Good evening....I put a 302 and an AOD transmission in my '56. I was told I could run my transmission lines to the bottom tank of my radiator at least to get started. By my way of thinking I am mixing coolant and trans fluid. Somebody school me. I have two threaded bolts in the bottom tank of my radiator. what fittings should I put there for trans line connections? And what connections at the transmission? Do I make my own lines or buy some already made? Can I get away with some "soft lines" just to get it running? Any help would be, well......helpful, Thanks Matt

 

There is a cooler inside the tank of the radiator. It does not mix coolant and trans fluid.

 

cooler is a separate unit inside the tank and is surrounded by the coolant. Fittings will depend on what is on the cooler, could be inverted flare fittings or could be NPT, need pictures to be sure. I make my own lines from 6' lengths of 5/16" steel line and normally run an external cooler in series with the cooler in the radiator. Do not use all rubber lines, dangerous if they get damaged, short connection pieces can be rubber but must be rated for transmission fluid pressure. Do not use fuel line, it will come apart.

 

Until it fails. Which they do. Which is great for the trans.....

 

I'm using an external frame cooler with my 4R70W on my '50 F2. Very nice construction and fits great. The cooler lined are short too.

 

I would put a flare on the stubs where the rubber lines attach. Had a few blow off before. Make sure they are smooth too so they don't cut the rubber over time.

 

How will it get cool air over the cooler?

 

Convection and under-car airflow. Since it is external there is no radiator heat with which to contend. The aluminum fins have some mass so they work very well. I'm not towing with this or using it behind a 600 hp engine. I'll add a trans temp gauge just in case.

 

Neat...wish I had known about that before I put my transmission mounts inside of the rails. Thanks for the pic.

 

Based on your description and some local input I am going to put barbed fittings on the radiator end. I am going to plumb 5/16" metal tube from transmission and connect to the radiator barbs with short rubber lines. This will get me closer to start up so thanks a bunch to everyone.

 

Sounds good. As already mentioned on the steel line side put a double flare on the ends with the edges sanded smooth, that way the hose cannot slide off and will not get cut internally.