I have an automatic 86. I wanted some opinions on a good trans cooler. Also, where is the best place to install. Any pics would be appreciated too.

thanks..

 

Dont have pics..it wasn;t a big deal.
Easy to do though.
I used a 14 X 6" trans cooler. Tapped into the cooler lines that used to run to the radiator..added trans hose, ran hose to nose ahead of a/c condensor.
I mounted aluminum C-channel that ran left to right in front of the condensor. The trans cooler fit down into the c-channel (forget what size) then I clamped the cooler to
the c-channel.The 2 lines are protected by a heater hose over the trans cooler lines,. thats all secured with tie-straps.
It does collect a fair amount of heat but its far more efficient than the standard trans cooler in the radiator. The mount is solid, the lines are protected.

The ONLY problem is that the trans cooler is about 3" in front of the condensor. That gap is necessary but it does tend to collect a lot of trash between the cooler and the condensor, just as the trash collects between the condensor and the radiator. Except you can clean this out without having to take anything apart. Does it effect the over-all engine cooling temps? Can't say for certain. It MIGHT. Being another heat source that will drop heat and send it directly to the radiator...yes, it may add to the eng temp on extreme days,. BUT, the location options are VERY limited.

yrs ago when I raced the C4s, I installed the trans & oil coolers hanging down below the gas tank. Problem was that the lines were so long and the fluids had to travel so far that they were slow, and cooling was not efficient. It cooled great back there...with the high velocity wind passing thru and under...BUT the oil flow was slow so it did not cool effectively. That was abandoned in favor of the front mount where the trans cooler gets first shot at fresh air but the problem of cumulative heat adding up to defeat the radiator could be a problem in extreme climates.
So far so good along the Gulf of Mexican. Thats fairly hot, more humid. Car stays cool when moving...boils in minutes when sitting. Normal C4 even with all the mods.
The car just has no good place for airflow to hang coolers without sacrificing something else...
I even looked at mounting in the side panels with 4 or 6" fans...but that was going too far.

 

Thanks for the information.....Do you remember the brand you used for the the trans cooler??

thanks.

 

Here's a quote and pic from my 2006 post on this.

I'm still using the same cooler, with a bigger stall 3500 vig now

 

To the OP...
I forget which brand...it was one of the name brands...that makes coolers of all types.
Just cannot recall..too long ago.

To Aboatguy...

reading the tranny temp on the digital dash is a good idea. 99% of us never look at the eng oil temp in daily driving as long as we know what the water temps are doing.... so you can get a small/short temp sender, single pole, mount that in-line (in a brass T or fitting that lets the sender probe reach into the oil) to your cooler and read the trans fluid temp instead of the Eng oil. Most guys that really really need to know the Eng oil temp want their own gauge anyway.

 

I can get oil temp and tranny temp and other information on my dash, now. (transmission temp is available from the factory on the later c4s..)

 

I installed a "Heat Sink" Trans Cooler because I didn't want the traditional front mounted trans cooler blocking the airflow to the A/C condensor.

The Heat Sink trans cooler radiates the heat away to the atmostphere so, it doesn't need to be mounted in the direct airstream even though I mounted it under the radiator shroud.

 

cooooool ! (no pun)

If I had seen one I would have used that instead...Much less intrusive than the big heat exchanger type. That has even more mounting possibilities...on the cross bar in front of the balancer....somewhere on the frame rails tucked out of the way...easier to fit a summer sausage in somewhere than it is to hide a shoe box.

 

Do you remember the brand you used? Also I like the set up better than blocking the radiator. Also, What are dimensions of the "Heat Sink."

thanks again for the info.....

 

Oh I like that heat sink trans cooler. So, how well does it do compared to the stock radiator? Been thinking about a new radiator, and would be nice to get a manual radiator and add a trans cooler like the heat sink version.

 

Looks like a pretty slick cooler link

 

I bought the Jeg's brand Heat sink cooler. http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS+Performan...60351/10002/-1

I just added the heat sink cooler inline, with the stock radiator trans cooler for some extra cooling. I also, use Mobil 1 Synthetic Trans fluid.

 

I wanted to say thanks for the help...

 

You're, Welcome!...