Yeah I most likely will. Will I be ok with a light duty b&m or should I get a medium or heavy duty? I haven't owned anything auto for like 15 years so I don't know the cooling requirements
Alright guys I just did a bit of research on ideal pg fluid temps. Seems like everyone is saying around 200-220°. That too cold thing has me wondering now if in the winter the fluid will be way under that temp with an air cooler instead of the factory option to heat it up as well.?.
Are you going to be driving it in temps below freezing? If so I would hook up the stock cooler or put one in the bottom of the radiator. If not, get a new trans cooler and mount it in front of the radiator and be done with it.
Yeah I'm definitely driving all winter. I drove my '54 every day until the valves went to***** and then I sold it right after I got the engine back together
Use the stock cooler, clean it out good and add one of these after the cooler just in case. http://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/wix-58964/overview/
Be sure to test for leaks on the old one before you hook it up. Water and******* fluid don't go good together, and you said it wasn't hooked up. Might be a reason.
I was thinking the same thing but the trans cooling lines are hooked up to the cooler so I don't think it's leaking. Maybe a crack in the coolant side though so I'm gonna check for that before I do anything
If the stock cooler housing is leaking engine coolant, why not just run a hose/funnel to it and direct AIR through it? Should be able to do that for nearly nothing. If it does't leak, then plumb it back into the engine coolant circuit. There are those extruded aluminum housing, finned, barrel shaped, multi inlet/outlet position coolers that have been on the market for a few years now. They come in different lengths, and could just bolt in -place of the stock cooler. That auction site we all know and love has them, not to mention every cooler even designed. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
I don't know if it leaks or not but I shall find out. I was kinda hoping I could take it out to clean up the engine compartment but I definitely want to have function over from
Butch ,that is a thought I didn't have . It is cooling as it is,maybe not a lot but it is. Possibly hook up a snorkel tube to bring air in.
Photo of "cooler" looks like the heat exchangers used with the Packard Ultramatic automatic transmissions. (o{}o)
Does anyone know how to refill the torque converter once it's drained? I wanna change all the fluids before I start really driving it
You can take it off and pressure test it and clean it out. Connect an air hose to the oil line, plug the other end, give it about 30 PSI and see what happens. Put some water in the coolant passage and see if you get any bubbles. If it is air tight run some solvent thru it, blow it out real good, and hook it up but, put the filter on for safety.
It looks like I may have a radiator leak now that I'm looking at it closer. I wonder if I could adapt a '55 radiator to my '51? Then I'll get the new rad and a built in cooler at the same time
If there is a rad shop near you they can recore your rad and install a cooler at the same time. The torque converter fills itself from the transmission supply. If there is a plug on the torque converter you can drain it, then refill the trans and start the engine. The oil will go down as the pump fills the torque converter. Leave the trans oil level low, and recheck when it is good and hot, it is surprising how much the level rises with heat.
I'm most likely going to drain the converter too but my next question is, since they no longer sell type a trans fluid, will dex/merc be a suitable substitute?
Dexron was the replacement for Type A. I don't know what new formula they have but it should be backwards compatible.
So I got a trans cooler but I can't see any possible way to get the lines through so I can put it in front of the radiator. I'm definitely not cutting or drilling the gravel pan and there are no other holes. I was wondering if there would be any benefit to putting it behind the radiator? I know it'll be getting warm air in that location but that's better than no air right? I'll try and line it up as even with the rad fins as I can so what do you all think?
I'd try and mount it in the same general location the stock one was, or as close to that as possible. If that's not possible, and you don't want to drill holes through the radiator support or gravel pan, and IF there's room behind the radiator, then that's what you'll have to do. Almost any aftermarket trans cooler is going to be better than what was stock, even mounted behind the radiator; you're already aware that's not ideal. One of my old Bracket cars, with an aluminum Powerglide, had a Ford power steering fluid cooler, and that was just a short U-shaped affair, and was mounted off one of the servo cover bolts, so it hung under the car somewhat. Was't ideal, but it worked. I am Butch/56sedandelivery
I ended up mounting the cooler behind the front bumper, wire tied to the bumper brackets. My intention was to place it on the backside of the radiator between the fan and the battery but the fan overlapped the cooler with about .25" before contact. Any motor torque shift and that's all she wrote for the cooler. I just ordered a stock replacement with a built in trans cooler from US Radiator ($380 + $50 shipping...ouch) so as soon as that gets here I'll swap it in. I wanted to get an aluminum radiator from champion or someone like that but, as they're listed for V8s it's because they're cores are 2.25 - 2.5" thick which would put it almost on the fan...again with the motor rocking at all would = radiator destruction. My trans fluid still looks good and red but when I wiped the dipstick there was some black on the towel so I don't know if it's anything to worry about or not. Here's a pic of the factory trans cooler if anyone still can't picture what it looks like. I wrapped plastic wrap around one end with 2 zip ties and filled it with hot water and didn't notice any leaks at all and it wasn't coming out of the trans line holes so maybe it's still good. I needed a new radiator anyway. When I went to drain the current one, coolant just barely trickled out of the drain*****. 2 birds, one stone...done
A rad shop can pressure test the cooler. You can do it at home if you have a source of compressed air.
Some of the powerglides are air cooled too. The early cast iron pg has a "thermostat " in it that opens a valve to let trans fluid flow to the cooler when it hits 220°. I've put my hand on my under bumper cooler to see how hot it was after driving for about 20 minutes and it was just warm. I do shift into neutral every time i stop at a light and fromfirst to drive on every start so maybe that's helping since the converter doesn't have to slip as much.?.
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