I know I’m not alone in having owned cars and trucks that have a radiator, AC condenser, transmission cooler, oil cooler, and power steering cooler all stacked up front behind the grill. I mean that’s how the factory does them, and it just makes sense right? Well, sorta . Yes, good airflow through the grill makes it seem like the perfect place to put stuff that needs good airflow. And if you have a stock bodied car with the original core support, no cold air, turbo, or supercharger inlets coming through it, or an intercooler trying to occupy that space in front of the radiator, then it totally makes sense. But I’ve had stock bodied cars, with original core supports, that have a hard time fitting a condenser and coolers between it and the grill or supports. So what do you do if you A. don’t have room to fit a cooler cleanly, and/or B. don’t want to run lines and everything all over the car to get there?
Well, it turns out that a good plate style cooler and small electric fan will cool a transmission like none other, and can be mounted underneath the car. Yep, and it loves it. Before you start asking why the OE wouldn’t be doing this, the answer is simple. Money. Doing this in your average priced car would mean the manufacturer would have to add an electric fan to the car and that costs more than the 6-10 feet of transmission cooler lines. It’s all about money.
I will tell you that I have a couple projects waiting for their new home in the shop and all of them will be getting a remote mounted trans cooler with an electric fan. It just makes sense. Watch and learn the hows and whys from Doug at Motion Raceworks.
OK if the only off roading is to the local Tasty Freeze.
if you got a sbc 400 anywhere apart from in front of the radiator which needs all the cooling it can get
Mounted mine under the floor directly over the driveshaft. Actually have quite a bit of clearance. Driveshaft is contained and I don’t see a 3.5″ chrome moly shaft tearing in two at that exact point and getting into it.