Oil filter/cooler stud removal/replacement.
 

I swapped a 1.8l into my 1.6l, and bought a cobalt oil filter relocation/cooler. Want to get rid of the stud and use the shorter 1.6l one/

The 1.8l has the factory oil cooler, so the threaded stud that oil flows through is much longer. I have plugged the ports for the water lines to the factory oil cooler so Iw ant to ged rid of it compltelty rather than having is sandwitched betweent the block and the remote oil filter piece as it isnt functional, I would like to pull the 1.8l stud and replace it with the one on the 1.6l

Is the stud pressed into the block or is it threaded? What is the easyest/best way to remove it without damage?

It's just threaded in.

If you don't care about damaging the pipe itself, you can unscrew it with vise-grips or a pipe wrench.

If you wish to preserve the pipe (eg: you're going to sell it, along with the cooler, as an upgrade to a 1.6 owner), then use the "double-nut" method:

Remove the nut holding down the factory oil cooler, and then the cooler itself.

Re-install the nut onto the pipe, and thread it down about halfway.

Install an oil filter onto the pipe (one you don't care about) and thread it down about a half-inch or so. Enough that you have full engagement of the threads.

Now run the nut back up against the oil filter. Using an oil filter wrench to hold the filter still, put an open-end wrench onto the nut and tighten it to the filter.

Once the two are locked together, you can use your open-end wrench on the nut in the "unscrewing" direction, and it should cause the pipe to unscrew out of the block.

To separate the nut from the filter and get the filter back off the pipe, just use the filter wrench and open-end wrench in the reverse direction.


If you already have a second nut which fits the pipe (such as from your new kit) then you can use it in place of an oil filter as the "other" nut.

Great info, I really appreciate it. I tried doing exactly as you described with the nut and the filter but I only held the filter by hand. Figured it would hev been enough, clearly it wasn't. Pulled the filter off with the nut. Wanted to check and make sure it wasnt pressed in.

I will give it a go again tomorrow, thanks alot.
Derek

No, it's not pressed in, but it is screwed in pretty tightly.

When I swapped a 1.8-style cooler onto my 1.6 engine, I didn't really care about the condition of the old pipe, so I just cranked it out using a vise-grip. It was in there pretty firmly, so the threads got pretty well buggered up. If you don't plan to re-use or sell the old pipe once it's out, by all means use this method.

On the other hand, I have also pulled them from engines being rebuilt using the double-nut method. It ain't easy, but it works. You just have to get the nut and the filter locked together tighter than true love, and ensure that when you're unscrewing, you're not applying any force to the filter itself. You might, optionally, even apply some counter-force (against the direction of unscrewing) to it with the filter wrench while you're unscrewing the pipe via the nut. This, of course, presupposes that the engine is out of the car or that you have six elbows in each arm.