AN Fittings for Oil Cooler...Where???

[renaissance man]

Where do you get the proper AN-10 fitting for the oil cooler? I know Finish Line has them but, no disrespect, I can't believe that 6 little pieces making up 2 fittings for a hose cost over $100 ! Anyone have any luck finding these things? Also, do I need special hose or will Spectre hose work without having to spend another $100 on "Eral's" or to that effect?

[Homewrecker]

Summit will have the fittings. As far as the hose, I suggest you just bite the bullet & use Earls. You could probably get by with something else, but you would probably replace it later anyway.
I feel you pain on the hose thing. I have been one hundred dollared to death on the stinking hoses. My wife opened my package just so she could see what a $100 hose actually looks like. She asked me what part of it was made of gold & diamonds.

[renaissance man]

Thanks Dave,

Am I looking for a particular type of AN fitting? I notice that there are "reusable", blah, blah, blah.... How does the hose actually stay attached? It doesn't appear to have a "clamp" on it but appears to slide into the fitting???? Perplexed????

[justa6]

Hi, Since my Cobra uses a motor with a Dry Sump oiling system I've had to make probably 20 AN connections during the installation. They were all #12 and #10 fittings.

Here are a couple of observations:

First: Buy the "swivel" type AN fitting which cost around 3 or 4 dollars MORE but make the whole thing MUCH easier.

Second: Make sure you get the correct hose for whatever you are planning to use the lines for. ie make sure that the inside of the hose is OK with, say, an oil line to the cooler.

Third: When you cut the stainless hose make sure you tightly tape the area to be cut so that when you do cut it there is tape left on both pieces of the cut hose. If you don't the end will unravel and you'll have to recut the hose and lose part of it.

Fourth: There are several ways to cut the hose but I've found that a "throatless" shear works the best as it makes a perfectly clean cut. I've also used a hacksaw, miter saw, saber saw, etc with less success at a clean cut.

Fifth: Put the fitting into a vise with lots of cushioning material to not scratch the soft aluminum fitting. This is something you need to figure out for yourself. After you lock it up oil everything as you assemble the fittings. Make SURE you get an instruction sheet when you buy your fittings and hose. Also you could go to Earl's website to down load the info.

At the end it will tell you to "pressure test" the fittings you assemble. I know of no easy way to do that but I can tell you that if you pull it as hard as you can you will not move the properly installed hose. My motor has 100 lbs oil pressure at high RPM and never had one drop of leakage. These fittings are a pain to build but VERY good.

Hope that helps,

[Hal Copple]

I have done a lot with AN stuff on my car, was out in the garage last nite until late working with Teflon AN 4 hose and ends for my trunk mounted Halon system.

I kinda like making up fittings, they are just such a work of art when they all come together.

There is some learning curve with AN stuff, and two basic types of ends, nipple and cutter types and single cutter. The best is a bit more, but perhaps more reliable, as if we need 3000 psi!

I do suggest you use hose and ends from the same company, to make installation of the ends easier. Be sure your tetanus shot is up to date, as you will loose a few drops of blood doing AN hoses.

Personally, i have been happy with Earl's nipple and cutter, i get my stuff usually from Summit, or my local speed shop.

You don't use teflon tape or sealants on AN connctions, although the NPT stuff should generally use these thread seals..

If you are going to be doing much AN work, get a set of wrenches specific for them, nice and short, so you can work in crowded places.

Keep some bandaids on your workbench!!

[renaissance man]

Thanks Hal,

Appreciate the responses all....

Hal, was that you in Griot's Garage? Nice SPF!

[renaissance man]

Wouldn't I only need the 90 degree An-10 to connect the oil cooler to the hose? I think the "Adapter" and "Straight" fittings are only to connect the Sandwich Plate to the hose. If this isn't seen as it's very low on the engine, couldn't I just use a regular hose clamp here?

[Homewrecker]

An answer to ypur clamp question: These fittings don't need a hose clamp. The fitting itself goes both inside & outside the hose & basically sandwiches the hose for the seal. I've also been advised to use anti-seize when assembling these AN fittings.

[Trans-Am Jim]

Hal is on the mark. Earl's Autofit aluminum hose ends and the the Autoflex stainless hose is the way to go. IMHO, no need for the kind which uses an "olive" insert. Buy from Jeg's or Summitt.

