To those with oil coolers...
 

Went to install mine, which is a pieced together setup using a Mocal sandwich plate, and I found that the straight fittings coming off of the sandwich plate run straight into the brace for the intake manifold that mounts to the block.
The sandwich plate requires special BSP to NPT adapting fitting, followed by the straight NPT to -10 AN push-lock fitting, so all in all there's about 3 inches of hard stuff sticking off the side of the sandwich plate.

I looked at oil cooler kits and it appears they use straight fittings off of the sandwich plate, but I don't see how this is possible.
Looking for input from those who have a sandwich plate sucessfully fitted to their car, and whether the fittings attached to it are straight or angled.

If nobody has any enlightening information for me, I may just resort to ordering two 90 degree fittings and tossing the straight ones.

-Ryan

Whoa, after all the modifications to your car you have chosen to keep your intake manifold brace? Thats one of the first things to go on all of my cars.

No brace here either.

Mine has NPT-AN adapters, then 90* fittings There's only about 5* of sandwich plate rotation that will allow it to work before it hits the alternator or oil pressure sensor.

Did I miss the memo about removing the intake manifold brace? I've never heard mention of that, and didn't know it wasn't there for a reason...

Curly: even though you've removed your IM brace, yous till have 90* fittings? So then does removing the brace still not clear up enough room in front of the sandwich plate to run the hoses straight off?

-Ryan

Hell no, it's never going to fit with straight fittings.

Only way this would work is if you're running the 1.8 water/oil cooler thingy, which would space the sandwich plate out enough that you should be able to rotate it to different orientations. One of which may let you run straight fittings.

Ordering 90* fittings.

So what's the story with the IM bracket?

I don't know, I kept mine just because. The IM seemed pretty chunky when I was holding it and figured it could use all the help it can get with not loosening up. The last thing I want is my IM to get loose causing coolant to get sucked into the runner.

No manifold brace either. I have the twincooler kit (thermostat adapter) which has straight fittings.

I ditched the brace on my car when I put in my oil cooler.

I have the IM brace because our engines shake too much.

I toss the mani brace on every car I work on as long as the owner is ok with it (or they don't have a choice because my custom ones don't come with a provision to attach it.), it makes oil changes so much easier. Also use 90s on the sandwich plate.

Part of the issue is the stock oil cooler, which 1.6 cars do not have, but 1.8 cars do. The OEM oil cooler sandwich plate spaces the filter a couple inches off of the block. Without the cooler in place, you'll never be able to use straight fittings - they'll hit the block. With the cooler in place, you could use 'em if you wanted to, but the fit would probably be a bit tight.

Either way, I'd go with 45° fittings if possible, and 90° if I had to. The difference probably isn't much, but the less bending, the better.

The IM brace isn't that heavy. I'd run one if I still had my stock IM, especially if I were using a phenolic spacer.

I has no oil cooler, but thermostat not hit block?!?!?

I thought about 45* fittings instead of 90's but didn't think they would clear the IM brace... I guess if I removed it the 45's would work just fine, but I don't see any harm other than a very small amount and only possible benefits of the brace so... I might leave it and go with 90's.

I couldn't find a way to get the oil cooler lines to fit with the IM brace at all, so when I installed the cooler last year I reluctantly ditched the brace. It's light, it's easy to take in/out, so I left it in til then.

I use straight AN fittings on the Mocal sandwich plate, and (IIRC) 135 degree hose ends on the hoses.

--Ian