Here's a project that I completed this morning- thought some of you might get a kick out of it. Over the past 12 years or so, I've installed a transmission cooler on every vehicle I've owned with an automatic transmission. I don't know that's it's really necessary, but I see it as cheap insurance- and I enjoy this sort of tinkering anyway.
This is a transmission cooler from a 1997 Jeep Cherokee. I've had good luck using various OEM trans. coolers in the past- I like them because they're usually compact and well-made... and can often be purchased for little or nothing on Ebay. Here's the cooler with the original brackets and original crud still attached:
I drilled out some rivets and removed those funky OEM brackets. Cleaned the thing up and pressure tested it in a bucket of hot water with 100psi of air pressure. It passed.
Turns out that this Honda has two convenient holes already stamped into the lower radiator brace- which is a pretty sturdy piece of metal. So I built a bracket out of 3/4" angle iron left over from some previous project- so as to support the cooler both top and bottom, without the need for any additional brackets or mounting holes besides those two convenient holes in the radiator support. I painted the bracket and riveted the cooler in place. I wasn't too concerned with appearance- you can't see this cooler at all once all the covers are in place. Also cut a piece of angle iron to bolt to the other side of the radiator support to stiffen things up a little... don't want this thing shaking around.
I bolted it in place and ran the hoses. Had to remove a plastic cover, the grille, and one horn for access. Really no different than the GM vehicles that I'd made this same modification on several times. This bracket sits about 3/8" forward of the a/c condenser.
I know that my hose routing will be controversial- but that's ok. The ATF runs through this oil-to-air cooler first, then through the oil-to-water cooler, through the OEM filter, then back into the transmission. I had the hose and clamps left over from a previous project, and had enough Z1 left over to top off the transmission (took about 1/2 quart). So this project cost less than $20 out-of-pocket. We need a "cheap [censored]" emoticon for these forums.
This is a transmission cooler from a 1997 Jeep Cherokee. I've had good luck using various OEM trans. coolers in the past- I like them because they're usually compact and well-made... and can often be purchased for little or nothing on Ebay. Here's the cooler with the original brackets and original crud still attached:
I drilled out some rivets and removed those funky OEM brackets. Cleaned the thing up and pressure tested it in a bucket of hot water with 100psi of air pressure. It passed.
Turns out that this Honda has two convenient holes already stamped into the lower radiator brace- which is a pretty sturdy piece of metal. So I built a bracket out of 3/4" angle iron left over from some previous project- so as to support the cooler both top and bottom, without the need for any additional brackets or mounting holes besides those two convenient holes in the radiator support. I painted the bracket and riveted the cooler in place. I wasn't too concerned with appearance- you can't see this cooler at all once all the covers are in place. Also cut a piece of angle iron to bolt to the other side of the radiator support to stiffen things up a little... don't want this thing shaking around.
I bolted it in place and ran the hoses. Had to remove a plastic cover, the grille, and one horn for access. Really no different than the GM vehicles that I'd made this same modification on several times. This bracket sits about 3/8" forward of the a/c condenser.
I know that my hose routing will be controversial- but that's ok. The ATF runs through this oil-to-air cooler first, then through the oil-to-water cooler, through the OEM filter, then back into the transmission. I had the hose and clamps left over from a previous project, and had enough Z1 left over to top off the transmission (took about 1/2 quart). So this project cost less than $20 out-of-pocket. We need a "cheap [censored]" emoticon for these forums.
