TH400 cooling

[astroracer]

Do I have to run an "in radiator" trans cooler? Or can I simply run a big external cooler? The radiator I have is brand new and isn't set up with the trans cooler. I am thinking I will run one or two good sized coolers, maybe with a fan on one of them. I could mount one of them horizontally under the radiator up inside the frame rails. If I did this with a 10 or 12" fan do you think it would enough to cool the automatic?
Thanks
Mark

[Thephranc]

Would be plenty to cool with just one. The fan/rad combos tend to be an 8" fan 1000ish CFM set up.

[astroracer]

Thanks Phranc,
I have a brand new 8" x 15" cooler on the shelf. I think I'll pick up a 10" fan and build a shroud for it. I'll be running a trans temp gauge so if it gets too warm I can always get a bigger cooler.
Mark

[77birdPH]

I got a 11 x 11 x 1.5 inch B&M cooler for a SBC350 + TH400 in the worlds heaviest FSJ Cherokee ( 7000lbs ) The fan is a Ford 11-12 inch from a radiator (2 fan setup cut in half) The cooler is located in the back sucks air from under the car.. When running fan constantly the temperature keeps at 80C = 176F.

A 15 x 8 cooler should do fine even without a electric fan when located in the front.

66343

[Steve Chryssos]

External cooler preferred. That way if your engine overheats, the trans is fully isolated. And at 15x8 you might not need that fan at all. Set the thermostat at 200 and run Red Line Oil D4 which is temperature stable well beyond the limits of your your trans' frictions and can be "tuned" by mixing with other Red Line Oil trans fluids.

I was cleaning up my lab the other day and found a box of happiness that I owe you --all packed nicely and simply never shipped it. Sorry, I'm a bonehead.

[astroracer]

Thanks Lars,
I am thinking the same thing. I have a 10" fan and I will be bundling the Power Steering cooler into the same pack. I am in design stage right now but, with the lower radiator brackets at the front and a frame tube behind, I can easily build a horizontal cool pack that will sit right under the radiator and allow me to pick up air from the front. I will design a scoop to funnel fresh air thru the coolers at speed and the fan, hopefully, will only need to kick on in traffic (or when I am pushing air with my brick)... :)
Mark

[astroracer]

Thanks Steve, I was hoping you would chime in.
The "external cooling" was why I ordered the "non-cooler" radiator in the first place... Just second guessing myself.
I will run the fan just because I have it and I may as well design it into the package (fitment AND wiring) now and not have to worry about it down the road, if you follow my drift. I will need to pick up a thermostat though. Any recommendations?

[Thephranc]

You can run a dual flow rad with tranny in one flow line and power steering in the other. Then add a fan on top of that. May save you some weight/coin/space.

[astroracer]

You can run a dual flow rad with tranny in one flow line and power steering in the other. Then add a fan on top of that. May save you some weight/coin/space.

I already have this stuff. Bought it years ago for my '73 Bird and never finished it. Might as well use it now. I am using a lot of stuff I bought for the car. Gauges, all of the cooling stuff, fuel sender, etc. :)

[sam 74]

i used the biggest B&M stack plate type cooler no fan it keeps my trans about 160 to 180 degrees all the time.

[Gates72ss]

i used the biggest B&M stack plate type cooler no fan it keeps my trans about 160 to 180 degrees all the time.
+1 no issues behind my bbc and i run it pretty hard......

[67 455 Bird ragtop]

I piked up a used NASCAR Setrab stacked plate oil cooler I plan to use on my TH400. Should do the trick. I'll mount it in front of the rad so it will get good air flow through it.

I have two coolers like the two listed below. Are either of these ok to cool my TH400 street/strip car with a JW 3200 stall converter ??? Or is one too small and the other too big ???

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SETRAB-OIL-C...e4e8fd&vxp=mtr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Setrab-Alumi...e18a0a&vxp=mtr

[BK2LIFE]

water cooler (in your radiator) is the best way to cool a trans. add on/stacks work well, but use them inline with your radiator cooler. plenty of answers to why on google.

[67 455 Bird ragtop]

My Griffin doesn't have an internal cooler which is why I'm using an external one. And doing a little more research I can see what I have is way too small for a trans without in radiator cooling. I got the radiator I have pretty cheap. I may decide to sell it and my external coolers and buy one with an internal trans cooler to save hassles.