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Anyone loop their trans cooler lines? Any drawback?
Looking at running an extremal pump on the pan with a cooler on a fan so I can cool the fluid quickly between rounds. Also don't want to mess with lines to the front of the car. Any negatives to this? Assuming not, but thought I'd check. I don't see it done ever. On a glide if it matters.
Can’t hurt. Only thing is you won’t get it out of the converter. Probably not the end of the world. Unless, maybe if you pumped it in reverse essentially and had it go into the outlet since fluid comes out of the converter last. Not sure on that though.
May want to ask over in YB trans section. Trans fluid leaving the converter >250F, out the cooler line and right back in isn't going to benefit the over all system. I would use a trans cooler during runs to keep pan temp <180F if possible and external pump to cool between rounds, if needed.
Def. not plug, just loop. Don't want to eliminate fluid cooling either. So I didn't think it would get that hot.... I know "2JZFC" ran a sump pump and fan on his trans to cool it, and it worked amazing. Wasn't sure if he looped the cooler lines or ran a standard cooler as well. I'm sure he'll chime in. I figured I'd run the fluid cooler during the pass as well. So the fluid should be pretty cool at the stating line. Much more so than when I had the standard cooler setup. Was hoping to avoid 2 cooling systems. If that's the case I'll just run a standard cooler as I've always done.
Similar to an electric water pump. Can't believe It took me 15 years to run one. WIth the motor off after a pass I can get down to 140 or so from 220* in about 1 minute. If I can get the trans fluid down to 100 or less before a pass I think it would keep the trans happy a lot longer. Less fluid changes as well.
Last edited by Forcefed86; Jan 8, 2021 at 07:44 AM.
Def. not plug, just loop. Don't want to eliminate fluid cooling either. So I didn't think it would get that hot.... I know "2JZFC" ran a sump pump and fan on his trans to cool it, and it worked amazing. Wasn't sure if he looped the cooler lines or ran a standard cooler as well. I'm sure he'll chime in. I figured I'd run the fluid cooler during the pass as well. So the fluid should be pretty cool at the stating line. Much more so than when I had the standard cooler setup. Was hoping to avoid 2 cooling systems. If that's the case I'll just run a standard cooler as I've always done.
Similar to an electric water pump. Can't believe It took me 15 years to run one. WIth the motor off after a pass I can get down to 140 or so from 220* in about 1 minute. If I can get the trans fluid down to 100 or less before a pass I think it would keep the trans happy a lot longer. Less fluid changes as well.
Adam, I'll just go ahead and post here what I sent you.
This is how I had it set up in the Mustang.
I put 2 8AN male bungs in the pan and ran 8AN Parker pushlok to the pump, aux cooler and back to the pan. I used the big eBay 30-row cooler that has 10AN in/out and thought about running 10AN but my pan had ribs that made it hard to weld in the 10AN bungs. The pump and fan are powered together with a manual switch (batt +) in the dash.
Soon as I hit the return road, I turn on the pump/fan. After I park and shut the engine off, I leave the pump/fan on for about 5mins. I then start the engine and run it for about 30secs to circulate the tranny fluid out of the converter, shut the engine off and let the pump/fan run for a couple more minutes. How long you run the pump/fan on with the engine off will depend on your battery reserve, so keep an eye on that and don't forget to turn it off, LOL.
In the staging lanes, I never leave the engine idling. I wait for a 3 or 4 car gap, move up then shut then down. I like to have the tranny temp in the 140s as I roll into the burnout box as the temps rise fast by the time you do a burnout and let the t-brake go.
Was hoping to simplify and just use 1 of the 2 fluid cooling methods. But I'm not comfortable running the lines looped now I guess, and I don't want to overcomplicate a simple build. Space is also a premium on this chassis. To keep it easy, I'll just run a standard cooler circuit I guess. How boring!
Last edited by Forcefed86; Jan 8, 2021 at 10:29 AM.
I wish I could remember where I saw it but if you put a pair of quick disconnects in the middle of the cooling circuit you could run an external pump and cooler to run between rounds.
I wish I could remember where I saw it but if you put a pair of quick disconnects in the middle of the cooling circuit you could run an external pump and cooler to run between rounds.
That's pretty neat, you'd think it would be done more. This is a weekend hobby toy though. I'm not really "going rounds" or competing with it. I'd definitely consider something like that if I was. I really wanted to remove the standard cooler completely and just run 1 cooling circuit off a pump. I still feel it would work better for a track car. I just don't have the spare time to get it all setup and test new things right now. I'll be lucky to finish the car this year. Maybe once its done I'll revisit the idea. Thanks for the tip!
