Relocating tranny cooler

kenewagner

Registered User
After finding that the transmission cooler I now have does not keep the tranny fluid cool. I am looking at diffrent and more efficient transmission coolers. I stand in front of the car and scatch my head and wonder where does one mount a decent sized cooler. Now Im sure a lot of guys will jump in at this point and say here or there. Since my car is not quite setup like most cars I can tell you there just isnt a decent place up front to mount a good cooler. My FMIC is huge and takes up all the frontage area in front of the griffen radiator. The location the tranny cooler is in now is where the stock IC sat before. I was looking at a Tru-Cool cooler but the one I like is 11/4" X 23" by 9" and Im sure I can keep looking and find something smaller. I have this idea that is out of the box thinking. With the removal of the stock fuel tank I have (2) huge areas in that location where I could

1. Install the large cooler on the passenger side of the driveshaft and plum it forward to the tranny ports

2. Install 2 smaller coolers, one on each side of the drive shaft and plum forward to the tranny.

The distance to run the tubes back shouldnt be any greater than running them forward to a front location. The front location isnt that great for getting a straight shot of air for cooling purposes.

Opinions? I could even install a fan to cool the large cooler or one of the two smaller coolers. Running this really loose TQ Converter is generating a huge amount of heat and I want to address it now before it becomes a real problem. At this time I dont see any room up front to install something that will work

Ken
 
Search for Kurt K's and David N's trans coolers. The area underneath the battery is a prime location with lots of space, and I don't think you will get much if any airflow in the area of the stock gas tank.
 
Search for Kurt K's and David N's trans coolers. The area underneath the battery is a prime location with lots of space, and I don't think you will get much if any airflow in the area of the stock gas tank.

No room there as the return IC tube snakes up through there. The other side is the same with a big 9" cone filter sticking down into that area.

Ken
 
Search for Kurt K's and David N's trans coolers. The area underneath the battery is a prime location with lots of space, and I don't think you will get much if any airflow in the area of the stock gas tank.

This post has all the details and pictures of mine, but if he's got and intercooler pipe running through the same area it won't work.

http://www.sccoa.com/forums/showpost.php?p=410701&postcount=7

Ken,

I think Brain Oatway recently relocated his transmission cooler to the back of the car, so you might want to see how his worked before relocating them. {edit} Brian is relocating to same location as mine.

I think a pair of coolers plumbed in series with individual fans for each cooler would work fine back in the fuel tank area.

David
 
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You could even put an air dam on each one to make a high pressure zone to force air thru it.

Maybe slightly angle the rear of the cooler down with the front butted up to the floor with an air dam attached at the rear of cooler.
 
You could even put an air dam on each one to make a high pressure zone to force air thru it.

Maybe slightly angle the rear of the cooler down with the front butted up to the floor with an air dam attached at the rear of cooler.

David's and your ideas seem to me to be a logical way to do it. It isnt like the front of the SC lets in a lot of air for cooling purposes. I modified my front bumper area with directional vanes a long time ago to direct most of the air coming through holes in the bumper cover to the FMIC and radiator. Didnt have any need for a tranny cooler at the time. Now with all I have up there its like pouring 10 gallons into a 5 gallon bucket. In the stock fuel tank location I can get creative. Just have to find someone who can fabricate stuff:rolleyes::D:D
 
This post has all the details and pictures of mine, but if he's got and intercooler pipe running through the same area it won't work.

http://www.sccoa.com/forums/showpost.php?p=410701&postcount=7

David

Ken,

I'll try to snap some pictures of mine tonight (although like you mentioned, your IC piping will probably eliminate this as an option). Mine is actually mounted almost at a 45° angle to the battery tray, and is mounted through the two hole circled in the attached picture. It is a plate/frame cooler with twin 6" fans. I have some stainless steel ducting running towards the front of the cooler and have notched the fender liner to help facilitate flow through the cooler.
 

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Ken, I had to bypass the radiator due to the one I have doesnt have the transmission hookup. Would have bypassed it anyway. I went with a bar and plate cooler and a puller fan that was hooked to an inline thermostatic switch that kicks on when it hits a certain temperature. Never had any issues with the transmission overheating even with the 3600 stahl that is in it now.
 
Ken:

I just moved my transmission coolers from that location to the front. I had two big b&m coolers in series with fans and just couldn't keep the tranny cool when cruising around town and especially on the highway.

