Looking for an aftermarket trans cooler

[jamesbondwink]

So after I had some issues with my transmission getting a little too hot and behaving strangely, the guy that built it reccommended that (1) I don't hot lap James P. Cole Blvd and (2) that I find myself a good trans cooler. The transmission is a built 4L60E in a '95 Z28 with a small factory trans cooler, my engine is mostly stock with full bolt-ons, I intend to go faster in the future, and that was the first and last time I will ever be going to Cole Blvd.

The questions I have for you all are:

1. What sort of features should I look for in a trans cooler?

2. What sort of features should I avoid in a trans cooler?

3. What size would you reccommend?

4. Have you had any particular luck, or vice versa, with any particular brand?

5. What sort of fitment challenges may I encounter?

All input is greatly appreciated!

[MP81]

Haha...James P. Cole Blvd...as in the one in Flint that I regularly blast down?

I'm sure a B&M cooler will work just fine for your purposes. Do you have a trans temp gauge too?

[c0ncEpT]

The questions I have for you all are:

1. What sort of features should I look for in a trans cooler? The stacked plate type coolers are much more efficent that the tube fin type

2. What sort of features should I avoid in a trans cooler? See above

3. What size would you reccommend? Locate where you would like to mount it. Measure it and put the largest cooler you can fit in that given space

4. Have you had any particular luck, or vice versa, with any particular brand? B&M and Hayden both make good coolers. I'm partial to B&M tho

5. What sort of fitment challenges may I encounter? None really. Just make sure you measure twice and order once.

All input is greatly appreciated!

Hope that helps

[jamesbondwink]

Thanks for the input guys, after doing some looking around today I ordered a B&M 70274 SuperCooler, it's a stacked plate type cooler with 48 rows and a GVW of around 30,000 I think. I'm guessing that because the stacked plate design is so much more efficient, it can be packaged smaller, as in 13X12 inches, so fitment should not be a problem. I also realized that maybe I should KNOW the temp of my trans fluid, so I ordered a trans fluid temp gauge as well. If it becomes necessary in the future, I may add a fan to the cooler, but I doubt I'll need that any time soon.

[Gregs_gsxr]

bingo! stack plate it what you wanted, if you do buy a second fan, buy a pusher and it in front of the trans cooler itself

[1BADAIR]

dr phil loves tube and fin. i took used to like stacked plate until he showed me.
even though the plates are more efficient normal people cant clean the cooler when(not if) you hurt the trans.

[jamesbondwink]

dr phil loves tube and fin. i took used to like stacked plate until he showed me.
even though the plates are more efficient normal people cant clean the cooler when(not if) you hurt the trans.

That makes a whole bunch of sense. Can it be done though?

[jamesbondwink]

A guy over on LTXtech pointed out that the temp gauge sender should be put into a line leaving the trans. However, the instructions B&M provided say "locate the oil return line to the transmission... this location is recommended to monitor the true transmission temperature going in, as well as checking the oil cooler efficiency." The idea of knowing the efficiency of the cooler made sense to me until I realized that there's no way I would really know that without knowing the TRUE temp of the trans beforehand. As long as I know the temperature of the trans, I can take appropriate steps to ensure that I avoid trans life threatening beatings, and that's why it makes a heck of a lot more sense to place it in the line leaving the trans

[MP81]

Yup, I'd personally want that sender on the incoming line to the cooler - so you know how hot the fluid is getting inside the transmission before getting cooled down.

[jamesbondwink]

Yup, I'd personally want that sender on the incoming line to the cooler - so you know how hot the fluid is getting inside the transmission before getting cooled down.

Exactly

[jamesbondwink]

So, after some debate, I decided that B&M has been in the game long enough to know where their trans temp gauges should be placed, and I tapped it into the return line to the trans. While I was going about adding the cooler, I decided to pull my radiator and get rid of my no longer useful a/c condenser. After power washing all the crap from the a/c condenser off my radiator, and getting rid of my caked-up condenser, the radiator's cooling capacity should be greatly increased, and I have no doubt that my transmission's cooling abilities are stellar compared to before. As far as the a/c delete goes, I'm not ready to tear apart my dash to get all the rest of the junk out, and for now, I'm gonna plug where the lines were.