On an ej20t theres a water cooler/heater doodad above the standard filter location...can it be removed and left off.?.. I'm remote mounting the oil filter but still chasing some more clearance.

Hi

I took the one out of my old WBX motor, all I had to do was unscrew the centre bit and screw in a short one from a model that didn't use the oil cooler.

Steve

looks like it from what ive looked at on mine, havent tested the theory though, see who finds out first?

I took mine off (for offroad clearance), i gathered unless i do high rpm trackwork i shouldn't really need it, also have cooling fins on the sump.
All you need to do is get a plug off an engine that doesnt have the oil cooler and replace the coolant pipe nipple, as the blocks are the same. The plug is for the coolant and its the one right next to the cooler. You then just need to buy a 1/2" (i think) coolant block off piece (pickup from auto stores) to block the port on the water pump that runs to the pipe across the front of the sump to the cooler. Easy as!

Found a photo, here is part of the block you need to blank off with a screw in plug, on the very right hand side of the photo.



And here it is, you can just see where the plug goes behind the oil filter slightly hidden by the timing cover bolt.