In my 92 firebird i have a sbc 350 and a th350 the trans is not hooked up to the radiator cooler. It just has a small one in front of the radiator. What size cooler should i need to run for daily driving and some strip use? It is a built trans as far as internals im not sure. The stall is around a 2500. Also where is a good place to tap for transmission temp sender?

 

anyone? i think im gonna go with a 15x10x.75 cooler and i guess ill just get a pan that has a sensor bung. Or how do you run the sensor in line?

 

If there's no factory cooler, I'd put in as big a cooler as I could get. You can put the sensor in the pan, but in this case the return line could be a better place.

 

yea i have no cooler other than what i have which is a small one im gonna buy a different one and also how do i put the sensor in the return line? do they make a special line or do i just gotta buy a fitting?

 

You'd have to put a sensor manifold or some equivalent combination of fittings in the line.

 

I'm running an 11" x 12" cooler on mine. Just the cooler, not through the radiator. Works fine in Texas heat. Make sure you get a stacked plate design instead of a tube & fin design.

 

what the difference?

 

Tube and fine is exactly as it sounds....a tube that snakes around with fines coming off of it. It works but is not the most effective at cooling the trans since the fluid goes through it pretty quickly.

Stacked plate will resemble a small radiator. It is more effective at lowering the temps in the trans. Both will work but the stacked plate is the way to go. I have a small one in my car.(maybe 6-7" x 10 inches) and my car never goes above 180 even in the dead of summer. Just food for thought.

 

This picture is from an A/C condenser. But the same principle for transmission coolers. (Parallel flow = stacked plate). From left to right, you're looking at good, better, best.



The tube & fin has two problems.

1) Large tubes have less surface area/coolant ratio...... Sort of like why crushed ice cools a drink faster than cubed ice. The crushed ice is completely saturating your drink. While only the outer edge of an ice cube cools your drink.

2) The multiple 180 degree bends in a tube & fin setup build pressure. Pressure = heat.

Stacked plate designs on the other hand have less bends and expose more of the transmission fluid to the airflow. Much MUCH better design. Cost is maybe $20 more. Easily worth it.

 

This was the cooler i used on mine and its for sale if you need one. Im pretty sure is a B&M one

 

I like having my cooler lines run through the radiator cooler first and then the aux cooler so the trans stays closer to coolant temp. This helps the trans warm up a little faster too. Mine runs around 150-180 while cruising and has never gone over 210 ever. When it's under 50 degrees outside it will run as cool as 130-140 cruising. It needs to get warm enough to evaporate the moisture that builds up in the fluid due to condensation.

 

I think i have mine set up opposite of that so that the aux cooler cools it down and if it gets too cool the radiator cooler kicks it back up a few degrees before it goes back into the trans. Took me a lot of reading to come to the conclusion that that was the best way to run it.