trans cooler
 

Re: trans cooler
 

Yes and anywhere it will fit. They are small. Mine is just attached to the front of the radiator with stainless steel zip ties. Putting a temp sender and gauge in is a good idea, too. I don't know what trans you have, but a lot of us have several thousand tied up in a competition built automatic and it's next to know what's going on in there. Mine came with a cooler from TCI. Performance Automatic includes them with their builds too, I believe. Cheap insurance.

Dale

Re: trans cooler
 

Both my Rossler and Pro Trans are bypassed internally. Plugs in the holes where the fittings go.

Re: trans cooler
 

I don't see the need in my application. Short duration and plenty of time between rounds...just another piece of equipment to fail or worry with.

Re: trans cooler
 

its a 200 metric in a hsa nova i just bought it going from the 350.

Re: trans cooler
 

Mine is as well.

Re: trans cooler
 

Nothing in our stock super stock cars but a loop of tubing.
This is how ProTrans ships them and they are the builders.

In our bracket cars that run back to back a bunch of the time in Vegas.......
we run a decent to large one in front of radiator on every car!

Re: trans cooler
 

We run one on the Challenger since the 904 is small and light with all aluminum parts. I don't need it at the races (except when I went a few rounds in a row at some shortened races) but when we are testing the Challenger can run 5+ passes in a row, and the trans will get to 200+. The Super F Synthetic fluid over Conventional Type F gets us that far as with regular non synthetic it was 200 after 3 passes. I have the cooler mounted under the car, facing the ground and it has a fan on it. Its the Derale "atomic" cool that we stock.

I don't have a cooler in the COPO since we can't cool the engine and blower off fast enough to worry about it, and its a T400 with more capacity.

You can be bybassed in the pump and just plug holes as mentioned or loop the lines. I keep a loop on the COPO so I can monitor cooler pressure.

Re: trans cooler
 

I have never liked the internal bypass, ours have a small loop of tubing. I replaced an internal bypass pump with regular pump and an external bypass and dropped 4% slippage with an ATI 8" converter. Haven't run an internal bypass since.

Re: trans cooler
 

Do you plan on winning?
Not trying to be a smart butt. Most time trials and early rounds of stock/super stock have plenty of time to cool everything... sometimes a single round in a day.
However, if you plan on winning, then often the final 2 or 3 rounds are rushed, round robin, get it over.
Is a really bad feeling to get that far, that close, and have a trans hot and change your reaction time and or time slip...? It happens.
I ran without a cooler a few years ago, after having a rubber line on the barbed fitting leak in the waterbox at a divisional race in my 10.90 car. Thought it was the one less thing to go wrong or worry about. Then I lost a race when trans was hot and cost me a few hundreds in a final... stock metric 200 pans do not hold much fluid...
Now I run one of the Jegs' coolers, part # 60351 I think. I put AN fittings on it, and all braided line. Very little chance of this style cooler leaking or getting damaged. This along with synthetic fluid keeps things very consistent. Extends trans life also. Just my nickle worth of experience over the years.

Good luck.
Ken

Stock 412

Re: trans cooler
 

I use your converter. What are your thoughts on synthetic Trans fluid?

Re: trans cooler
 

Ed, ATI has their own synthetic fluid. Jim has been after me to try some, I've been testing other stuff, I can't give it an honest fair back to back test.

Re: trans cooler
 

The way I look at this is from my own personal experience.
If you don't plan on going quick, back to back late rounds, either in S/SS or bracket racing, then you probably won't need an auxiliary trans cooler.

Re: trans cooler
 

Mark, I like your comment and agree. I see no down side to running a cooler and you point out one very positive advantage.

Re: trans cooler
 

I should add that my car is street legal and will drive to the track as well as run in either GT/ or bracket. Therefore I run a cooler with braided line and -AN fittings. I don't drink beer so I plan to spend as much time as possible with my right foot to the floor.

