Aftermarket Trans Cooler Install ???

[Snake Slayer]

For those of you that have installed a cooler on the A6 did you loose a significant amount of fluid? The refill/check fluid level on the A6 cars can be a PITA without a lift. Trying to figure out if the cooler install is a DIY or if I need a lift. I am leaning towards the PCM for less unit which is plug and play and mounts to the lower bumper support
http://www.pcmforless.com/index.php?...per&Itemid=284

[tsears]

I have a B&M cooler with fan. Ran it in series. 3000 stall, I'm hovering 180*.

[siriusdish]

That is the cooler my Dad went with. Not sure how it works yet? He is having it installed at the same time with the rest. Not to much longer. Don't see why it would not work, will get that cool air. Not sure on fluid?

[DietCoke]

Something about using BARB FITTINGS on a 200psi line that services one of the most important parts of your car doesn't sit well with me. That's borderline ghetto.

Do it right and use -AN connectors and a line with fittings on the end. No stupid blowouts.

Edit: I made a second post and went into detail. There isn't a good post on this on camaro5, so hopefully I can educate some people that would otherwise get a cheap kit with barb fittings and hose clamps, which is unacceptable.

[DietCoke]

Please god don't buy that tube/fin overpriced PCMforless.com JUNK.
This a a good walkthrough of the PROPER way to install a PLATE trans cooler, includes all applicable part numbers for fittings, etc. I stole it from LS1tech.

I had an incident involving hoses, hose clamps, and 7 quarts of transmission fluid. So I decided it was time to go full braided hose and AN fittings from the transmission to the cooler.

My old cooler had the nipple/barb connectors. This would not work for my master plan. So I had to buy one with NPT threads. B&M's 70274 has 1/2 NPT female threads. It is also freaken huge. See picture. Also to note in the picture are the 1/2 NPT to -6 AN adapters sticking out of the top of the cooler. These are needed to go to AN hose ends. Do not forget to use a thread sealant here, this is not a leak proof connection. I used a liquid sealant. Use two wrenches to tighten. You do not want to break the cooler welds.



Then you need two straight AN hose ends, hose, and then two 45 degree hose ends to go to the transmission. 45 is a tight fit to the transmission tunnel but it works. To go from the AN hose ends to the transmission you will need another pair of adapters. -6 AN to 1/4 NPS. Make sure to get the right adapter as the trans case is NPS not NPT.



Then you have to route the lines from the transmission to your coolers location. I picked in front of the radiator to take advantage of the fans and the airflow. Once the lines are ran you need to go back and secure them starting from the transmission. You have to make sure to keep the lines away from the headers. Notice the cute little bracket I made. I drilled a 3/8 hole in a piece of spare metal and ran the bellhousing bolt through it. You have to make the hole slightly bigger than 3/8th to use this bolt. I then used zipties to keep the lines together.



Your extra slack goes up front. At this point you may have some stupid little mounting kit. I had one from a crappy little hayden cooler. So I put my little foam pads on and installed the cooler on the radiator with zip tie thingys.



and some complete pictures





My summit parts list for those who want to copy.

AER-FBM4412 -06 FITTING-BLACK $9.95 2 $19.90
AER-FBM4422 -06AN FITTING 45 DEG BLACK $17.88 2 $35.76
AER-FBM5013 -06AN ADAPTER BLACK $4.25 2 $8.50
BMM-70274 SUPERCOOLER R 1 $93.95
RUS-640520 TRANSMISSION FITTINGS PAIR 1 $21.99
AER-FCA0620 -6 AN HOSE 20 FT LENGTH 1 $95.95
OR
SUM-230620 -6 AN HOSE 20 FT LENGTH 1 $74.95

And one last note. I recommend taking out the transmission mount and dropping the tranny down a little bit. I tried to do everything without doing this. It was a pain in the ass getting the old lines out and the new fittings in. Only to find out I had to drop the transmission a bit to get the top 45 AN hose end to thread. So just drop it from the start!

----

This will save you from ever blowing off a hose/barb line, dumping trans fluid everywhere, and possibly causing you to lose your trans, your car, or your life. Cheap (rubber lines + barb fittings) trans cooler setups are a surefire way to cause nothing but trouble, and I've witnessed countless trans coolers pop a line at the race track and cause fires, wrecks, etc etc. This includes push-lock fittings, which while sturdier then barb fittings, still suffer from the same fatigue issues with hose. It's prone to fail, and that is unacceptable. If you blow a hose, you will lose all traction, and you will go into the wall. Period. This is why you spend the extra $100 on proper lines. At this point, you would also be deleting your stock trans cooler(heater). It would serve no purpose anymore, simply remove the lines and drain the fluid. There is ZERO benefit to piggybacking off of it with a real transmission cooler, and it's not compatible with -AN fittings at any rate. I'll get off my soapbox now

[BowlingSS]

ADM has one made for our cars for around $300.

Bill

[LSX-80MM]

It's all nice but how do you make the connection on the 6l80e at the tranny case?Because it has a fixed plate that bolts to the tranny case with two nipples pertruding into the case...there no threads in the casing...Do's someone make an adapter for this,you can't just screw your line right in and
be done,Unless I'm over looking something....Cause this what I wanta do,but with all black!!!!!!!!!!

[Rogan]

Originally Posted by LSX-80MM

It's all nice but how do you make the connection on the 6l80e at the tranny case?Because it has a fixed plate that bolts to the tranny case with two nipples pertruding into the case...there no threads in the casing...Do's someone make an adapter for this,you can't just screw your line right in and
be done,Unless I'm over looking something....Cause this what I wanta do,but with all black!!!!!!!!!!

Anyone have a full write up on this?

[DietCoke]

Im not sure about the 6L, I only did the 4L80 :(

[hypurone]

Originally Posted by Snake Slayer

For those of you that have installed a cooler on the A6 did you loose a significant amount of fluid? The refill/check fluid level on the A6 cars can be a PITA without a lift. Trying to figure out if the cooler install is a DIY or if I need a lift.

You are gonna need to deal with filling the trans anyway as a new cooler will increase capacity and require more fluid regardless....

+1 on the B&M thermal fan unit. No matter how hard I run the car (the car is supercharged) it never exceeds 185 (100 deg day). Otherwise it runs around 160...

[jrpxxii]

Derale #12731

[BowlingSS]

I really want one with a fan. I installed a B&M on with a fan on my 4th Gen but it was a pain to make all the lines, etc.

Bill

[jrpxxii]

Originally Posted by BowlingSS

I really want one with a fan. I installed a B&M on with a fan on my 4th Gen but it was a pain to make all the lines, etc.

Bill

Here is mine

[acowherd]

Originally Posted by jrpxxii

Derale #12731

I have this same one on order...