LS6427

iTrader: (2)

Absolutely NOT needed. But with the cut out getting powerful ram air....cools an amazing amount better than not having it.

It takes 23 seconds to make the cut out.......and it has zero effect on engine cooling.

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wssix99

iTrader: (5)

Absolutely true. My concern isn't so much with engine cooling but loosing down force on the front end of the car.

Striker

iTrader: (1)

Would be nice to do this but I am very hesistant to putting holes in the car where the external cooler would mount.....is there an alternate route?

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

The air dam doesn't flex anymore with the cut out then without......there was zero difference in feel. Its less then an inch wide.

Plus....my car sees 180mph 2-3 times a week, every week. Solid as a rock.

The cut out is meaningless.

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LS6427

iTrader: (2)

Holes in the car where? You mean the cut out in the air dam?

You could mount it like I mounted my tranny fluid cooler.....right in the ram air stream, it will get a shitload of ram air flow through it.....and it won't cause that heat to directly slam into the radiator because it sits way out in front of the radiator...so it can mix with ambient air before going into the radiator. I saw absolutely no change in engine temps with it mounted like this. I now have another cooler on the other side, dual tranny coolers. Engine temps are way cool.

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Striker

iTrader: (1)

Drill any holes on the car, what so ever is what I mean. Yeah, I am very ****.

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

I didn't drill any holes to mount my PS fluid cooler. I used the supplied zip ties.

You also don't need to drill any holes to put a tranny cooler in front of the radiator. Zip ties only.

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wssix99

iTrader: (5)

Its not about flex. Its about the hole for air. That spoiler acts like a wing acts on an airplane. Cutting a hole on one side of it is just like cutting a small notch out of one wing of an airplane. Will it still fly? Yes. Will it be as efficient. No.

You wouldn't notice the effect at 180 mph on a straight track, but you might in some curves where you need front down force on the wheels.

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

Bro....you don't really think that are cheesy *** Firebirds and Camaros create down-force going through the twisties at high speed.....do you???? These cars would fly off the track or roll over on their roof.......

ALL of our cars LIFT and get more dangerous as they accelerate. I have pictures from the Mile run in Miami at Collier airport.......stock cars doing 150mph with the front ends in the air. Looks like the shocks are fully expanded. Pathetic.....

These air dams do one thing.......direct air up into the radiator. They have no camber like the wing of a plane. Camber is how a wing creates lift. And that camber on a wing must be horizontal to the ground so its into the relative wind.....unlike our air dams that get hit with relative wind on the top. Its a cheesy piece of flat plastic up there just deflecting air upwards. There is absolutely no low and high pressure Bernoulis Principle happening.

I can do 180mph because I'm lowered, a little more in the front than the rear, with a full suspension.

The cut out in the air dam....changes NOTHING.



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wssix99

iTrader: (5)

The air dam is a dual purpose component. But... don't take my word for it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoiler_%28automotive%29

Look. I'm not saying that cutting a hole in a spoiler/air dam will have dramatic results. I'm saying:
- Not cutting a hole is the conservative thing to do.
- The convective cooler does a good enough job as-is with no cutout, so there's no reason to go further with the cooling, add installation complexity, and even take an ounce of performance away from the car.
- It is possible to cool the car too much. Cooling increases viscosity of fluids, which makes the pump (and engine) work harder. I'd really like to see some engineering data on what the optimal temperature is. Giving advice without this information can cause more harm than good. (TurnOne, who has access to actual steering pump engineers, was happy with 165 degrees in the GM High Tech Performance article linked in the OP.)


If you have issue with one of the three points above, let's talk about that.

If you believe putting on a rail cooler with a cutout is a great idea, you should switch your setup. If not, why not talk up your original approach? As I said in many of my posts, I think its a great way to go and would like to hear more about the benefits of it.

If you want to want to talk about thermodynamics or the aerodynamic design of automobiles and don't have an actual engineering degree to back it up, I'd ask that you create a separate thread to do that.

