Write-Up: Transmission Cooler Install

Very cool, I'll be buying the same package then. That's what I needed to hear.

Derek has disabled my 3rd gear TCC engagement for me about 6 or so months ago and I much prefer it this way based on the type of driving I do in the country back roads.
Now I want to delay the 4th gear engagement to at least 50 mph because it seems I'm always right at the speed for 4 th gear engagement while cruising these roads, it happens at about 42 to 44 mph and then goes into 4th gear TCC engagement soon after or overdrive, depending on what you want to call it.
Now it feels like it's lugging at that speed (42-45 mph) so I find myself manually putting into 3rd to cruise my normal driving routine.
But, being a dumbass and old and forgetful, I have actually found myself on the highway still in 3rd gear and can't hear the higher rev's. It takes a while before I glance at the Tach and realize I'm still in 3rd. The last time it happened I was already on the highway for about a 1/2 hour in 3rd running at a much higher RPM than I should be.
I need to have the Trans reprogrammed again for 4th soon before I cause some damage.
Then i can just leave the lever in the 4th gear position and not worry about my forgetfulness and lack of hearing.

Derek, if you should read this, PM, Email or call me about getting together again for a short session. And I'll be able to get a look at the "New" car.
I have British car blood in me, maybe i can be of some assistance to you for a change.

Heres some pics of my install of the same package:
(Hey! The bypass is made in Canada! Cool! It was exported, I bought from an American company, and re-imported...)


Since I had some weeping connections from the metal lines to the stock rubber I opted to cut, bubble flare, and clamp to the metal lines.

These guys are in an awkward position to cut, but a tiny tube cutter does the trick:


Lines cut an ready for flaring:


Now, I didn't know which was the send from the transmission on the 4t60e, so I opted to cut and check which it came out. A simple idea, but it was rather funny how it worked out. I had my dad come out an watch which line it came from. The goal was to just turn the engine over once. Well, there was a communication breakdown, and he though he would just hold his finger over the lines to "feel" the pressure. yep. So the first turnover and off, nothing happened. So the second time I let it start. And instantly heard "STOP! STOP!". Which i did. I looked past the hood to see dad blinking and covered head to toe in transmission fluid. I was laughing, and he just said "I know which one it comes out from."

Anyway, send is the one with the bend closer to the trans case, or the shorter one in this picture:


And bypass hooked up:


Mounting:


You can see a slight mistake on the left for mounting, but I drilled a new hold and all is well. This thing is rock solid.




I went with the fancy fuel injection clamps with the little bolt through them. Works like a charm. Trans usually sits at 185 in hot normal driving, and 190 when thrashing it. Considering it was normal to see 210-220+ before, this is a great mod for the hot little 4t60-e which has most of its failures related to heat.

Very clean, simple way to install the cooler - great job. Looks like you bypassed the OEM radiator cooler. And nice how you installed the bypass right off the transmission lines!

It should also be noted, then when going right off the stock metal lines, there is exactly enough hose supplied in the kit to get to the cooler and back again.

I finally replaced my lower radiator hose (and "factory installation stub"... ) and I simultaneously used Jason's wonderful writeup and photos on Page 1 [and the exact same cooler] to add a tranny cooler to my car. I just want to add a couple of updates...

Jason wrote:

Here is my writeup...
I used the Mr. Transmission kit which is sold at canadian tire.... The cooler I used was the medium one (7 1/4" x 11 x 3/4) and is a stacked plate design.

In the USA, this is the standard B&M stacked-plate-cooler kit, #70268, rated at 13,000 BTU's...

Quote :

Using the 4 supplied steel mounting brackets and the existing holes and screw, in the riviera I mounted the cooler. I mounted it towards the passenger side, inlet and outlet towards the bottom. I anchored the mounts to
a) the lower passenger side bolt of the radiator "X" brace.
b) the lower, driver side bolt of the brace in front center of the radiator. (This brace holds the hood latch assembly)
c) the lower bolt on the hood latch assembly itself. Using the drill, you will need to enlarge one of the holes on the steel mounting bracket to get this bolt through the bracket.
d) the top passenger side bolt that is right next to the airbag sensor assembly. I had to shape this last steel mount to have 2 90 degree bends it so that the cooler would lie flat. It is quite easy to shape and can easily be bent with your bare hands.

I would only add to this section that you should be careful about the location of your cooler relative to the grill that is going to be coming down when you close your hood... Jason used one of the cushion-pads between the cooler fins and the hood-latch brace, but I wanted to clear both this brace and the fiberglass 'swoop' on the passenger side... I will show with my (very bad) photos, that you can mount this cooler almost the same way as Jason llustrated, but if you let it get too far forward or too far to the passenger side (due to the curvature of the grillwork, you can have a VERY unhappy experience when you close your hood.


.

Quote :

I recommend fastening the cooler to the mounts by inserting the bolts so that the head of the bolt and lock washer (both supplied) are on the radiator side, and the nut (supplied) is on the bumper side. tightening them will be much easier.

I found that all but the lower-starboard cooler bolt could easily be mounted head-forward. This is also less visually obtrusive...

