200r4 Tranny pan...Which one?!

[Orngcrush69]

My tranny is running hot at the track, and I've got the biggest cooler we could buy for it, so I want to change the stock pan. I'm thinking about the Derale pan and looking for opinions about that pan or any other ones.

[rocketrod]

How hot does the trans. get? What is your current setup? What type of cooler and where is it mounted. Also how are the lines run? Do you have a cooler in the trans that you run in serries with the external cooler?

Try CK Performance
http://www.ckperformance.com/200R4_competition.html the pan is listed toward the bottom and sells for $179.00

[Steven]

How hot? Mine ran at 180 while at buttonwillow a few weeks ago with a BeCool radiator, no external cooler.

[Orngcrush69]

Hey Rocket,
Everything is plumbed right...external cooler is in front, I'm regreting not running it through the rad. now.
MonteC I'm pinned at 250 or so, the car runs fine and the fluid is fine also, I just don't like to see the temp up that high, that's why I wanna try a new pan.
Also Monte, where is you temp sensor at? I put mine on the drain plug.

[Steven]

Orngcrush69,
I put mine on the drivers side and have noticed that it reads the same as the engine temp on the dash. Normal temp runs approx. 150. I see the temp change as fans turn on and off. I ran high revs at buttonwill and kept it in 3 around the track. It did not go above 180. I need to speak to the shop who built it about track conditions such as shifting in an out of overdrive. Some say that the trans will build high heat in the lock up if it is not allowed work. They did a rock solid job. I read your earlier post and your's seemed to run ok, just the hot issue. I would not want to see those temps either. I would think that during the summer it would run hotter. It was a cool weekend.

[Orngcrush69]

MonteC,
Sorry, the last run at Buttonwillow it was actually fine, about 190 give or take. So I need to battle those summer temps.

[myclone]

Derale pan and looking for opinions about that pan or any other ones.

A lot of folks have tried that pan on the 700R4 and complain about fluid leaking out where the cooling tubes are welded into the pan. Rough estimate from what Ive seen is 3 or 4 ppl out of 10 will get a leaky pan from them right out of the box. Its an easy fix to do some touch up welding but then again I would think derale would leak check them before being shipped out (guess not LOL). The ppl that are running the derale say it did knock a few degrees off the fluid temps though even if they did have to do some repairs on a brand new part.

Some ppl as well as myself have tried the deeper cast aluminum pans and while I didnt note any fluid temp difference when using it the thicker construction prolly adds a little rigidity to the case. Something to be aware of is that most of them come with a magnet glued to the end of the drain plug which I found out the hard way is NOT a good idea. Should a trans with one of these plugs grenade the metal sticks to the end of the drain plug and chews up the threads when you take it out (BTDT). At the very least remove the magnet from the end of the drain plug and glue it in on corner of the pan or pick up a pack of magnets from your local craft store and glue them at each corner of the pan (thats what I did). No more ruined threads if you get some debri floating around in the pan since the debri isnt being attracted to the drain plug.

Also, with the deeper pans you may find that the filter/pump intake becomes uncovered during high G moments due to fluid slosh. I discovered this when I went with the deepest cast 700 pan I could find and noticed burned clutches during off season inspection. The following season I did some drag strip runs with a trans pressure gauge installed and saw some pretty extreme pressure swings when launching that settled down after the first 125' or so. I switched to a shallower cast alum pan with some home brewed baffling welded in and the pressures have been fine since then. If you take a close look at the deep pans the filter/pump intake is still at the same level and only the bottom of the pan is lower for more capacity which gives the fluid more room to slosh around even with the fluid at the correct level (least thats my theory). While Im a drag racer you may still see the same issue with lateral Gs so IMO it was worth mentioning.

250 deg is getting high for trans fluid temps so at the very least I would entertain the thought of installing a small aux fan on the cooler you have if the temps are getting that high in traffic but only running ~190 deg on track day where you have plenty of air flow at speed.

FWIW plumbing the temp sending unit into the pan really doesnt give you a real world temp reading since youre just reading the temp of the fluid in the pan. If you want a more accurate reading of what the internals of the trans are being subjected to then plumb the sending unit into the fluid out line (the "hot" side) going to the cooler and put the sending unit as close to the trans as possible. This will give you a more accurate indication of what the internals of the trans are running at and should you get into a situation where the trans is getting REALLY hot you'll see it quicker and be able to take appropriate action. With the sender in the pan the fluid that is surrounding the sensor has to heat up and by that time the internal temp of the trans (where all the important/expensive stuff is located) may be way out of control.

MonteC_ss85,

You mentioned temps as far as lock up vs non lock up. Without getting into all the details a trans will run cooler with the torque converter locked. On the street you will see quite a big diff in temps between lock up and non lock up and an extended period of time (like a road course track day) while running the torque converter unlocked can cause the temps to get pretty high. Not a huge deal in a drag car since it sees limited time at high load/unlocked but a road course would require some serious cooling upgrades to keep temps under control with an unlocked torque covert (IMO).

HTH

[Orngcrush69]

Myclone,
Thanks for all the advise! We thought that the temp gauge should be on the "out side" for a true reading but due to time I just stuck in the pan. I'll have to go back and plumb it right.