Transmission Cooler Installation (under splash pan)

In doing my restomod, I wanted to remove the transmission cooler from in front of the radiator, and install it under the car, especially since I moved the radiator to the 6-cyl position in front of the core support, and because I mounted an AC condenser in front of the radiator.

I bought a fan cooled Derale unit a number of years back,and had decided I would copy WagonCrazy’s install, where he built a framework from square tubing, and mounted the cooler to the framework, all mounted behind the front bumper, and below the splash pan.

I happened on a picture of a trany-cooler install ChevyJeff posted on another site, where he had gotten the concept from someone else’s install. I decided to go down that road, first mocking up some templates from cardboard,
http://www.trifivechevys.com/attachm...1&d=1511979825

And figuring how the brackets would fit the cooler.
http://www.trifivechevys.com/attachm...1&d=1511979825


I cut out the pieces from aluminum plate, a buddy TIG welded the pieces together.
http://www.trifivechevys.com/attachm...1&d=1511979825


And after final drilling and painting, and then with the cooler mounted. The cooler fan has an inline thermostat controller, and I wired the fan to be a puller, figuring to not pull up junk from the road.
http://www.trifivechevys.com/attachm...1&d=1511979825


I used these cooler lines, RTV’ing on the rubber sleeves where the lines pass thru the splash pan sheetmetal.
http://www.trifivechevys.com/attachm...1&d=1511979825

Regards, Doug

I have seen Jeffs up close and it works well. I moved mine to the rear of my car since my front end is a little different. Cool project.

Lookin' good Doug. Much cleaner than the one I did for my (now sold) 9 passenger wagon a few years ago.
It ended up being a good spot for the cooler (up under the splash pan tilted downward slightly) with the fans added. Trans never ran over about 170 degrees.
The inline thermoswitch I put in was 180 degrees if I remember, and rarely did I ever see the fans running.

Thanks guys! It is good to hear how well your install worked, WagonCrazy!
Thanks, Doug

Sure thing Doug. In general, I installed that after converting from a stock column shift 3 speed to a newly rebuilt 2004r automatic. After spending about $2K on all the parts necessary for that conversion, i wanted to ensure that I didn't burn up the trans. But how would I know what the fluid temp was running at?

When you do yours, consider adding in a temp sender somewhere in the fluid line that runs out of the trans, AND wire it to a trans temp gauge installed somewhere in the cabin. That way you can watch what's going on with the fluid temps. When I did mine, I also wired in a small LED fan "on" light that lit up whenever the fans turned on. That way, I could not only know the temp the fluid was at, but know when the fans kicked on and know if it was bringing the temp down. My fans were quiet...you couldn't really hear them with the engine running or see them because they were buried under the splash pan. So a temp gauge and fan on light solved the mystery for me. No mystery = confidence in the investment of time and money for the overdrive trans conversion. :cool:

Just my 2 cents on things...

Those are good suggestions, wagon crazy! I have that 'mystery' about the 350 TCI trans in my '56 Nomad which only has the Derale trans pan with cooling vents, along with an external trans cooler mounted under the floor (no fan)... It would be a relief to know what the running temp is since I have no idea the degree of cooling of those two items compared to the 'stock' radiator cooling...

WagonCrazy,
Yes, good suggestions! I will be looking at implementing those. I don't have a trany cooler circuit in the radiator, only the fan-cooled unit under the splash pan, so it would definitely be good to know how well the cooler is doing.
Thanks! Doug