Auxiliary Transmission Cooler Placement

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Sparky__70Dart340

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Hi all,

Recently purchased 70 dart swinger with original 340 motor and trans, though I was told the cylinders may have been bored out.

Currently working on fixing the over heating issues. In street traffic (25 mph, streetlights, etc.) water temp is approximately 220-230f, but a few seconds on the highway (45mph and above) temp is brought down to 190-210f. Pull of the highway and quickly goes back to 220-230f.

This makes me think this is an airflow issue. And I suspect one large issue is this 11”x11” transmission cooler mounted between the fan and the radiator. Shown below with shroud on and off. Note the fan currently sits about 3” from the radiator.

1. Is the transmission cooler necessary? Can i just pull it out and rely on radiator to cool transmission oil?

2. If necessary, should it be moved? Its current placement makes me think it is killing any airflow give its size and placement directly in front of the fan.

Thanks in advance. New member here!


A72411A8-0E5D-4CF5-8E61-48B87D59291C.jpeg
47995A88-9530-41AB-AA16-D66161A4BD9F.jpeg
98FCEE23-4604-4E43-8CAC-F2B63833ED91.jpeg
 
I have all 3 like you, but my auxiliary cooler is on the front of the radiator.

Edit- you fan also looks small
 
That shroud appears to be more of a guard. Not doing anything to guide air flow. A good fitting shroud will help. I would move the trans cooler to the front and space it out from the radiator. Try bypassing it to see if you can get rid of it and rely on the one in the radiator. It seems like that aux is going to impede the airflow through about 50% of your radiator.
 
Sparky__70Dart340 said:
Thanks @DentalDart. Is your cooler placed dead center on the radiator?
Click to expand...

No it is offset to the drivers side of the radiator and it is 11x8in. I also have a cold case radiator. I was having cooling issues and my whole cooling system has been redone except for a new shroud. One of these days I may get a shroud that actually fits my radiator.
 
i think the trans cooler should be in front of the rad with 1" space minimum between it and the rad.. then the fan should be closer to the rad.
 
1.) If you want to keep that trans cooler, move it to the front of the radiator. Keep it at least an inch away from the rad., more if you can. Keep it towards the bottom of the radiator, exposing as much of the rad. core to airflow as you can. A reasonable street driven 727 can live fine with just the rad. cooler, a worked 904 may benefit from the additional cooler. In general.
2.) Get rid of that 4 blade flex fan. That thing won't move enough air to float a paper airplane, let alone cool a bored 340. Try something like the MP viscous fan package, Mancini Viscous Fan Package Six or seven blade, hunt for your best deal. Try to space it about an inch from the rad. Fan should be 50% in the shroud.
3.) Matching fan shroud to the fan Mancini Racing Radiator Fan Shroud Again, hunt for best deal, new or used... links are for reference only, not endorsing anybody.
 
Thanks, everyone! Can’t believe how quickly I got responses. I am going to start with removing the trans cooler and see where that takes me, though I do agree that a new fan and shroud may be in order.
 
Sparky__70Dart340 said:
Thanks, everyone! Can’t believe how quickly I got responses. I am going to start with removing the trans cooler and see where that takes me, though I do agree that a new fan and shroud may be in order.
Click to expand...
I wouldn’t completely remove the trans cooler. As everyone else has said, move it to the outside of the radiator. You still want to keep that tranny cool too.
 
I think I got my fan and my clutch for around 80 dollars off Amazon with 2 day air. My ckutch is about 1/2 - 3/4 in from the radiator and the cooler sits attached to my ac condenser which is right in front of the radiator.

I run my transmission lines to the radiator. From the radiator to the external cooler then back to transmission.

I havent driven the car much the past couple months due to it being constantly taken apart... My test drives that are in about 90-95 heat for roughly 30-45 minutes of stop and go lately. The temp is around 205-210 while sitting (lots of adjusting the kickdowb and throttle cables) and drops back down to 180 when I am driving. So I'd imagine I would have no problem driving it on the highway or even in stop and go traffic, but a better fitting fan shroud and moving the cooler off of the radiator would probably help.

20200403_001329.jpg
 
Sparky__70Dart340 said:
Thanks, everyone! Can’t believe how quickly I got responses. I am going to start with removing the trans cooler and see where that takes me, though I do agree that a new fan and shroud may be in order.
Click to expand...

Most of us live on this site... young guys constantly asking questions (I ask the dumb questions :lol:) old grumpy guys sitting on the porch with shot guns telling us young ones what to do. :poke:. Just kidding, except about the dumb questions I do ask those, the guys on this site and their constant advice is a blessing.