Dale

Re: trans cooler
 

Personal observation - Any advantage in my case is nullified by my huge swings in reaction times lol. When I go rounds it is usually due to dumb luck on my part or incredible bad luck by my opponents. :p

Re: trans cooler
 

We have an in-tank trans cooler (water to oil) in our radiator. I like it because it puts heat in the transmission faster than if we were just using an auxiliary cooler under normal operating conditions. The in-tank cooler is more efficient and cools better than an auxilary mounted cooler.

Re: trans cooler
 

Nelson,

good idea and sounds reasonable

Re: trans cooler
 

Out of curiosity, how is this different from a factory trans cooler that's mounted in the radiator? I personally like to run through the factory radiator cooler, then run the return side out of the radiator to an external cooler, then back to the trans.

Re: trans cooler
 

Tony,

I "think" the radiator only cooler has the "potential" to maintain a consistent trans fluid temp. Not to say that temp would or would not be ideal but it would be consistent.

Some things to consider with the subject of trans coolers:

In my opinion, we as racers, can benefit by planning to be in the final at each race we enter. By having a trans cooler of some type we have the potential to keep trans temps under control in the late, quick rounds.

Re: trans cooler
 

Question - What would be the wildest number fluctuation one would expect from optimal temps vs very hot?

Re: trans cooler
 

That's how mine is plumbed. It either works really well or I need to check that sender after my engine fire.

Dale

Re: trans cooler
 

A trans cooler only works when the engine s running and the trans pump is moving fluid through the cooler. Our engines run such a short time that the cooler would not make much of a difference. They do nothing when the car is sitting between rounds. I would say you are better off with a large capacity trans pan that has cooling fins. That's what I have on my trans.

Re: trans cooler
 

My buddy uses an external trans cooler with quick disconnects between rounds on his turbo drag radial car. Just plug it into the lines and it circulates the fluid. Trans temps get crazy when spooling twin turbos. I obviously don't think there is a real need for it in a stocker, (except possibly some of the F/S cars), but it sure makes cooling pretty easy between rounds. He made it himself. Pretty trick and I think his biggest expense was the fittings.

Re: trans cooler
 

Drag racing is different than keeping the trans cool on the street. Trying to keep your engine cool for a good run, while trying to keep the transmission up to temp for the run, would lead me to believe you would want the trans cooler separate from the engine radiator. I would recommend a good trans pan mounted temperature gauge, and try to keep the temp between 150 and 200 degs using a synthetic trans fluid. If you really need a cooler, an idea might be to plumb it with some valves, so the fluid is looped, bypassing the cooler, until the later rounds when there isn't much time between runs. then open the valves and run through the cooler.

Re: trans cooler
 

That is what most of us have. I will defer to Mr. Rossler and the Smith family about this.

Re: trans cooler
 

Just offering food for thought;

I do completely understand the engine running, pump running, fluid moving situation. And of course we are all individuals with individual experiences and individual ideas.

I offer my thoughts, consider the time the engine is running.

*From trailer to lanes
*Moving up in the lanes
*Moving to water box
*Burnout and staging
*Making the run
*Return road to scales & fuel check
*Then back to trailer

To me, the engine run time is enough to utilize the cooling capability of a cooler.

It simply seems reasonable to me enough cooling capacity is available to help control trans temp. With many buildup's I have used a trans cooler and will continue to do so. I see no down side.

And please understand, just my personal preference. No issue in any way with other's methods.

Re: trans cooler
 

I have done a lot of testing on both in-tank cooling and auxilary transmission oil coolers (air to oil) . Depending on the type of coolers used, generally the in-tank unit cools approximately 3-5 degrees cooler than an auxilary air to oil unit. I like the fact that the engine rejects the heat into the radiator and the coolant washes over the in-tank cooler and it heats up the internals of the transmission and the transmission fluid much faster than an aux. cooler. As somonone stated when the transmission is at temperature, you have more consistant cooling of the transmission and fluid with the in-tank unit.