Home made transmission cooler
 

I wanted to add a tranny cooler to my race car, but it's a non-cooler transmission... so I decided to put in a more conventional cooler with an electric pump.

I modified a drain plug so I could attach an AN fitting. I also took off the end cap of the transmission and tapped a hole for another fitting (where the stock cooler returns).

Luckily, this car already had the spare tire well removed, so I didn't have to do any of that. I did have to cut two rectangular holes in the blanking plate that was installed... and I had to make some brackets/studs to hold the cooler (RX7 oil cooler) and pump. I thought long and hard about how to get airflow over the cooler, and decided on putting NACA ducts in the side windows and then duct that air over the top of the cooler so it exits under the car. E.g. I'm hoping the air moves from a high pressure area to a low pressure area.

The pump is a gear-driven oil scavenge pump... hopefully it's up to the task.

Then I did a little tin knocking and made up a baffle that will help seal the cooler so the air goes where I want.

Once my baffle was in place, it was time to put air ducts in the trunk - again, these will direct air to the top of the cooler. I think this will still give me enough space in the trunk for my gas cans (a convenient place to put then when I trailer to the track).

And, finally, how it will be with the RX7 oil cooler in place. (I still need to make up the plumbing and finish the wiring.)

I think it'll do the trick!

Looks good.

It appears the pump is above the trans output, any concerns with it loosing its prime?

Tom

Good work Van.

Yes - I'll have a check valve after the fitting on the drain plug.

Looks great, let us know how it works? I assume you will be adding a thermostat?

Yes, I'm going to put a thermostatic switch on the transmission (that's what the green wires hanging down are for). But I'm a little unsure what temp setting to go with... I have a switch now that's 140 degrees...

looks good. i'd be interested in knowing how the RX cooler works with the thicker juice of the transmission oil. are you measuring trans fluid temperature with sensors? i have a factory cooler on my trans that i'd like to get rid of if there were a better option such as this.

what size lines/fittings are you running? the factory cooler cant be more than roughly a -10 or -12

Great pics Van. I am going to install a laminar flow double-pass radiator on the trans to keep the install simple. From experience the viscosity of the gear oil is too high for some of the radiator designs that have thin tube wall.

I'm curious if you got a temperature of the fluid before you did this work so you could see how much it went down? Awesome work.

Top notch work as always

Exciting project.
I was just surfing the web and found a kit for a 911 which might work - I'm sure your's was cheaper.

http://www.patrickmotorsports.com/part/1690/

-10AN


I don't have a temperature record yet... but I'm thinking of getting some of these: http://paperthermometer.com/pages/indust.html#8temp


Yeah, I was looking at that. I probably have $250-$300 into it.

I got the lines hooked up. :)

Next step is to run power to the motor and check for leaks.

Bump... What kind of oil temp are you seeing and how has the pump been standing the heat?