Transmission cooler installation

[Brett San Diego]

I just finished putting in a transmission cooler. Here are some pics and details.

Transmission cooler is a Hayden 678 plate and fin model (Amazon). According to Hayden, it's their medium capacity cooler sized for a full size truck towing a few thousand pounds. I went googling for a transmission cooler thermostat and found that every transmission thermostat had a 180 deg F opening setpoint. When I pinged the transmission case when the engine and transmission were fully warm, I got 187 deg F. So, I wanted something with a lower setpoint to give a bigger temp differential. I kept hunting around until I came across a really nice chunk of milled aluminum from Improved Racing. Pics below. It's a remote filter mount AND thermostat all in one. It can be used for either engine oil or transmission fluid, and you can choose from 4 different temp setpoints. I opted for the lowest, 145 deg F. It's a bit pricey at $300, but it's real pretty to look at. And, it was the only lower temp thermostat that I could find in the short bit of time I spent on google.

The installation was straightforward. Rather than tying the cooler to the radiator, I bent a couple pieces of scrap steel into angle brackets and pop rivetted the cooler to the bumper crossmember. I chose to locate the cooler up high between the horns vs. down low hoping that that might be more out of the way of road debris. I bolted the filter mount/thermostat to the frame just forward of the left fenderwell, a la Astro14. This space was apparently designed for a remote transmission filter mount. It's perfect for it. And, then I just ran the hose. You need a step drill bit to make some nice big holes in the front shroud that guides air into the AC condenser/intercooler/radiator so you can run the hose. i needed the hose that came with the cooler plus 2 more 5 ft sections of hose from Derale (Amazon), 2 brass 3/8 in barbed hose couplings (Home Depot), and 8 hose clamps. I opted not to route the fluid through the radiator.

I've yet to put the front under tray in place, but I'll need to cut away some of the plastic to clear the hoses. Whatever it takes.

Brett

[Brett San Diego]

Couple more pics of the cooler in place. It wouldn't let me put them all in one post.

[Astro14]

That is a very nice set up!!

The integration of the thermostat into the filter mount sure makes it simpler, and yes, that is a very attractive unit.

[Zef_66]

So I just recently did something similar. Here is my posts from another forum:

Here is the setup I'm using:
B&M 70264 Cooler (looks to be the same as Anthezoll started with) - https://amzn.to/2HxWlEm
Derale 25750 Filter Mount - https://amzn.to/2HsUXGY
Wix 51622 Filter - https://amzn.to/2Jtg2xn
Mobile ATF 3309 Fluid - https://amzn.to/2HwM4vS

So my plan is to mount it to the front bumper, sort of suspended between the bumper and condenser. I could use the supplied brackets, but that is no fun. I'm an engineer at a metal fabrication company. So I did a quick mockup:





Brackets are getting cut out of 7Ga (.187 or 3/16 thk) SS.

I had to trim the plastic piece that pins to the rear of the front bumper. I could have removed it, but wasn't sure if it was necessary or not:


I got it bolted in using SS self tapping screws. The contour of the bumper made it interesting to bolt in. Especially since I used sheet metal that was 5x thicker than I needed. So a little modification of the brackets to fit correctly was needed:



This filter housing and filter I installed on the drivers side of the bumper. Again using SS self tapping sheet metal screws:


Then I cut the transmission fluid return line coming out of the top of the radiator and spliced things there:




So the way I plumbed it in is that fluid goes from the transmission --> to the bottom of the stock cooler in the radiator --> through the radiator and out the top --> into the bottom of the auxiliary cooler --> out of the top of the auxiliary cooler --> into the "In" side of the filter housing --> through the filter and out of the "Out" port --> and back into the transmission.

I haven't driven the car much before or since to know if does anything. But it definitely gives me piece of mind knowing that the fluid will stay cooler and I now have a decent filter that I can change out pretty easily.

[AKAMick]

Both are nicely done installations, very tidy and will definitely keep the transmission cool and clean,