the metal hose barb fitting in the plastic reservoir.

I've seen some other RX7 Vmount kits with somewhat goofy hose routing for using an aftermarket power steering cooler. I'm probably being picky, but I don't like the idea of stock hardline off the rack going from drivers side to passenger side, brought back to the drivers side with rubber hose bent 180deg, then connected to a cooler with another 180deg AN fitting to change direction yet again. Meanwhile, the original outlet off the rack is pointing in the right direction only a few inches away from where the cooler is if you're willing to cut the line and use a $5 compression fitting.

Also, this other kit I saw was using aluminum AN fittings for the corrosive hydraulic fluid. Isn't that supposed to be trouble? I always thought aluminum and brake/hydraulic fluid is not good. The fittings I got from McMaster are stainless steel/galvanized steel designed for hydraulics and corrosive environments.

01-27-2011, 02:43 AM	#143
joff Rotary Fanatic Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Mesa, Arizona Posts: 114 Rep Power: 17	I really like these nutsert thingies -- I needed to remount the relay box for the Vmount, so I cut off one plastic leg, bent the other metal bracket straight and mounted it upside down near the hood latch. Once I figured where to mount the thing, I drilled two small holes in the sheet metal and used a special rivet tool ($15 at harbor freight) to press in the two pictured threaded aluminum nuts. The other small detail needing taken care of because of the vmount was the power steering cooler. I got a $40 Derale cooler from Jegs, but the hose size and hose barb sizes are not a match for the stock barbs off the steering rack and fluid reservoir. What I ended up doing to minimize fittings/adapters/couplers is cutting off the 10mm hard line on the rack near the drivers side and using a 10mm compression fitting on the end rated for about 4000psi coupled to a 1/4" NPT hose barb with the same size as the Derale cooler. From there I mounted the cooler on the Racing Beat sway bar brace with a couple more nutserts. The hose barb on the steering reservoir was also not the right size, so I drilled out the plastic barb, tapped the reservoir with 1/4" NPT and used some power steering fluid compatible resin to lock the metal hose barb fitting in the plastic reservoir. I've seen some other RX7 Vmount kits with somewhat goofy hose routing for using an aftermarket power steering cooler. I'm probably being picky, but I don't like the idea of stock hardline off the rack going from drivers side to passenger side, brought back to the drivers side with rubber hose bent 180deg, then connected to a cooler with another 180deg AN fitting to change direction yet again. Meanwhile, the original outlet off the rack is pointing in the right direction only a few inches away from where the cooler is if you're willing to cut the line and use a $5 compression fitting. Also, this other kit I saw was using aluminum AN fittings for the corrosive hydraulic fluid. Isn't that supposed to be trouble? I always thought aluminum and brake/hydraulic fluid is not good. The fittings I got from McMaster are stainless steel/galvanized steel designed for hydraulics and corrosive environments.