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Tranny cooler

4K views 28 replies 11 participants last post by  South 
#1 ·
gday people, i just bought myself a tranny cooler for my fairmont, and was wondering if anyone else has bought and fitted one?

it says to use tube cutters, i can get my hands on some, but if i can just use a hacksaw i'll do that (it advises not to tho)

oh, and has anyone ever taken off the ef front bumper, is it hard?
hope its not rivited on, better only be bolts for my sake
 
#3 ·
Yeah, if you saw the lines make sure you clean all the filings up before you refit the pipes. Removing the front bumper is quite easy. There are two main plastic locks inside the wheel arch, then there are 4 (I think) main large bolts on the front, in the middle between the radiator and bumper. You can easily see them when you get in under the car. Then the whole thing slides forward. Make sure to undo the horn wires before pulling the bumper off because they are attached.
 
#4 ·
South, where abouts did you get the tranny cooler, and for how much (if you dont mind me asking!) i'm worried about stuffing it up now, i've been really thrashing it (stalling it up at the lights, doing heaps of standstills, etc) and i've heard that the stocko cooler isnt much cop...
 
#5 ·
discokin6 said:
South, where abouts did you get the tranny cooler, and for how much (if you dont mind me asking!) i'm worried about stuffing it up now, i've been really thrashing it (stalling it up at the lights, doing heaps of standstills, etc) and i've heard that the stocko cooler isnt much cop...
chances are, youve allready started damaging your automatic.

I was like you, thrashing the hell out of my car. stock automatics just dont cut the mustard! save your self the costly repairs and treat it nice....

get a manual if you want to thrash..
 
#6 ·
South said:
gday people, i just bought myself a tranny cooler for my fairmont, and was wondering if anyone else has bought and fitted one?

it says to use tube cutters, i can get my hands on some, but if i can just use a hacksaw i'll do that (it advises not to tho)

oh, and has anyone ever taken off the ef front bumper, is it hard?
hope its not rivited on, better only be bolts for my sake
hey south where did you get one from and where are you going to fit it in the vehicle? How much did you pay and are these worth to invest in as i wanna do it to my other car (not the ford)!
 
#7 ·
Fairlane Boy said:


chances are, youve allready started damaging your automatic.

I was like you, thrashing the hell out of my car. stock automatics just dont cut the mustard! save your self the costly repairs and treat it nice....

get a manual if you want to thrash..
Its a new tranny, I picked the Falcon up with a siezed motor in it from the previous owner. He'd had the new tranny in there for like 2 months or so, its still under warranty. So yeah, I'm thinking of putting a shift kit through it, and i'd say a cooler is mandatory for whats gonna be a fairly warm crossflow.. Borg-Warner model 40s are strong enough for whats gonna be a fairly hot crossflow, its just the heat that kills them (thin metal components begin to warp once they start getting beyond operating spec temperatures, which is when they begin to die). So getting rid of aforementioned heat should become a priority. The stock cooling system isnt too flash.

South, what model Fairmont do you have?
 
#8 ·
discokin6 said:


Its a new tranny, I picked the Falcon up with a siezed motor in it from the previous owner. He'd had the new tranny in there for like 2 months or so, its still under warranty. So yeah, I'm thinking of putting a shift kit through it, and i'd say a cooler is mandatory for whats gonna be a fairly warm crossflow..
just say a car doesnt have a cooler, is it possible to buy kits which would fit without making major mods to the tranny?


thanks
 
#9 ·
yeah, from my understanding of the tranny cooling kits, you bypass the radiator coolant lines to run a small aircooled system that sits in front of the ac condenser and the radiator.. Like you cut them off from the radiator, and screw down what looks like fuel line to the bits you cut it off from...
 
#10 ·
discokin6 said:
yeah, from my understanding of the tranny cooling kits, you bypass the radiator coolant lines to run a small aircooled system that sits in front of the ac condenser and the radiator.. Like you cut them off from the radiator, and screw down what looks like fuel line to the bits you cut it off from...
where can you get these kits from?

thanks
 
#14 ·
South said:
gday people, i just bought myself a tranny cooler for my fairmont, and was wondering if anyone else has bought and fitted one?

it says to use tube cutters, i can get my hands on some, but if i can just use a hacksaw i'll do that (it advises not to tho)

oh, and has anyone ever taken off the ef front bumper, is it hard?
hope its not rivited on, better only be bolts for my sake
hey where did you get your kit from, also i thought that falcons have tranny coolers in the radiator?? Price?
 
