Adding Tranny cooler and external trany filter
 

Im going to be adding a additional tranny oil filter and tranny cooler. this should add a bit of extra cooling to the system, since heat is the biggest killer of most auto trannys, this should help. I have allready added a cooling tubed tranny oil pan. I will add some pictures as I go on. Posting the mod if any one eles want to try. Its fiarly easy got all parts from Summit racing. everything is allready installed in except the tranny line has not been tapped into yet.

Be very careful with this mod any pressure lose in the cooler return line will cause way more issues then you want to endure.
Cooler return goes to lube and the pressure is ~15psi.:ack:

Definitely a good add on and it should help keep your oil cleaner and cooler, both are good things for lubricant life! If you use one filter use a premium filter that will filter out finer impurities over a cheap full flow filter. The difference will be 8-10 microns filtration vs 25-30. :yesnod:

Thanks for the advice I will check the pressure on the outlet side of the cooler. The filter I have is a B&M filter made for transmission filtration according to B&M. Im not sure who actually makes the filter. I have done some resarch and most of the Best filters are made by a company called Champion (not the Spark plug) they seem to make most fo the filter for most of the brands. I dont think it will be to hard to out due the Paper styly GM tranny filter. I put a few pictures in my album of the mod.

Friend the trans cooling line to the radiator coolers purpose is to provide cooling for the heated oil and return that oil to the transmission, adding a filter or coolers should not affect anything negatively since its a downside fluid stream from the pump. There are two variations of oil filters those with a bypass valve in them (originally Ford type) and those without (originally GM type). The filters used in those trans filters are the Ford type and you can take that adaper and screw on a Ford type filter and find that it will screw on. Champion does make a lot of filters and any of their premium lines will have the finer filtering media. Without going into a book on the subject of filters the newer KN, Amsoil, Pure Ones, etc are all filters that should get down to 8-10 microns which is as fine as one can get on a full flow filter. :thumbs:
BTW if you look at the newer heavy duty truck transmissions the OEM's are putting on a filter housing with a cartrige filter because the regular pan filters are really debris filters to keep larger particles from the pump and circuits.

I tried to uplaod pics of the mod so far but for some reason they wont take, maybe if I bring the res of the pics down they will upload

I don't know how to upload pics either, sorry I cant help, something I have to learn.

I'm very interested in your project. I look forward to your continued posts and pics. Thanks :cheers:

Ok I added a pic to my Album of the loaction of the tranny cooler, and the place I added the tranny external filter. Not sure how to get them in the thread, Maybe you have to be a senior member or something.

Hi, I see the two pics where you added them in front of the radiator.
It doesnt really make much difference which is first. I prefer filtering first but just make sure the flow into the filter is correct as the inlet flow goes in on theshell of the filter first.
My other suggestion is when you get a chance replace the hose they give you with better grade high performance braided or something similar to Aeroquip Pushlock 300 onto AN fittings. The life and security of these types of hoses and fittings is much better. If you choose to keep the ones with the kit keep on eye on the hose for abrasion and drying shrinking and cracking over time, this is speeded up with heat. A goodway too is to use metal tubing with a bender and double flares and keep the rubber hose to a minimum.
IMO the added cost of the AN fittings (not cheap) is worth the added safety and extended life.
If you get leaks on the threads clenaing the fittings with a tap and die helps as well using Permatex sealer instead of teflon tape.

Hope this helps

Carlos

Good idea about the lines. I have access to a aircraft machinenst and his machine shop. He can probably make me somehting realy PRO looking if I asked and bought the parts. I was also thinking about reserching elimintaing the in pan filter alltogther, and just putting a pick up tube in the trany. there would never be a need to drop the tranny pan ever. doing a fluid filter change would be just as easy as doing your engine oil. As a pick up tube I thought I could just gut the filter in the pan now and use the shell to pick up fluid. Any and all input welcome.

If it was me I would leave the pan and filter alone.

I was doing a little more research before the final hook up. At work (RED HORSE military construction crew) every truck, dozer, wrecker, semi, etcetera has a external trany filter and no internal. according to all sources the internal filter is basically a pick up tube with a minor amount of filtration to prevent large particles from being picked up. Now, our heavy equipment gets way more work on the trany then a passenger car or truck does, and I have never seen the failures I see in trany's on passenger cars and trucks happen at work. So why hasn't this become standard yet on all vehicles? some of the bigger diesel passenger trucks are coming with external trany filters now in the Allison trany's. So why do I need the internal trany filter and not just a pick up tube? Pros= eliminate ever having to drop the trany pan to change trany fluid. Cons= will never be able to see how much metal shaving in oil after drain. I also want to log the trany operating temps before the install and after. I I'm hoping to get a 10-20 degree drop with the extra fluid capacity up by 3 quarts for the filter and cooler addition, and the cooler itself helping out. Last thing... I'm thinking about converting the trany oil to Amsoil synthetic, any easy way to get a full drain with out a Torque converter drop?

Yep, this will get interesting to see how much damage the pump can endure after ingesting all the big pieces that crappy pan filter the stupid GM Engineers put in there!:eek:

using an extra pump to move the trans fluid up and back to the radiator?

Trinton pump in right rear wheel well
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...CoolerPump.jpg

Now I do run a 6 speed, but the extra cooling is always a good idea

Very nice! I like the external pump idea.

OK got everything hooked up first test was flow PSI. Using a hydraulic pressure tester for before and after, My PSI was the same at Idle and around the block a few times at 35, then a quick 10 min drive at 75. No pressure difference. The temp difference was a big difference. With the addition of almost 2 quarts to the system, the external filter housing, and cooler, the trany temp was 28 degrees cooler even thought the outside temp had went up some before I had connected all the plumbing. this in turn kept my engine temp down by about 18 degrees less. I attribute that to the cooler trany fluid running in the cooler. So far the car feels just like before with no difference in performance. One last thing for all the skeptics, who will read this and believe this would destroy the trany. I took the plan for what I was doing to a couple of hyd professionals. At the aircraft hydraulic shop. I know some had ideas that if the trany was meant to be a certain way then the GM techs would have made it that way. I do believe your right in some way but many believe if something works why change it. The guys I went over it with have been working on hyd for years on F-16's, F-15's and many other fighter aircraft. One guy said if the GM engineers were so good they would be working on Aircraft and most of his classmate that held C averages went on to work in the auto industry. They cant cut it for aircraft. I'm sure there is some BS to that story but I'm sure it has some Truth also. So to sum it up, external trany filter, used in aircraft for ages is much better and efficient. they recommended a oil analysis to truly keep track so I provided a pre sample to do comparison later. They ended up making me hyd lines that can withstand 5000 psi pressure. I think thats overboard but what the heck. By the way, I didn't just come up with this idea uneducated. I am a dual certified ASE mechanic, since 1996. Will keep posted.

Update Engine and tranny still running much cooler, no lose in tranny power IE no slipping. Everything runs fine. I know some people think if GM engineers didn't do it then it should not be done. But just think if that was true there would be no after market performance upgrades ever, because they engineers would have already made it the best it could be.
All the parts can be found on Summit racing .com for a pretty cheap price.

I added one inline after the radiator cooler in my A4 when I installed my RPM transmission and 3400 stall. It's a B & M Supercooler and the transmission runs cooler than stock and it hasn't leaked ever. It's been on at least a couple of years.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/DSC01002.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/DSC00999.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/DSC01006.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/DSC00998.jpg

"has a external trany filter and no internal. according to all sources the internal filter is basically a pick up tube with a minor amount of filtration to prevent large particles from being picked up."

This is what I was refering to, did you remove the internal filter?:bigears