Transmission Cooler

[Glen]

I got mine from a cop car. I use brake lines to hook up rad. I flared the lines ends and they have never leaked. I ran it from trans to rad. to cooler, back to trans.
I look at the oil cooler but didn't think it was worth the time and effort to get it in place.

[86VickyLX]

The factory trans cooler setup runs from the trans to the top fitting on the radiator cooler, lower fitting on the radiator to the external cooler, and external cooler back to the trans.

Hmm really? Mine must have been added after factory because the line runs from the transmission to the external cooler from the top line (the line becomes rubber), comes out the other port(still rubber until the radiator), then it attaches to the top port in the radiator, then the lower one is one solid metal line, and goes back to the transmission.

[P72Ford]

I thought thats how mine went too; but I couldn't remember for sure.

[gadget73]

I dunno, I just went and looked at mine, upper is a solid steel line direct to the trans, lower has a specially bent steel line hooked to the radiator that twists around and aims straight forward for the rubber hose connection to the cooler. The factory trans cooler cars actually have specially bent steel lines to minimize bends in the rubber tubing. Its hard to describe but its definitely not just the standard non-cooler lines cut and a cooler spliced into them.

[P72Ford]

You may be right...

At any rate, I bought a cooler myself today. I was looking at several designs, and deemed that I'd have to go with a thinner unit to fit in and not obstruct the other coolers/ fan that I have. So I bought a traditional style, with a smaller diameter tubing, but that has alot more surface area. I think the smaller diameter tubing is better. The fluid can transfer heat out much more effectively; (heat can transfer through something of less thickness faster than something with a greater thickness). One thing I am slightly concerned about (although it is probably grossly insignificant) is that by using a smaller diameter, the fluid will be "throttled", decreasing the time it spends in the cooler. But, by the same token, any fluid that is "throttled" also experiences cooling as a result... So, it probably isn't that big of a deal.

I would have liked to have gotten a stacked plate cooler, but the ones I found didn't seem like they would be very good. Although it would be more durable, mine is fairly well protected by its location. We shall see how this works out; I'm not sure when I'll get to installing it...

[DuceAnAHalf]

i would not worry about the cooler throttling the flow. the fittings in the tranny only have holes about 1/4" in diameter

[curley]

Forgive my ignorance but I'm trying to work through this in my head. Automatic transmissions develop heat, heat is bad for the transmission. The argument was given that the stock 'cooler' is needed in order to help the fluid warm up during cold weather.

In cold weather as the engine/transmission are warming up there is minimal movement of the antifreeze from the engine to the radiator. The radiator does not heat up quickly during cold weather. Therefore, what is the need for the stock 'cooler', it is not warming the fluid during the first few minutes of driving, it does not remove a lot of heat during the rest of the trip when heat is more abundant.....

Thanks for dealing with my ignorance

[curley]

BUMP!

[P72Ford]

I was going to install mine the other day, but as I was looking at it, I just wasn't happy with the qaulity. I'm going to return it and get a stacked plate cooler instead. But, that won't be for a little while. I have to cut off part of my factory metal line too, and I just didn't feel that ambitious the other day, to remove everything in the way, so that i could get it all mounted neatly and everything. Anyway, after looking at them closer, the stacked plate cooler is the way to go. I will order a B&M super cooler, or similar in the next few weeks. The regular coolers are quite flimsy...

[gadget73]

Fluids don't flow well when cold. The longer it stays cold, the more it wears things. Its like running an engine with no thermostat, it never comes up to temperature and you get increased wear as a result. The quicker you can get things to a reasonable operating temperature, and the more stable you can keep that temperature, the longer the parts last.

[P72Ford]

I have devised a plan to make an effective, and slick transmission cooler setup. I will post pictures when it is done. For now I have just concieved the idea...