#16 ·
holy crap, i wasnt expecting all these rteplies, thanks EDXR8 for the advice on pulling the bumper off, i will watch for the horn (i dont use it anyhow)

as for where i got it, i went to marlow/repco what not, and bought a daives craig one for $195, looked at it, and there was a ford code on it (i knew ford sold one cheaper, but i wanted it that day, being sunday) but then i thought, $195 is a bit steep, so i took it back monday, got a refund, and went down to my local ford parts, and they sell them, every single bit is made perfectly to put on, unlike the davies craig kit (which is the exact same cooler) and it only cost $140 there, or $135 at coventrys...

so thats how much they cost

as for mounting it, it goes between the radiator, and the bumper, smack bang in the middle, down the bottom, i own an EF fairmont, so the bumper mouht will feed cool air directly onto it

now, all cars have an oil cooler built into the radiator, when one fits the aftermarket cooler, it runs in series with this radiator one, so it feeds into the radiator, then into the little cooler (its very little, about 15cm long, 10cm wide, 2cm thick) and then from there back to the tranny.

reason i bought one, is cause like others i stall it up, and LSD down the road for lots of entertainment, for piece of mind, this little contraption can make a tiny difference to that, also my car gets driven over 500km a week, and im going on a holiday soon, so for that long trip i just wanted to fit one

sorry for long post, hope it all helps.

in short
$140 for it from ford
i own EF Fairmont
goes in middle of bumper out front
is all good :)
 
#17 ·
Originally posted by discokin6
yeah, from my understanding of the tranny cooling kits, you bypass the radiator coolant lines to run a small aircooled system that sits in front of the ac condenser and the radiator.. Like you cut them off from the radiator, and screw down what looks like fuel line to the bits you cut it off from...
I fitted an auto cooler to my old XF. I got it from another XF which had been doing alot of towing so I presume it was a good one. Dunno wether it was aftermarket. When i fitted it, i didn't bypass the radiator cooling, just added it to the return line, which is how it was in the other XF.
 
#18 ·
AusXH said:


I fitted an auto cooler to my old XF. I got it from another XF which had been doing alot of towing so I presume it was a good one. Dunno wether it was aftermarket. When i fitted it, i didn't bypass the radiator cooling, just added it to the return line, which is how it was in the other XF.
yeah good idea, but what happend to my EL is, when my transmission stuffed up there was metal particals stuck in the cooler so they had to bypass the radiator cooler all together and fit and aftermarket option.
 
#19 ·
well i got around to installing the cooler today, and i will never! ever! install a tranny cooler on a ford again

it took 45mins to remove the bumper, you have to remove the lights, and the side bolts are in the worst spot to reach, my hands were all ready from scratching everything.

attaching the cooler, and feeding the pipes, piece of piss, cutting the existing cooler lines, friggin hard! had to hacksaw in the end, dont worry, got all the shavings out of it with a magnet, and let oil run out onto ground flushing the shavings...

and then putting the bumper back on was annoy to say the least, aligning it is the hardest trick, but shes all good now

had to add new tranny oil, but she runs likes a dream now, puter was reset when battery was off, and so i retuned it into thrash mode, gears hole hell long now :D

anyhow, took about 3hrs to do in total, is well worth it, but i wont be doing it again... oh and the mesh insert in the EF fairmont bumper mouth got a silver ricey paint job... looks neato now, and you can see the cooler also... its black, but the bracket is silver, so it stands out :p
 
#20 ·
South said:
well i got around to installing the cooler today, and i will never! ever! install a tranny cooler on a ford again

it took 45mins to remove the bumper, you have to remove the lights, and the side bolts are in the worst spot to reach, my hands were all ready from scratching everything.

attaching the cooler, and feeding the pipes, piece of piss, cutting the existing cooler lines, friggin hard! had to hacksaw in the end, dont worry, got all the shavings out of it with a magnet, and let oil run out onto ground flushing the shavings...

