I attacked the oil cooler hoses and fittings this afternoon. First I spent quite awhile studying the diagram in the back of the Lycoming Operators Manual to once again figure out which ports the oil cooler holes go to, and which one is Oil to Cooler, and which one is Oil from Cooler. I concluded that the IO-360-A diagram has the to and from ports reversed, as it shows them the reverse of all the other engine models, yet it refers to the same page to show other variations.

I assembled a hose end onto the length of steel braided hose, then temporarily threaded a 45° elbow into the Oil from Cooler port, and screwed the hose end on to it figure out what clock angle the elbow needed to be. Then I permanently installed the elbow. These things have a tapered thread to ensure a tight, leak free joint. This means the torque required to install the fitting keeps increasing as you screw it it. You want to tighten it very tight to be sure it doesn't leak, but if you turn it too far you can't back it off or it'll leak. It is a real guessing game to know whether you dare screw it in one more turn, or whether it will become so hard to turn that you can't get it to the angle you need. To further increase the level of difficulty, there is so much stuff hanging off the back of the engine that you don't have very good access to get a wrench on the fitting. Anyway, I scraped my knuckles, and a lot of bad words were said, but I managed to get the first fitting installed at a suitable angle. I've stopped to watch the NFL wildcard games, so I'll attack the next fitting tomorrow.