What is the best and most complete trans fluid cooler for our vehicles? I have a 4l60.

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, Jon (91 RS too many mods to list), getting new engine in summer

 

I like the B&M stacked plate coolers. I got the racing one which doesn't have an installation kit, but all the others have hose and barbs. Run the output in the cooler then into the stock radiator cooler then back to the trans (Since you live in NJ) If you are just going to drive it in the summer, you could just ditch the radiators cooler.

Cheeper coolers made with the same "Stacked plate" design are sold by JC whitney and I would of got it there if i'd known. Tube and fin coolers get beat to hell and look ratty after awhile.

 

JC Whitney...really? I'll have to look into that. So you think I should scrap the POS stock trans cooling tube and just use the aftermarket one. That's what I was planning on doing just because the stock looks like crap.

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, Jon (91 RS too many mods to list), getting new engine in summer

 

It's best to run the cooler that way. The hot tranny oil is first put through the external cooler to remove the excess heat. It's then put through the "in rad" cooler to either remove more heat or warm it back up to operating temperatures.

If it's put through the rad cooler first, the rad is trying to remove the excess heat as well as keeping the engine cool. The rad may not have enough capacity to handle the extra heat.

When running an external cooler and bypassing the rad all together, you can be putting the tranny oil back into the tranny that is too cold. It all depends on how much heat the converter is generating and how much load is being put on the tranny. A temp guage is the only real way to tell. Read the temp of the oil returning to the tranny (top line on the rad and tranny). Ideal operating temperature is in the 175-225 range. Don't let it get higher than 250. That starts to cook the oil. At 275 the seals will harden. At 300 degrees the fluid will break down so much that the clutches will slip.

So if the engine rad cooler is trying to cool that hot oil it can actually cause the engine to overheat.

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Follow my racing progress on Stephen's racing page
and check out the race car

87 IROC-Z Pro ET Bracket Race Car
383 stroker (carbed) with double hump cast iron heads and pump gas
461 Big Block installed and ready for the 2001 racing season

Best results before the 383 blew up
Best ET on a time slip: 11.857 altitude corrected to 11.163
Best MPH on a time slip: 117.87 altitude corrected to 126.10
Altitude corrected rear wheel HP based on power to weight ratio: 476.5
Best 60 foot: 1.662

Racing at 3500 feet elevation but most race days it's over 5000 feet density altitude!
Member of the Calgary Drag Racing Association

87 IROC bracket car, 91 454SS daily driver, 95 Homebuilt Harley

 

the best? i'd say a permacool with 1/2 tubes and a fan. it should only cost you around 200 dollars. i have one on my 85.

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ICON Motorsports

1st & 3rd

 

Is it possible or desirable to use the air conditioning cooler thingy in front of the radiator as a tranny cooler?


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Cosmik Debris

 

Yeah, I have the B&M racing cooler installed on my car. Didn't come with anything but a cooler. Not fittings or installtion kit. Had to go to a part store for the fittings and a tranny shop for a custom kit. Kinda a pain in the butt since the best tranny shop from me was 20 miles away. But they aren't bad to install. I have some pics of the cooler and where its mounted and the tranny lines. E-mail me if you need them.
BTW: I wouldn't recommend the racing cooler. Way to freaking big for a car like ours J. Better to buy a smaller one with an installtion kit and it will be easier to find a place to mount it on your radiator too.
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Eric Natzke
91 Firebird 305 TBI
"It Ain't Stock"
http://members.aol.com/j007golden/91firebird.html
For info on certain parts or mods go to the site below
http://members.aol.com/j007golden/modeval.html

[This message has been edited by 91Bird305 (edited February 09, 2001).]

 

If parts don't come in the kit and you need to buy them, make sure the rubber hose you buy is transmission rubber line not fuel line. A good tech inspector will check it.

 

Thanks guys but any body know a complete kit with everything? I don't want to have any complications because I need to do an engine swap and break it in 8 days. Then she goes for a 540 mile test drive back to school.

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, Jon (91 RS too many mods to list), getting new engine in summer

 

Yeah, the B&M's coolers (except for the racing cooler) all come with fittings and installations kits. Get anyone of them and you'll be fine.

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Eric Natzke
91 Firebird 305 TBI
"It Ain't Stock"
http://members.aol.com/j007golden/91firebird.html
For info on certain parts or mods go to the site below
http://members.aol.com/j007golden/modeval.html