and then putting the bumper back on was annoy to say the least, aligning it is the hardest trick, but shes all good now

had to add new tranny oil, but she runs likes a dream now, puter was reset when battery was off, and so i retuned it into thrash mode, gears hole hell long now :D

anyhow, took about 3hrs to do in total, is well worth it, but i wont be doing it again... oh and the mesh insert in the EF fairmont bumper mouth got a silver ricey paint job... looks neato now, and you can see the cooler also... its black, but the bracket is silver, so it stands out :p
hehhhhehehe at least you got it on!:)
 
#21 ·
Wasted time

South said:
well i got around to installing the cooler today, and i will never! ever! install a tranny cooler on a ford again

it took 45mins to remove the bumper, you have to remove the lights, and the side bolts are in the worst spot to reach, my hands were all ready from scratching everything.

attaching the cooler, and feeding the pipes, piece of piss, cutting the existing cooler lines, friggin hard! had to hacksaw in the end, dont worry, got all the shavings out of it with a magnet, and let oil run out onto ground flushing the shavings...

and then putting the bumper back on was annoy to say the least, aligning it is the hardest trick, but shes all good now

had to add new tranny oil, but she runs likes a dream now, puter was reset when battery was off, and so i retuned it into thrash mode, gears hole hell long now :D

anyhow, took about 3hrs to do in total, is well worth it, but i wont be doing it again... oh and the mesh insert in the EF fairmont bumper mouth got a silver ricey paint job... looks neato now, and you can see the cooler also... its black, but the bracket is silver, so it stands out :p
Sorry I'm too late reading this thread South.
Ive fitted probably 20 of these coolers to EF/EL and they can be done in about 20 minutes, WITHOUT taking the front bumper off.
All you need to do is remove the lower wire grille/mesh out, bolt the bracket and cooler in through the opening, feed the hoses through beside the radiator, remove the existing cooler line and fit the new tail to the radiator, cut the other pipe and join in the new cooler hose. Refit the mesh and Voila! 20 minutes.
The first couple I did probably took 1 hour following the instructions, but then I got wise.

Like I said, Sorry I didn't see this earlier:dead:
 
#22 ·
hahaha, fark a duck!
narh, it was a learning curve i spose. taking that mesh bit out was hard enuff with the bumper off anyhow.

oh well, its fitted now, and its doing a terrific job, keeps the tranny cool, and also the engine is cooler... i better not have to explain why that is to people :p

anyhow, its all good

oh btw, my hands wouldnt fit to well through the mesh hole, im a monster, big ****er hands unfortunately
 
#23 ·
Re: Wasted time

batbo6 said:
Sorry I'm too late reading this thread South.
Ive fitted probably 20 of these coolers to EF/EL and they can be done in about 20 minutes, WITHOUT taking the front bumper off.
All you need to do is remove the lower wire grille/mesh out, bolt the bracket and cooler in through the opening, feed the hoses through beside the radiator, remove the existing cooler line and fit the new tail to the radiator, cut the other pipe and join in the new cooler hose. Refit the mesh and Voila! 20 minutes.
The first couple I did probably took 1 hour following the instructions, but then I got wise.

Like I said, Sorry I didn't see this earlier:dead:
You said you have fitted plenty of these before. Just wondering what model (no.) you used on the EL... I spoke to davies craig and they said not to use the Falcon EF tranny cooler they make, but a universal one... would that still have all the right connections? or should I just go straight to the ford spares dept?

thanks mate,

jez
 
#24 ·
Isnt tinkering with cars just great.
I remember when i pulled the motor out of the ED for the first time. I labelled EVERYTHING & disconnected anything I could find... Later that arvo with the motor sitting on the stand, was that there was 2 main loom connectors that could be disconnected thus saving me a good hour.....
 
#26 ·
Power steering cooler, what you mean theres oil needed for power steering, oh shit! hehehe

the seals on my steering resevoir are stuffed, i loose the lot in about a month, without doubt. One day i'll get it fixed. Seriously theres no need for a cooler on that one. You can happyily dunk your fingure in the oil and it will tingle, but not burn you.

*Note if you try this and do get burnt, its your own fault, i take no responsibility. Your all old enough and mature enough to figure out what you can and cant do.*
 
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