aftermarket auto trans cooler for maximum heat control

[hasselbach]

Actually you can easily pump 500 GPH of fuel through 5/8 line all day long. So why wouldn't this work? What size fuel line do you run on your race car? Talk is just that, talk. This does work.

500 GPH? I don't think so. Maybe at 4000 PSI you could pump 500 through 5/8!

 

[lmills]

So what are you saying Hass??? You running 2" fuel line to feed that monster twin turboed viper??? :-laf

 

[hasselbach]

So what are you saying Hass??? You running 2" fuel line to feed that monster twin turboed viper??? :-laf

nope, more like 1/2''. I figure if 5/8'' can support 500 gph, then 1/2 should be good for at least 300

 

[lmills]

All I am saying is this transmission was built 4 years ago when aftermarket transmission companies where pretty much only offering converters, valve bodies and hardened parts, not billet pieces. The trannies have come a long way's since then. If it were going to burn up, it would have. Not to mention the temps he mentioned were not temps going into the transmission, but coming out of the transmission after they have already been thru the pump, converter and transmission. You say it won't work, but it already has.

 

[paccool]

My 93 has the under bed cooler that was installed by the dealer when the truck was originally purchased. I am not the original owner but have all the paper work.



For what it's worth - I am pretty sure the hose is 1/2" and it is connected in series. The fan is thermostat controlled and is supposed to come on at 180. I also hooked up a switch to allow me to manually turn on the fan and when towing in the hills or on a hot day I turn it on and leave it on. The cooler is now 12 years old and as far as I know has never been touched.

 

[wlowe]

**ICEMAN**, how did you connect the cooler lines to the transmission return line? Did you use a compression fitting or a flair fitting? Where did you get the fittings?



Thanks,

Bill

 

[paccool]

To help answer a couple of the questions above - I went to some reference books I have on pumps and flows.



1/2" steel pipe with a . 622 inside diameter will flow 10 GPM at a velocity of 10. 6 FPS. This is a flow of 600 GPH. Now, 10. 6 feet per second is a pretty high velocity so at 5 feet per second the flow is 5 GPM or 300GPH.



Does anyone know what kind of flows exist from the pump in the transmission to the coolers?



I'm asking this because the water to fluid cooler just came off my truck to make room for twins. Piers said he felt the truck would do fine as far as transmission temps go with the under bed cooler and the small cooler in front. I towed a 7,000 pound travel trailer all the way home from Piers to northern Calif. and had no problems with the transmission temps even with a fan clutch that was not working. I have the under bed cooler and the small factory cooler in front of the IC and with the fan going on my under bed cooler the transmission temp in the pan was 130-160. As a test I turned the manual switch off and when climbing a long hill the temp went up to 190. As the fan turns on automatically at about 185 everything seems to be normal.



When towing before it seemed like the engine heat was being added to the transmission as the transmission temp would lag the engine temp by a couple of minutes once the truck temp went to 210 or so.



Maybe the old 518's are a little more forgiving as far as temps go, I don't know. I do have the DTT 89% converter and the transmission has been modified some to reduce slippage.

 

[Huff N Puff]

Nice set up, but I'd be very cautious of having the aux. cooler in series. Why? The added restriction to the cooling circuit will cause the converter to push toward and it 'can' wipe out thrust bearings in the engine. We used to install extra filters and coolers this way years ago and kept wiping out the thrust bearings in the engines. Turned out to be because of the added restriction. It worked much better having the aux cooler in parallel hook up, and it cooled better because only 50% of the fluid flowed through each cooler, thus slowing down the flow to help the heat removal.



Note, the black hose is rated to 200, but the blue is for 350+, so you would have been okay, looks cleaner with the braided however. .

Wiping out the thrust bearings in the engine sounds a little far fetched with the light pressure in the cooler lines. Considering those same thrust bearings handle the loads of a throwout bearing crushing down on a pressure plate to release the clutch disc on a manual trans.

 

[hasselbach]

Wiping out the thrust bearings in the engine sounds a little far fetched with the light pressure in the cooler lines. Considering those same thrust bearings handle the loads of a throwout bearing crushing down on a pressure plate to release the clutch disc on a manual trans.

Talk to any performance trans company, and you will be told that restriction on the cooler line will cause the TQ to push against the thrust washer. considereing the size of the TQ at the front pump of the TQ, even a small amount of pressure is substantial due to the large surface area. An have you ever seen how much pressure comes out of the cooler lines? It can be substantial.



I've rebuilt several small block chevies and seen wiped out thrust washers myself where the installer had a filter on the cooler line, or multiple cooler, but what do I know...

 

[slowneasy]

So what's the census out there... are aftermarket coolers a wise investment or not? I regularly see 180? in stop n go traffic and higher during long backups. I'd like to keep it much lower but...



I do have a 4 low kit btw.

 

[evldsl]

Iceman did the extra trans cooler work out for you and did you measure the trans pressure to see if it had increased after you added the extra cooler?.

 

[rweis]

Go to the DTT web site and ther are several discuusions ther on this same subject.



Bob Weis

 

[IC Smoke]

anyone know how to get ahold of Don?

what thermostat did he use and would it help any to mount the cooler vertically with the air being pulled fron the front of the truck to the back. . or even at a slight 40* angle



Ian

 

[Pavemen]

this might be on my gasser (now retired to being a trail truck), but i have had zero problems with the 28,000lb gvwr B&M stacked plate cooler and permacool remote filter on my auto while retaining the OEM setup.

I cut the feed line into the OEM cooler, re-routed it to my remote filter (keeping the stock filter in the pan), then to the new B&M cooler, then to the OEM cooler and let it exit like stock.

Trans temps never over 190* at the remote filter even with slow wheeling in the heat or summer stop-n-go in the Central Valley.

I've been running this setup for 5 years now and over 175,000 miles. No issues at all.

 

[Hammer]

Ian...

Don is not a member here anymore as evident when you click on the profile and it comes back to someone else. He has been heard from by a few of our M-D members but its only every now and then and never answers any emails from anyone. I will see if there is a way for you to contact him.



His cooler was mounted up under the bed of the truck and was used in conjunction with the factory cooler and lines,that I remember. When he sold the truck all of that was removed and sold and we have heard little from him since... ... ... Andy

 

[IC Smoke]

Thanks Andy!

I knew he wasnt a member anymore but wasnt sure if anyone still emailed him or heard from him. Ive got to install a cooler just as Don did but I have to mount it someplace else since my stack, air horns, and gooseneck all get in the way under the rig OR I can put it in the spare tire spot but Im not sure about that



Thanks

Ian

 

[Bandit1]

my buddy bought don's ol silver truck, the cooler and all lines are still in place and working fine. even though that ruck never saw driving time on anything but a sunny day he mounted the cooler as high up as he could to keep any dirt or debris from getting in the fins of the cooler. i will ahve to check on the thermostat tha the used. don is still doign great, i have talked to him a few times in the past month. his business keeps him booming.

 

[I-6DZL]

Ian i saw another pic of a similar trans-cooler that was mounted on the transmission cross-member on an angle. Looked very nice, just can't remember where i saw it, here or another site.



I'll try and dig it up.

 

[IC Smoke]

Ian i saw another pic of a similar trans-cooler that was mounted on the transmission cross-member on an angle. Looked very nice, just can't remember where i saw it, here or another site.



I'll try and dig it up.

Thanks Curtis!

I ended up going with this one: Flex-a-lite Shrouded Heavy Duty Remote Coolers With Fan: FLX-45951 - summitracing.com