So I just ordered a Derale deep pan (+5qt, drain and temp bung), a Derale remote filter system, and a cooler core w/built on fan (850cfm) and built in controller/temp gauge.. the temp gauge is pre-set for 180 degrees and can't be changed.. I thought the price was good- all of it shipped for $325....

I have that good-hood ram air hood, and had to fabricate an air box for it to pick up the flow.. I basically mangled a Spectre kit to make it work, but work it does..

the bottom of the box, I closed off with metal sheeting, and held it on the sides of the box with sheet metal screws..

here is the question, and the hope for advice: I plan on removing the bottom of the air box and replace it with the cooler core/fan.. This would provide silly good air flow, and a ton of air when/if the fan kicks on.. But to do so, the cooler core would be horizontally mounted- NOT vertical as it is in the OEM placement behind the radiator..

would mounting it in this position, and in this place pose a problem? Will it be as efficient as the OE placement? And, in your opinion's, will it be an efficient system as described?

btw- I plan on abandoning the OE cooler core all together.

 

I am a little confused , Do you want to mount this on the bottom side of the hood horizontally?

 

nah, but you're not THAT far off..

The box holding my air filter is located and attached on the passenger fender well.. it is right below the ram-air port thingy.. It's just basically a cube, with the top open- which has weather stripping attached to form a seal when the hood is closed.

I'm talking about taking the bottom off of the 'cube' and putting the cooler core there, in the place of the sheet metal bottom that is already on it.. The dimensions are the same on the cube as on the cooler core, and the mounting tabs can be tapped directly into the cube's sides to form the bottom..

 

the other option is carving out a mounting position in the fan shroud and putting it there.. that would be some really good flow too..

realize now, my truck is an '02- third gen/second gen hybrid I call it.. or a third gen with a second gen engine/power-train.. the fan shroud is substantially larger than 'yalls... I'm certain it would be substantial enough to carry the core..

I like the idea of compacting everything, and locating that cooler core on the bottom of the air box would do that.. I just don't know if mounting it horizontally is a bad thing for it.

 

The orientation doesn't matter at all. The only thing that matters is getting sufficient flow of air, and of course protecting it from the elements and road debris.

Silly question, perhaps: When you say you're "abandoning the OE cooler core all together", does that mean you're going to bypass the in-radiator cooler as well as the factory aux cooler? While that might work, I'd be concerned about cold weather operation. ATF+4 doesn't turn to sludge in cold weather like its predecessors, but it's still best to get some heat to it in cold weather because the design of the transmission anticipates a range of normal operating temperatures and clearances are designed for the expected thermal expansion.

 

that was the plan Unreg.. If it works out as I intended... Weather down here really isn't a concern for too cold I'm going to guess.. If you take this past year out of the equation, it rarely drops below freezing..

I was more worried about over-restricting the flow than anything cold.. heat is what I was most worried about.. but even with that said:

I don't have the temp gauge hooked up yet- but I'm guessing it doesn't get too hot as it is.. I'm in the flat lands-- if it increases 3' from sea-level here, we call that a steep hill.. add to that the gearing I run and I really don't think that tranny has a chance to get hot..

My primary concern is keeping that fluid a constant temperature no matter the condition, and around a buck eighty.. I'm thinking you're right: that I should NOT by-pass the rad core.. with a 180 stat, and a pretty reliable efan on it I stay right on target most often.. (the efans for the coolant kicks about 5300cfm combined, and I don't think it's EVER ran for more than about ten seconds straight).. that by itself would keep the tranny juice cool- but if I'm towing, and sometimes I do- I'd love to see it NEVER exceed 180..

I wonder what the hysteresis is on it now temperature wise, and what the difference would be with the set-up I'm going to rig? I'm also wondering if keeping it as close to constant as possible will really help with extending the tranny's life AND increasing economy? Biggest immediate question though: Do you think I would over restrict the juice flow by just introducing the fan/core and leaving the other parts alone? What are your thoughts on that if you don't mind?

 

This belongs in the tech section, not the General Discussion. I'll move it for you.

 

If you've no need to allow for excursions to colder climes, then you're probably okay -- but it'd suck to find yourself in your truck in weather that will cause you concern about over-cooling. You'd know how much a risk that is much better than I.

If you're running something like the Derale 15300+ I wouldn't think you'd have to worry about flow restriction. But if it's a significant concern there's always the option of teeing the line and running two smaller coolers with equal or greater total surface area in parallel to reduce flow restriction.

Ah, the groly hail.

With a heavy load, it's sometimes difficult to keep the donut spinning above stall speed and that's where the heat come from -- but the good news is that your aux cooler will automagically correct for this to some extent because at lower flow rates you'll have less flow restricting fluid turbulence downstream of obstructions (like line couplers/fittings). I think the cool ticket is to give your planned setup a whirl and if the gauge climbs higher than you want to see it, rework the aux cooler system to run parallel coolers.

Darn good questions. I wish i had answers! Hmmm... with the aux cooler in the airbox, unless you've got some significant ram air effect there, I think the aux cooler will look essentially like a piece of pipe until the fan starts so most of its contribution will be in increased radiant surface area. If you plumb the e-fan aux cooler's thermostat downstream of the cooler, and the radiator of the cooler is sufficient to the task, I'd expect a remarkable increase in hysteresis. The wild card is the factory aux cooler, but you could compensate for that with a thermostatic bypass.

I'd think extended lifespan can be expected. Getting everything up to normal operating temperature faster will reduce clutch wear, and keeping the oil temperature from going too high is a very good thing in many ways.

Economy? Fuel-wise, I'd expect nothing even perceptible. But the extended lifespan will reduce your total cost per mile all by itself. With improved temperature control and the improved filtration I'd not be at all surprised to find at the end that you've doubled the machine's lifespan.

If it's something akin to, say, Derale's 15300+ with half-inch tubes and nice fat fittings it's probably okay and I'd be comfy giving it a try on my own truck. I'd incorporate a thermostatic bypass on the factory aux cooler to increase clutch life, too.

I think watching the temp gauge and the aux cooler's fan operation will tell the tale. Except when heavily loaded, the fan should rarely run more than a few minutes at a time, and when loaded (weight, grade, and ambient temperature) to your expected maximum the gauge should never exceed 190F and you shouldn't have to modify your driving to keep it there.

Something I learned in my R&D days working on big liquid-cooled electronic machines was that even when the math works there are unknown factors that never find their way into the equations so the best thing to do is to build it as you think best and test the hell out of it. It'd be better, I suppose, to find out on a test drive rather than on a trip with a destination that the system's not up to the task.

I'm really eager to know how well your system works when it's finished!

 

I can't tell if unreg is suggesting this (maybe for a different reason) or not but you should leave your radiator cooler as the first cooler for the fluid to pass through. Water is significantly better at cooling than air (think of hot metal into tub of water). The factory cooler in the radiator will quickly cool the tranny fluid temp down and the air to oil cooler will cool it even further. This is on top of what unreg already mentioned with the water in the radiator warming the fluid to operating temp.

 

Crap, I barely touch 180* with a 10" x 20" x 3/4" cooler mounted on the front of the A/C condensor with an external filter while pulling a 26 foot, 7500 pound camper. So yes, I think you have lost your mind!