Quote :

Also remove the 2 bottom retainers of the passenger side inner fenderwell (also held in by plastic retainers). You'll probably need to pass your hand through there later on.
Place a catch pan under the passenger side radiator core and have the other one handy. The catchpans can be small because there is very little fluid that will leak out (much less than 1/4 quart)

Now that we've found out that the "return" fluid goes out the upper radiator trans-cooler fitting, things get a lot easier, and you don't have to worry about the fenderwell, the lower fitting, the air-dam/splash-guard, or even an ounce of fluid leaking out. In fact, being that the tranny cooler lines travel cross-ways below the radiator, the metal line that you have to tie into doesn't even need to be bent... The brackets holding it to the cross-bar let you swivel the top of the tube back enough to connect the adapter and rubber line from the new cooler, and not make contact with the pulleys or lower radiator hose.

Quote :

Connect the appropriate 3/8" adapter (supplied) into the radiator. The kit comes with 4 fittings (2x5/16" and 2x3/8"). You won't be needing the 5/16s.
MAKE SURE NOT TO DOUBLE HOSE CLAMP ANY CONNECTION POINT.

At least on my '97, it was the 5/16" fittings that fit (3/4" tubing wrench, I believe...)
Also, I DO agree about the double-clamps - From what I saw in my kit, the quadruple-barb fittings could practically hold the pressure by themselves... More importantly, except for the space right behind the hex-fitting, if you added another clamp, it would be pressing down on one of the sharp barbs, and probably cause the hose to cut through.

Quote :

I think i will paint the shiny metallic mounting brackets flat black (with tremclad rustproof paint) because you can see them when looking at the front of the car. In retrospect, I should have painted them before the installation.

Yes, as you can see (except for the shine on the drivers' side, top bracket) I first spent my time bending and drilling and cutting the brackets to fit, and then painted them while I was waiting to actually plumb the sucker in. )

And the path of the hoses up the passenger side...

Update:

I borrowed a scanner to see what this (inline) stacked-plate cooler would do on an unusual 95-degree day. The location right behind the bumper seems to block all the ram-air effect, actually leaving the tranny fluid a couple degrees higher on the freeway... However, during 40 minutes of stop & go, hills, and highway with the A/C on and the coolant going as high as 205, the fluid stayed at 180*, +/- 2 degrees. That puts it in squarely in the safe zone for fluid and transmission life - now I just hope I didn't wait too long to install it...

With the added torque from my I/C install i am starting to question how much longer my stock trans will last. (180k miles now and i beat the shit out of it daily)
I would like to get some kind of trans cooler installed to help with not only keeping this one as cool as possible in the FL summer, but in preparation for the trans i will eventually need to buy/rebuild.

I am thinking about getting a cooler with an attached fan so i can mount it facing down at the rear of the car. (not sure quite where yet)

I would also like to clean up as much of the lines as possible and completely bypass the radiator. What lines can i use that will hold up to the heat and pressure of a trans?

Opinions?

For a worry-free installation, I'd pay the extra $$$ for something like Earl's ProLite 350 braided Nylon hose:

http://www.jegs.com/i/Earl%26%23039%3Bs/361/350606/10002/-1

detail:



Russell and Aeroquip also make high pressure hoses to withstand up to 1000 PSI and 350ºF. JEGS and Summit both sell a house brand version that costs less, but does the job. I went with JEG' Pro-Flo 350, which I think is the same as Earl's:

http://www.jegs.com/p/JEGS-Performance-Products/JEGS-Pro-Flo-350-Series-Braided-Hose/761335/10002/-1

You might also consider a braided stainless hose to protect against road debris, or can enclose the Nylon hose in split loom.

I am in need of a trans cooler. I am getting a Chris harmon built transmission with a 15/16" chain sooner than later here.. looking for a 1" chain for cheap but everyone wnats like 1500 bucks

make sure it has a fan.

robotennis61 wrote:

make sure it has a fan.

oh yea. I am looking for one, a motorcycle fan might just do the trick.

If you get the Tru-Cool MAX from page 3, it doesn't require a fan. Even when stopped idling hot, it cools right down to the 170ºF range in less than a minute.

I installed this one awhile back

http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS-Performance-Products/555/60346/10002/-1?parentProductId=1032940

along with one of these

http://www.jegs.com/i/Derale/259/16759/10002/-1

works great! easy install

here are a few pics of the fan installed. it is so much better than a plain cooler that does not much for me in the sweltering heat of Las Vegas.

Hey everyone, I thought I'd throw my installation pics up here for fun. I didn't much different than Jason or Mark did, except for one little thing, which I'll get to.



Alyssa helping me


Mounted it a familiar way. Oh, by the way, this is a B&M cooler. Smaller one, but still effective I'm sure.


Here's what I ended up doing different, just because I felt it would work nicely. I actually cut out a smaller section of the original trans line. I flared both ends with the flaring tool I didn't even know I had (found it while cleaning one day) and attached the trans fluid hoses with fuel injection clamps. Both hoses routed between the radiator and support structure rather easily, and I haven't had any issues with leaks or anything rubbing or touching.



I would not have done it this way if I didn't flare the ends of the lines. It's working great so far! I only had one little leak, and thats because I forgot to tighten a clamp at all.

Nice instal but one thing,I had mine mounted similar to yours the first time round and my trans got no airflow at all tucked behind the impact bar.I mounted it as close to the bottom of the condensor rad and mounted a fan too.now it's ok.