I didn't do any ducting of air so I'm certain if you did things would be improved but even with the two fans the location didn't work out for me.

Lots of space and a nice clean place to install but........
 
Ken:

I just moved my transmission coolers from that location to the front. I had two big b&m coolers in series with fans and just couldn't keep the tranny cool when cruising around town and especially on the highway.

I didn't do any ducting of air so I'm certain if you did things would be improved but even with the two fans the location didn't work out for me.

Lots of space and a nice clean place to install but........

Good to know

Ken
 
I put mine out in front of the Radiator. Never had an issue with the car overheating. But then you run into the issue of where your intercooler is located. With mine being out front and down low I had plenty of room.
 
Ordered a new cooler today. I have some space in front of the FMIC that I can mount it. It will sit fairly low and have great air flow coming into it. At this time I am not going to do a fan or run the lines into the radiator as it is now. I am going to 3/8" lines as well. Driving it should stay plenty cool but sitting at a stop light might not be that cool. Also was recommended to switch to John Deere HY Guard fluid.

Ken
 
Ken,

I'll try to snap some pictures of mine tonight (although like you mentioned, your IC piping will probably eliminate this as an option). Mine is actually mounted almost at a 45° angle to the battery tray, and is mounted through the two hole circled in the attached picture. It is a plate/frame cooler with twin 6" fans. I have some stainless steel ducting running towards the front of the cooler and have notched the fender liner to help facilitate flow through the cooler.

I know I'm almost 3 weeks late (could have something to do with a son being born about four weeks ago), but here are a couple of pictures just in case anybody else might be interested. I don't have a picture with the bumper installed, but essentially the stainless steel ducting lines up the the factory 89-93 bumper opening. The sliced some 1/4" tubing and installed it on the edge of the ducting to keep it from potentially wearing through the bumper (it is thin SS and a tight fit against the bumper).
 

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I know I'm almost 3 weeks late (could have something to do with a son being born about four weeks ago), but here are a couple of pictures just in case anybody else might be interested. I don't have a picture with the bumper installed, but essentially the stainless steel ducting lines up the the factory 89-93 bumper opening. The sliced some 1/4" tubing and installed it on the edge of the ducting to keep it from potentially wearing through the bumper (it is thin SS and a tight fit against the bumper).

Wow I thought I was the only one trying to get ten gallons into a 5 gallon bucket:rolleyes: That is a nicely engineered set up. I finished installing the new cooler Sunday. It is right behind the front cover and sits low, right in the air stream coming in. I am not going to run a fan for it. I'll see how it goes. Thanks for taking the time to post pictures. Have a few other minor glitches to hammer out and than I am taking it home to keep in the garage so I can drive it anytime I want. Right now its at my shop 20 minutes away.


Ken
 
Wow I thought I was the only one trying to get ten gallons into a 5 gallon bucket:rolleyes: That is a nicely engineered set up. I finished installing the new cooler Sunday. It is right behind the front cover and sits low, right in the air stream coming in. I am not going to run a fan for it. I'll see how it goes. Thanks for taking the time to post pictures. Have a few other minor glitches to hammer out and than I am taking it home to keep in the garage so I can drive it anytime I want. Right now its at my shop 20 minutes away.


Ken

Thanks Ken. I still have the radiator plumbed in the loop in my setup and the only time I have had cooling issues is when my fans stopped working during stop-n-go traffic. At highway speeds, the fans are rarely needed.
 
Bump time. I'm hoping to mount mine up while the bumper of the car is off. Is underneath the battery tray still the preferred spot?
 
I'd like to know too. What is the consensus on mounting, curious if any of you SC masterminds have devised or improved on any mounting locations?

Bump time. I'm hoping to mount mine up while the bumper of the car is off. Is underneath the battery tray still the preferred spot?
 
I'm still very happy with the location of my cooler, and of course, I've already mentioned it.:)
 
Isn't there a minimum operating efficiently temperature for transmission fluid? IE--It goes through the radiator to make sure that it says warm enough after the cooler??
 
Isn't there a minimum operating efficiently temperature for transmission fluid? IE--It goes through the radiator to make sure that it says warm enough after the cooler??

If you have a nonlocking TQ converter like some have the last thing you want is more heat. It gets plenty hot and so the need for a good tranny cooler.

Ken
 
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