I barely every take my car out nowadays, but every year MI has a few muscle car cruises and I always show up with the car...I almost always break something

This year everything seemed fine until we were deadstopped during the cruise and my car started heating up. I could feel the heat rushing into the car by my legs and told everyone in the car I might overheat....and sure as heck after 20 minutes of sitting, the car started shaking and turned off. I let it sit for 20, we all jumped back in and took side streets back to the party and barely made it home (there were a few red lights where it started shaking again and I had to get on it quick). The fans (both) seemed to be running normal though.

-Current Cooling-
Stock OEM type radiator, hypertech thermostat, hypertech (im not sure which) switch. My stock temp gauge has never worked. I replaced the sending unit twice, re-done the wiring and even replaced the physical gauge. It simply never reads accurate temp. and back in the day would always get stuck as soon as I started the car.

-What I'm doing for sure-
Im getting an electronic full sweep autometer gauge and mounting it in my pillar pod. I just want to know exactly whats going on with my temps. Im going to mount the sending unit right into the head like stock.

-What I'm asking from you guys-
RADIATORS...Be cool? Griffen? Ebay jobbers? Whats worth the money?
Should I use the stock fans or switch to aftermarket?

The last thing I need advice on it whether or not to get a radiator that has a transmission cooler built in. I have an automatic but I have a B&M external cooler mounted in front of my current radiator. Do i need the trans cooler type radiator or will I be fine with a manual trans style cooler and keep my B&M mounted in front?

A lot of options to go with. There is a used be-cool on ebay right now that I might be interested in http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Thanks for everyone's help. Any advice is good advice

Steve

 

It's a sticky.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/cool...guys-want.html

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chevy...Q5fAccessories

 

That was definitely the "ebay jobber" i was referring to. What about my trans cooler question, should I stick with a trans cooler one and can I use my stock fans?

 

From what I've seen, people recommend keeping the aux cooler and getting the rad with built in cooler for overall best performance. The coolant will heat up the trans fluid in the winter and it'll be kept in range for the summer. Route it from the rad-cooler to the aux cooler, then back to the tranny.
Not sure of that one I posted about using stock fans. Read through to see if it was answered, or PM someone on there who might have used them.

 

The car is only driven during the summer. It is stored during the winter.
I think I've had it out 3 times since April. I've prolly put 10,000 miles on it since 2001.

 

Looks like im buying the Champion radiator...a lot of good feedback on here, Thanks!

 

Any aluminum radiator with two 1 inch tubes will work. I have a griffin which does not fit well at all and I have two be cool radiators 62015 which fit very well. I also suggest making sure your air dams are not broken or bent and wire your fans to a toggle to turn them on and override the computer and sensors. I live in Arkansas and we have plenty of heat so I routed my trans lines to the external cooler only. Every 10 degrees you lower your trans temp you add ten thousand miles to it. It only takes about 5 miles for the trans fluid to get warm anyway.

 

It really depends on the climate you live in and the type of transmission cooler you have.

A hot climate, running the aux cooler separate works the best.
A cold climate, it's recommended to run the aux cooler through the radiator first.

A tube and fin cooler, I wouldn't trust enough to work on it's own.
A stacked plate, runs great on it's own.

My stacked plate (Long TruCool LPD) has a bypass feature built into the cooler. So it won't run through the cooler until the temperature has warmed up sufficiently enough to allows the fluid to be cooled. I don't have it hooked up to the radiator. Works great here in Houston summers. Also works well during those winter mornings when temperature is hovering on 30° outside. If I lived and drove in weather that was 0° outside, I'd run it through the radiator.

People always say that water cools better than air. And as such, to run it through the radiator before running to the aux cooler. But what are the temps? I'd rather cool myself off in the summer with a ceiling fan than I would by getting into a hot tub.

If the radiator is 220° and the transmission cooler is 170°, then running it through the radiator first would only raise the temperature of the trans fluid. Besides, if you overheat the car (260°) at the radiator, you really don't want to be running the trans fluid through there. It will be nice and cool since it's bypassed.

 

External only should be good. (It's a stacked plate, right?) The best way is to mount the cooler so that there is an air gap between the cooler and the condenser (or radiator if you don't have A/C). People who slap the cooler straight onto the condenser or radiator have high transmission temps and high A/C temps or high radiator temps.

 

My tranny cooler is mounted right onto the front of my radiator...is this a NONO? I had the tranny cooler installed by a shop when they did my shift kit many years ago. Its a B&M jobber....should I mount this somewhere else when my new one comes? P.S. My A/C/Heater/Smog stuff is all removed.

Steve