Am I being fooled?

[fast.asleep]

I'm thinking about a larger auto tranny cooler.

A friend told me I could pull a large A/C cooler at the junkyard, clean it out and use that as a tranny cooler.

It sounds logical but he's played with my mind before. Is he fooling with me again?

thanks

 

[Ken]

I suppose it's possible. I mean why not? The a/c unit is nothing more than a heat exchanger, manufactured exactly the same as a radiator, with the same materials.

You'll just have to figure out the line routing and positioning of the extra exchanger.

 

[Vettefan87]

Yeah technically it would work, You just have to figure out where to put the extra unit.

 

[PLRX]

Not much space there

With beer, weekend and time everything is possible

 

[UB2 SLOW]

I attached mine to the radiator. It takes up some space, but the cars still runs cool. Now its not a A/C cooler so there might be some issues with that due the A/C cooler being more of square block instead of a flat square.

 

[AdvancedAutoCC]

I'm thinking about a larger auto tranny cooler.

A friend told me I could pull a large A/C cooler at the junkyard, clean it out and use that as a tranny cooler.

It sounds logical but he's played with my mind before. Is he fooling with me again?

thanks

I think your friend is playing with your mind again...it will not work, due to the pressures involved, plus the overall inner design of the tubes are for refrigerant to condense into liquid (think restriction).
Do yourself a favor...get a B&M race Super Cooler instead. It's a stacked plate design that is a LOT easier to fit (large surface are for cooling stacked into a smaller space), plus it has 1/2" NPT fittings, so you can attach it with -AN style hoses, or bend up some hardline. Done the right way, it can look factory when done.

 

[Ken]

Never thought of it that way Robert. Thanks!

 

[fast.asleep]

What Ken said!



Nice site! I have the same color interior as "Black Light" but in decent condition. Whoever let that car get that bad should be flogged!

 

[G Winter]

Using a AC condenser does work. Yrs ago I had a trans cooler in the radiator leaking oil into the coolant. I simply unhooked the lines and turned plugs into the inlets in the radiator . Found an AC condensor. cut it in half the same direction as the tubes, mounted it ahead of the radiator attatched some fittings and hooked the trans lines to it. This was done due to finances being very short. I drove the car for three yrs that way. One drawback, in the winter it took a long time for the trans to warm up.
I will admit for the work involved and the price of a trans cooler , unless you are totally broke, buy a cooler . Besides you want it to look good. You wouldnt tie your exhaust on your vette with wire, would you ?

 

[AdvancedAutoCC]

Ken, Fast,

Thanks for the kind words. As to BL, you have to see the engine brackets and related parts...all painted orange! :ugh

G,
I stand corrected... I've never it myself, but I understand the situation.

 

[fast.asleep]

As to BL, you have to see the engine brackets and related parts...all painted orange! :ugh

OMG

when she's done you could use some of those pics as the "before" pics

 

[vigman]

Yep that's right.. BUT WAIT..

BUT it MIGHT flow enough but that would have to be MEASURED.. in an A/C system most of the metering is done ELSEWHERE.. not in the actual evaporator or condensor.. I feel MOST of the RESTRICTION would be in the size of the piping.

Here's the question internal of the raidaitor you have a pipe
which runs internally for 14 inches with 90 degree turns..immersed in coolant
What size is that INTERNAL pipe 5/16? ID?

What is the ID of the evaporator tubing? It would have to be LARGER then 5/16 to be NON restrictive...

And I'm NOT SURE of both the IN & OUT piping is the SAME ID on the Evap.

So assume for the sake of discussion your A/C system is defunct.. and you wanted to use that surface area for tranny cooling... it could work from an air flow situation... and it surely will handle the pressure A/C systems run around 250-370 psi...

Robert brings up a great point about restriction...

I would go to a wrecking yard ( if you really wanted to do all this ) buy a junk one and see how much it would FLOW.. and what the ADDITIONAL CAPACITY in tranny fluid would be.. and THEN how much HEAT EXCHANGE ( additional ) would you be getting for all this work?

If this was a REALLY COOL MOD.. I think more people would be doing this already...

So just kicking the can a bit

Vig~