Packaging the oil filter and thermostat housing

This was an epic challenge. As you probably know, the old air cooled Volkswagens were not equipped with an oil filter, which might be o.k. for a stock engine, but with the added displacement and performance, I wanted to add an oil filter with the external oil cooler. The filter shall be mounted in a way allowing to service it, but not block the access of heater cables, fuel lines, clutch cable etc.

After hours of playing with mounting locations and options how to possibly mount it, I came up with a solution which shall allow to mount it, but also be able to replace it easily. In the left rear area behind the wheel well:

This time I will start with a picture of the final article, but the way to get here wasn't that easy!

With the decision of the location finalized, I had to find a way to mount it here. A bracket of 5 mm thick mild steel was the solution.

It is basically "L"-shaped, following the contour of the filter housing with a 2nd plate welded on, to accept the fixation points of the housing.

and this is the designated position of the bracket (positioned with my fingers only):

With 3 M8 screws attaching the filter to the bracket, it seemed only logical to use more than 3 bolts to mount the whole assembly to the body. So I used 4 M8 captive nuts to for a strong attachment set up:

 

 (Yes, there is a fifth hole, but it wasn't usable, as it is located exactly in a depression of the beam. I used it to fill the beam with fluid film cavity protection and capped it off with a rubber plug)

Here is the sub-assembly of the bracket and filter housing, already attached with lock nuts:

and another picture of the final assembly, mounted into the vehicle:

The oil pressure and warning light sender is also installed here, making the engine compartment a little neater with less cables. Oil hose routing is the next challenge!