Monsoon

Well, FWIW, I've had a good week now to observe the effects of this upgrade. I'm extremely pleased with the performance of my power steering with the Derale cooler in place. My steering is dead silent and the fluid never gets very hot. I haven't been measuring the temperature but I didn't before the upgrade either so I really don't have a good frame of reference anyway. I'm just gauging it by feeling the side of the reservoir and determining that it isn't 'hot'.

I have had the opportunity to carve some corners on a twisty road through the foothills and I'm really happy about the complete silence of the steering and the confidence in the maintainably cool fluid temperature. All in all I highly recommend this upgrade to anyone thinking about it!

Eman88

iTrader: (1)

How did you guys reach the nut to secure the derale cooler? Right now I have it temporarily in place with zipties, but would prefer if it was bolted.

Monsoon

I assume you're referring to the bolt/screw on the side with the u-turn as the other is easy to get. I drilled a pilot hole and used self-tapping screws. Then I just angled the screwdriver to screw it in. I took a couple of pics to show...

Eman88

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the pictures. I was actually talking about both sides. Maybe I should re-drill holes that are more easily accessible. I have my cooler a few inches further towards the passenger side than you.

Edit* I moved the cooler over a few inches towards the driver's side so I could reach the nut on that side. Then I used a self-tapping screw like you did on the passenger side. Thanks!!

Macwars

Hello guys , I first want to thank you all for this tread which I come upon by chance...
I can confirm that this "intercooler" on the WS6 is totally insane lol the cooling fluid is much more hot than the power steering fluid ... I ordered a Hayden tranny cooler to do the trick ... and get some pieces of alloy that were laying arround in the workshop at my work and with some good advices of Marc one of my friend(and coworker)...
and here is some pictures of my power steering cooling mod...

Here is first the Hayden Cooler i got (Kit 1403).

Ok I know ... I could have take a smaller one ...


And that is the piece of alloy corner I was working on to make a bracket for the cooler.( here checking the depth of the hole ..


And here is my DIY bracket finished with some alloy tube and bolts, the cooler will be tightened between the 2 plates fastening the bolts.


And here I've put the cooler in his bracket, it's firmly tightened between the plates but I secured it with screw on each sides to be sure he won't go away


On these pictures you can see on the left a small plate I made to mont the bracket on the car without drilling any hole, I made 2 small rails in it to block it on the car... check next picture ...


So here are the mounting plates in place, I used 2 bolts upside down for mounting the bracket.


So here it is, the cooler is bolt on the car .. just have to connect it now in place of this damn OEM "power steering cooler"( better call it a boiler... lol)



And by the way .. don't know if it will be really useful but I added a online filter , at least it shouldn't do anything wrong ....



SO after doing this I made a little test drive for about one hour and half in my little mountain road here which are quite rich in turns ... well back at home I touch the old (unconnected) "cooler" it was really hot (cooling fluid T°.. ) hard to touch it with hand.... and then touch the new cooler and steering fluid it was
almost cold !! I mean just a little bit hot ( tepid ? not sure of the word... sorry my english is not perfect .. I'm french.. )

Well all that to say that I'm really wondering what were they thinking at GM putting this cooler on !!


So here is my first mod on my TransAm .. thanks you guys ! Hope you like ...

Now I have to get rid of the leakage in my steering rack .. just got a seal kit .. will try to make pictures when doing it ...

dr_whigham

iTrader: (49)

That is the coolest ******* contraption for a PS cooler to date! Hats off to you, sir; Way to go above and beyond!

_JB_

iTrader: (33)

Yeah that is pretty sick

Macwars

hey thanks guy ! Happy you appreciate my job !! but as i said perhaps the cooler is a little bit oversized for the use .. but as it didn't catch direct airflow because I didn't want to cut the air dam .. I thought it will compensate .. And anyway the temperature was so Much cool than the Coolant fluid .. I have no stress !!

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

Correct. You might also want to cut some holes in the sides of your brackets to allow more air to convect and circulate through/around the cooler so air doesn't get trapped between the back of the cooler and the air dam.

Great job!

Macwars

you're right , I have thought about cutting a triangular shape out of the brackets ... but honestly I was fed up with cutting and grinding and was impatient to finish ... and by the way as I said I think that in this config the cooling is already more than sufficient !! (regarding my use of the car also .. no races .. )