Also new parts are a slippery slope.... ask me how I know lol... The boss has banned me from my own bank account...:rofl:

67dartgtgo said:
I wouldn’t completely remove the trans cooler. As everyone else has said, move it to the outside of the radiator. You still want to keep that tranny cool too.
Click to expand...

I agree just pop it on the front of the radiator. He does probably have to remove the cooler lines to move it to the front, that may be what he was talking about.
 
DentalDart said:
Most of us live on this site... young guys constantly asking questions (I ask the dumb questions :lol:) old grumpy guys sitting on the porch with shot guns telling us young ones what to do. :poke:. Just kidding, except about the dumb questions I do ask those, the guys on this site and their constant advice is a blessing.
Click to expand...
And a few old grumpy guys sitting on the porch asking dumb questions. :thumbsup:
 
Young guy here, but came here for old-grumpy advice shotgun on the porch or otherwise :thumbsup:

Thanks for the input. I will report back after taking all this into consideration.
 
gzig5 said:
That shroud appears to be more of a guard. Not doing anything to guide air flow.
Click to expand...

I agree - that "shroud" takes the corners of your rad out of the equation instead of pulling air through the entire core, and what's left is blocked by the Tranny Cooler. A decent shroud and properly positioned fan will improve things significantly.

FYI, here is where I put my Supercooler, about an inch ahead of the Rad. This arrangement works great.

20190326_155057.jpg
 
Sparky__70Dart340 said:
Hi all,

Recently purchased 70 dart swinger with original 340 motor and trans, though I was told the cylinders may have been bored out.

Currently working on fixing the over heating issues. In street traffic (25 mph, streetlights, etc.) water temp is approximately 220-230f, but a few seconds on the highway (45mph and above) temp is brought down to 190-210f. Pull of the highway and quickly goes back to 220-230f.

This makes me think this is an airflow issue. And I suspect one large issue is this 11”x11” transmission cooler mounted between the fan and the radiator. Shown below with shroud on and off. Note the fan currently sits about 3” from the radiator.

1. Is the transmission cooler necessary? Can i just pull it out and rely on radiator to cool transmission oil?

2. If necessary, should it be moved? Its current placement makes me think it is killing any airflow give its size and placement directly in front of the fan.

Thanks in advance. New member here!


View attachment 1715534298 View attachment 1715534299 View attachment 1715534300
Click to expand...

Welcome aboard!

IMO, Professor Fate, he nailed it. Bulls eye.
You may very well easily live without that extra cooler. Even though a transmission works best at a warmed up temp, in general what a transmission likes is to be cool and shift quick. It’s not what the general public likes. Hence why the transmission is built the way it is.

All coolers should be in front of the radiator. Directly in the path of air flow. Car moving or not. I have found the factory cooling set up to be an excellent system most all the time with very few short comings, mostly round on over powering engines taxing the radiators capacity. Otherwise the radiator, proper shroud and a viscous clutch fan unit and fan blade work great.

This is exactly what I use on my hot rod E body 4spd Cuda. The small block makes over 430 hp & has 4.10’s. The OE radiator was recored and a new shroud with the MP Viscous clutch fan set up was used and I have not had a problem since. It’s been 30 years now. The car has run low 12’s. Sat in NYC rush hour traffic for hours at a time, travel hours at a time on the interstates.

Again, the professor nailed it.

Professor Fate said:
1.) If you want to keep that trans cooler, move it to the front of the radiator. Keep it at least an inch away from the rad., more if you can. Keep it towards the bottom of the radiator, exposing as much of the rad. core to airflow as you can. A reasonable street driven 727 can live fine with just the rad. cooler, a worked 904 may benefit from the additional cooler. In general.
2.) Get rid of that 4 blade flex fan. That thing won't move enough air to float a paper airplane, let alone cool a bored 340. Try something like the MP viscous fan package, Mancini Viscous Fan Package Six or seven blade, hunt for your best deal. Try to space it about an inch from the rad. Fan should be 50% in the shroud.
3.) Matching fan shroud to the fan Mancini Racing Radiator Fan Shroud Again, hunt for best deal, new or used... links are for reference only, not endorsing anybody.
Click to expand...
 
Closing the loop on this one. Installed a 2in spacer with 18in flex fan, and Mancini repro shroud. It’s running 190-200 all day. Now on to more exciting things to fix.

Thanks for the help everyone!
 
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