Trans cooler. Type, mounting help, TTI headers

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gregsdart

gregsdart

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I have a 408 with a 904 trans, and need some help on picking out a very good cooler as well as help in how to run the lines around the headers.
I want a stacked plate design, and i am looking at a Derale 16 row, or 25 row cooler. They come with an6 fittings, the 25 row is rated 45,000! Btu. I want a system that will keep the trans cool without having to pass through the radiator.
Any pictures of mounting brackets and routing of the lines would be great. Thanks!
 
love the derales. personally i like steel braided hose with AN fittings for this type of install. much easier to route away the headers. they will end up longer than you think. use a piece of rope to lay out the routing. put the biggest cooler you can fit
 
I made a bracket that bolts to the vertical support in front of the radiator using the bottom two bolts. I also made a “T” bracket that goes to the top of the cooler to that same support. On the bottom bracket I curved the bracket to give it some space to radiator but still clear the vertical tray support. I used reproduction trans lines and extended them under the radiator lower core support. The idea came from crackedback here.
Best pics I’ve got and the upper bracket isn’t on yet. I think it was B+M cooler.
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ir3333 said:
what is your converter stall speed...are going to be racing?
Click to expand...
The converter is a ten inch, fairly tight for cruising. I may run the car a few times, but it won't do laps, by any means. It might get a better test of cooling just limping along in a parade, I would think. The car will mainly be a cruiser, go to shows, jump on it on occasion. The main thing is, if I can avoid it, I don't want to run the fluid through the water radiator, yet still keep the trans temp well in the col range. I think the Derale 25 row is going to be my choice, with the 45,000 btu rating. The braided lines will also get the nod, since I want to keep it easy to install.
 
i had a 9 1/2" dynamic converter and used a 5" x !2" external transmission cooler and it rarely got above 165 which is not good.
Now i run factory lines through my rad to keep the trans at the required 180 - 190 but my current converter stalls around 2400.You may be better off without an external cooler but i would still run the lines through the rad like the factory.
 
ir3333 said:
i had a 9 1/2" dynamic converter and used a 5" x !2" external transmission cooler and it rarely got above 165 which is not good.
Now i run factory lines through my rad to keep the trans at the required 180 - 190 but my current converter stalls around 2400.You may be better off without an external cooler but i would still run the lines through the rad like the factory.
Click to expand...
see your pretty far north, that helps :) looks like the OP is closer to you than me. down here in los angeles i'd use that for power steering :D

here's a pic i have handy. give you some idea

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gregsdart said:
I have a 408 with a 904 trans, and need some help on picking out a very good cooler as well as help in how to run the lines around the headers.
I want a stacked plate design, and i am looking at a Derale 16 row, or 25 row cooler. They come with an6 fittings, the 25 row is rated 45,000! Btu. I want a system that will keep the trans cool without having to pass through the radiator.
Any pictures of mounting brackets and routing of the lines would be great. Thanks!
Click to expand...
I had a big block B body with an auto trans, much like you I wanted to divorce the trans cooler from the radiator, but I did not want to defeat this effort by mounting my external trans cooler in front of the radiator hence blowing hot tranny air all over my nice cool radiator. The answer was to mount the trans cooler/fan unit midway between the axles away from the headers. Worked like a dream, engine and tranny ran cool and I beat the hell out off it every chance I had. Tranny cooling lines were super easy, mounted the cooler to the sub frame connector on the drivers side. Sorry no pic's like a Fool I sold the car.
Think out of box
Good Luck
 
made my own bracket n mounting on this 70 dart , hard tubing lines end up to a rubber hoses at the battery tray end 90 deg to the engine under the rb oil filter , and 90 deg back to the hard tubing lines . wanted a factory type look on this one .
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ir3333 said:
i had a 9 1/2" dynamic converter and used a 5" x !2" external transmission cooler and it rarely got above 165 which is not good.
Now i run factory lines through my rad to keep the trans at the required 180 - 190 but my current converter stalls around 2400.You may be better off without an external cooler but i would still run the lines through the rad like the factory.
Click to expand...
---------this !^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Needs to be kept 180 -200 , not over. (from what I gather.)
 
just went through this with my 66. I had a derale electra cool, but I had some issues with the engine running hot, and among other issues, one was having the cooler mounted in front of the radiator. Like yourself im running a 408 with a 904. I bent up some 3/8 steel line to contour around the bellhousing, steering, and subframe from the transmission to the front of the block on the drivers side, much like a factory application. I also wrapped it in asphalt poly loom to protect it. A bracket was made that mounts to the corner pan bolt and lower timing cover bolt that uses 2 JIC pass-through fittings. from the pass throughs that are welded to my fabricobbled bracket, I used some re-usable AN fittings to braided soft line that once again go to another pair of pass-through fittings that are in the upper left hand corner of my core support. from there, a second set of soft lines lines go to a new derale cooler, P# 13740, that I mounted to my bumper via the existing holes that were there for the license plate. I have pics but not with me right now. Putting around on the street, or at the track hot-lapping it, it runs ridiculously cool. The hottest ive ever seen my trans get (VDO Gauge, sender in the pan) is 160 degrees. This is a cope racing 904, deep steel pan, and a PTC 11" converter, 36-3800 stall. Total dry capacity on this setup is north of 17 quarts.
 
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