I called and talk to a tech advisor about what stall converter I would need. He ask me about the engine specs, trans, rear end gearing. Then told me what he would use for a stall converter. He ask me if I was going to use a trans cooler. I told him yes. He told me not to go through the radiator but only through the cooler. This was the first time I had heard this before. He said that go with the largest cooler and that would cool better that going through the radiator and cooler. He said the temp in the radiator would already be around 200 to as high as 250 degrees. If I just went through the cooler it would keep the trans cooler. Anyone ever heard of this or doing it this way? He told me he runs his this way.

 

There was a good discusion on this some time ago. Bottom line was that there were two camps. One used the rad (first) in series with the cooler. The second (my camp) was to use the cooler separately.

 

So I take it you are using this setup? Tell me about your engine , trans combo and how it has done for you. Any idea the temp the trans runs with just the cooler? I want to hear more.
Thanks

 

Seperate coolers is the way to go, IMHO. Seperate systems ensure that an issue in one does not interfere with, mask or exacerbate issues in another one. My personal selection is an aluminum heat sink type with double pass to be mounted on the frame under the car in the slip stream, no moving parts. Never have found anything like a Minumum Operating temp, general opinion seems to be under 200 somewhere around 180 for Max.

 

I'm using a rad type cooler which lays flat on the spot in from=nt of the rad. I'll post a similar pic later if I can find it of Bangkok Dean's set up which is what I based mine on.

No temp differences to quote. I put it in soon after I put in my 200-4R with 2200 stall converter. To be honest, it worked fine before the cooler and worked fine after. Not pushing much HP through it. Just a stock motor.

 

was that a Bowtie tech advisor?

 

Bowtie suggests using an aux tranny cooler and the rad cooler. The bigger aux tranny cooler the better. I'm running a Bowtie Level 3 2004R w/2500 stall behind my 355 (350HP?) with an aux cooler in addition to and on the output side of the rad cooler and normally see tranny temps ~160*F.

 

i've got the exact same stuff as you & run my cooler the same way & run at 150-155*

 

I run a Griffen 31x19 radiator without an internal tranny cooler.When I installed the BTO Level 3 tranny,and went through the riot act of tech support,they voided the warranty before I ever drove the car,because all I had was a 17x10 trans cooler mounted on the front of my radiator.

I ended up blowing the tranny in one week,but not due to any heat buildup. It was one 6500 rpm shift from second to third. I have a TCI temp guage,and it never went over 170. In fact after I had the trans rebuilt,I ran it a year with the same cooler,again blew the trans,and still never over heated it.

I give up on the 700r4,but I guess I'm pushing a tad more than 350 hp.

 

The tech that told me to run trans with a external cooler and not through the rad. was the Stall Converter Tech.

 

when i bought my aluminum rsdiator it didn't have a trans cooler hook up so i run an auxilary one. if you have an auxilary cooler there is really no reason to run it through the radiator because it is only going through like a 6" piece of pipe that is 190* , so i don't think its neccesary

 

I fitted a 200-4r & initially used the stock cooler (in the rad). I was seeing coolant temps around 200 - 220 which would climb at higher cruising speeds) & the trans fluid temp looked good when running in overdrive with the converter locked. In the lower gears under heavy throttle the fluid temps went up a LOT. I fitted an external trans cooler (19 000gvm) so that fluid came out of the trans, into the cooler & then went to the stock cooler (in the rad) before returning to the trans. The idea is that after a cold start the warm coolant will help bring the trans fluid up to temp. After plumbing it all in I found that when in OD with the converter locked the fluid temps are about 130. In lower gears it gets to around 160. What I wasn't expecting was that the coolant temps now sit at 180 (the stat rating) & that it's hard to get them up to 190, let alone 200. With ambients of 100F I was trying (REALLY trying ) to see how high I could get the fluid temps. Never got the coolant over 200 & the trans fluid never got over 170 (that test was fun ).
BTO told me that the ideal operating temp for trans fluid is 160F. I've said that several times here & it seems to be ignored, or argued against. In the absence of any other values I'll assume that 160 is correct, so I don't think fitting the largest cooler possible & keeping the trans fluid out of the rad would be a good idea as it will get cooled too much. Over cooling is not a problem with the coolant as there's a stat in the system to maintain a minimum temp, but the trans fluid hasn't got that luxury (unless you view the stock system as doing the same job by keeping the fluid warmed by the coolant). If keeping the fluid as cool as possible is the ideal, then why did GM pump it into the rad & not a dedicated cooler???
My cooling system is in good condition, with a re-cored rad, new hoses, new intake, new stat & a block flushed as much as I could. Real world testing by cruising at 130mph for a few miles, followed by a longer period of 120mph cruising did not increase coolant or trans fluid temps significantly (don't know what rpms I was turning, I didn't dare take my eyes off of the road more than I had to!). Mine seems to run slightly cooler than others with the same setup, but that's probably due to the 80-82 front end pushing more air through the rad?
I'm not saying the way I've done it is the best way, but it works for me. Something worth thinking about is the fact that if I start it from cold, drive 2 miles to the nearest motorway, stick in OD with the converter locked & then sit at about 80mph (2000rpm) it will take at least 10 miles before the trans fluid gauge will even hint at moving off of the bottom mark (100F). If I wasn't passing the fluid through the rad then I expect that it would take even longer to warm up (or not at all) &, if there really is a prefered minimum fluid temp, that wouldn't be good for it.

 

Thank you Paul, AMEN