Couple more suggestions -
Do not mix fittings and hose from different manufacturers.
You only need to use a swivel fitting on one end of the hose.
A Dremel with a cutoff wheel makes clean, fast cuts
Get a can of spray teflon lubricant-it works better than oil as an assembly lubricant, IMHO
Be sure to blow out the hose when you are done to remove any debris
I use a little dab of Loctite's pipe thread sealant when making final connections to lubricate the fitting.

And, if the money has you concerned, think about this:
When you use an external filter and oil cooler, you are taking the oil on a 10 foot long journey outside of your motor. At 65-80psi, a cracked hose or broken clamp will turn into a major flood in milliseconds. You can lose a motor real quick. Dont' skimp here.

[Mr.Fixit]

Everybody's been right on this one. But you need to very thoroghly clean out the hose afyter cutting to get all the rubber and stainless debris out. I usually blow it out with compressed air, run a "bore brush" in andout of the fresh cut end, blow it out with air again, then flow solvent (or the hot soapy water-based stuff we have to use now) through it, then blow it out again with compressed air. The debris is sticky, clings to the inside of the hose, and I wouldn't want any of it in my oiling system. Do all this cleaning before you put the fittings on either end (or they'll trap debris) and before you remove the tape you used at the cut to stop fraying.

[renaissance man]

Thanks guys,

Might as well measure twice and cut it once. I'll get either the Aeroquip or Earls parts (knowing not to mix them) Guess I'll get all of the connectors including the ones for the sandwich plate on the engine as well..

ciao....

[Steve R]

Ren,
Here is info about AN fittings and how to install them onto hoses: (it takes a while to download)
Http://av-info.faa.gov/dst/43-13/43.13-1b.pdf
Steven

[SCOBRAC]

www.jegs.com

www.summitracing.com

mine were swivel type and $23 ea

[427sharpe]

My fav source: www.amstreetrod.com

[Rick Parker]

Here is anothers source. Check out their Startlite Product lineup. It is quite a bit lighter. They also have the standard blue/red fittings for their stainless braided hose. They are based in Ohio with many outlets in larger Metro areas. Check the yellow pages for "Hose, or Rubber vendors". Aeroquip is an industrial supplier that has a division catering to the motorsport community. They have been around a long time.

http://www.aeroquip.com/pages/performance.html

Rick...........

[Roscoe]

From Earls Web Site

http://www.coredcs.com/~wmeng/technical/technical.html

Roscoe

[Ant]

Rick,

I have been looking at the Startlite hose from Aeroquip, and think it may be better to do my dry sump and fuel system with, I will need a lot of hose ends etc, and still wish to use the standard reusable aluminium hose ends.

The only thing is it wont have the stainless wire look that we are all know, but I reckon for weight saving especially since my car is all alloy etc small block, I guess the one point is having this type of hose well secured so it doesnt chafe on objects!

[JustOne]

What I used with my setup which is a Canton 90 degree rotating bypass and Canton oil filter adapter.

2 straight AN 10s out of the block plate coupled with AN 10 to 5/8 into the block plate. 4 pieces total

2 45 degree AN 10 swivels going to the adapter (you may need 90s) coupled to 2 AN 10 to 5/8 NPT. You have to get the swivel adapter into the NPT threads of the adapter so you will use 4 pieces here as well.

2 swivel 90 fitting to the oil cooler. My oil cooler was already set up for an AN 10, so I didn't need an NPT adapter here.

Total of 10 fittings. Buy the hose from Jegs, Russell, Earls, etc. DO NOT USE ANY CHEAP HOSE HERE OR YOU WILL BE DOING IT AGAIN!!

Now this is how I did mine and I can't think of an easier way, by the end of the process I could make a complete hose in about 1 minute.
I used the Russell assembly lube and anti seize for the AN ends of the fittings and teflon for the NPT ends. The lube makes a tough job very easy. For cutting the #10 hose I used the large bolt cutters from Home-Depot (workforce yellow handle $14.95). Use masking tape, and wrap the area tightly so that you will have about an inch of tape on each side after the cut. Use the cutters, which will go through the #10 in one swift snap. After putting the lube on the #10 ends and hose just assemble.
As mentioned earlier it might be a good idea to buy an wrenches. For the # 10you will nee regular size wrenches of 15/16 , 1in, an 1 1/8 in. I found the Jegs fittings to be the easiest to work with.

Justin

[nblumberg]

my .02 - I had much better luck with Aeroquip than Earls - had some connections with the Earls that just didn't fit right, and had some oozing.

-Nathan