I think if you don't street drive it the fluid capacity of the sump and converter can absorb the heat generated during a burnout, 2step, launch and run down the track. Those coolers come into play bc the car basically wont really cool down between passes at all without the external box.
I want to say the car I saw it on looped them during the pass and then used that cooler between rounds. He would go from north of 300deg fluid temps to 20 over ambient in like 20 minutes or so. Really cool setup.
At the level youre at I think a good cooler and a carpet fan pointed at it while idling for 5 minutes would very rapidly pull the heat out of the fluid
As long as you realize you're not scrubbing any heat when you're on the converter.. meaning the nuclear fluid leaving the converter is going right into your lube circuit without discharging any heat
I prefer to just run the car. I can get it down to 150 or so just idling it in the lanes. with just circulating the pan fluid with the engine off, you're just cooling the fluid and not the hard parts.
My last setup was the large 10x14.5 derale duel core cooler with a very high velocity ducted fan on it. It was less than impressive. I'd start around 100* and be at 210-220 depending on ambient temps by the end of the run. Car built launch boost in 1.5 seconds or so... That's with the deep pan glide setup. Same trans is going in my new car.
My biggest gripe was it wouldn't pull the heat rapidly at idle... Not at all. I could sit at idle for 10 minutes and it wouldn't get below 170... So I ended up letting the car sit for long periods before runs. Which is a bummer when your being squeezed in as Time only during an event and you miss out on several passes.
I feel if I could run a larger/better cooler with larger lines and circulate the fluid with a fan with the car off, it would cool the fluid MUCH faster. I'm pretty confident it would work well... Just can't reinvent the wheel at the moment. And if it didn't I'd have to go back and redo it all! So I can't chance it at the moment.
As long as you realize you're not scrubbing any heat when you're on the converter.. meaning the nuclear fluid leaving the converter is going right into your lube circuit without discharging any heat
Do we know how hot it really is though? If I were able to circulate and cool all the fluid close to ambient before the run do you really think it would get that hot? Could leave the system running during a pass as well. If guys are running with no cooler and those external things... I'd assume it's not nuclear? But I defiantly don't know.
Last edited by Forcefed86; Jan 15, 2021 at 11:56 AM.
Over 300 easily on a powerful turbo car that stages and leaves
why do you think they are setup to source oil from the converter for the cooler? It is by far the hottest, giving you the best temp delta and most efficient exchange
If you are alright dumping oil that hot directly to your main bearing/ planet components (assuming glide) by all means do it. I never would
I know very little! And don't plan on it if it's that hot. I was assuming the guys with the remote coolers like pictured were pushing twice the power I would ever do. Maybe the cooler I have is just junk. What cooler do you run? Do you run -6? -8? Fan? I sold my old setup off, So I'll need to buy one anyway.
Over 300 easily on a powerful turbo car that stages and leaves
why do you think they are setup to source oil from the converter for the cooler? It is by far the hottest, giving you the best temp delta and most efficient exchange
If you are alright dumping oil that hot directly to your main bearing/ planet components (assuming glide) by all means do it. I never would
If anyone doubts this then I would suggest putting two gauges in your car with one connected to the line with the fluid coming out of the trans and the second to one in the pan. When I did it years ago it was an eye opener seeing how quickly the fluid coming from the trans heated up and how much of a lag there was for the pan temp to begin to rise. Since then I don't even bother with the pan temp gauge. Stacked plate coolers are supposed to be more efficient than tube and fin and for that reason are the only ones I have ever used.
86, the tube and fin cooler is no where near efficient like a plate and fin. Temp sensor in the return line back to trans will give you good insight into cooler efficiency and if size is sufficient. Target temp < 180F is preferred.
I've heard that. So I ran a pretty big 2" thick core plate style in my mustang W AN6 lines up front. It's pretty similar in behavior. It will cool down to 130 cruising. But after a pull its at 190-200. Same deal, doesn't drop temps very well over time idling. It's mounted in front of the radiator without a dedicated fan like the RX7 though. Still the radiator fans should be pulling heat better Id think.
Soon as I hit the return road, I turn on the pump/fan. After I park and shut the engine off, I leave the pump/fan on for about 5mins. I then start the engine and run it for about 30secs to circulate the tranny fluid out of the converter, shut the engine off and let the pump/fan run for a couple more minutes.
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Anyone loop their trans cooler lines? Any drawback? 
