I'm putting an auto tranny (AOD) into my '65 which had a manual tranny in it. So my question is, will the Perma Cool trans coolers in jegs for around 36 bucks keep my tranny cool or do I have to get a different radiator or what is the easiest, cheapest route? THanks!

 

Uh, need to know more.

What kind of loads you plan to pull, what tranny do you have, what kind of weather do you get etc?

In general you want to match the cooler capacity to the load you plan to haul. For example, say you want to haul a 10,000# load(truck and trailer and load combined). You don't want a 7,000# cooler(too small) and you don't want a 30,000# cooler(way too big, yes they can be). Try to get one around 10,000# or maybe up to 15,000#.

Also in general you would like to have the in radiator tranny cooler to. This helps get your tranny fluid up to operating temperature. You don't want to have fluid that is too cold otherwise it will shift poorly and maybe have lower performance.

If you live in California, Florida, Texas etc, in other words where you won't get a hard freeze very often, you can get away without the in radiator cooler. But you have to compensate a bit and get a slightly bigger cooler to make up for the loss of the radiator cooler. If you live in Alaska or where it gets down to freezing or less for a fair part of the year, you want that radiator cooler to warm things up.

This was taught to me by the owner of Higas transmission shop in So Cal back in the 70s, he was a friend of my boss at the time when I was into hot rodding, and I assume the info is still valid.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

Thanks for that reply. My tranny is an AOD behind a 302. It'll eventually be in my '65 250 but won't see too much hauling. The most may be like a boat on the weekend. I won't be pulling out stumps and hauling stones everyday.

I was just looking at the perma cool tranny cooler in jegs for 34 dollars and it says 18,000 GVW recommended for full size cars and trucks w/ light towing.

By the way, i'm in indiana so we get an okay winter where it can get chilly. I don't know if it matters, but no matter what my truck always warms up 15 min. before it hits the road in the winter, although I donno if that is enough to warm up the liquids. Thanks again.

 

Hmmm don't know the ratings on that combo but I bet it can be found on this website, do a search. A wild guess is that your 250 is weighs between 5,000 and 7,000 fully loaded. I would guess it is rated to pull a trailer up to around 5,000-7,000(depends on gears and stuff). So ballpark is that a 15,000 cooler is about right and the 18,000 is not so much bigger as to be a big problem.

I would guess the 18,000 rating is a little high, but if you keep the radiator cooler in series, you would probably be OK year round. If you do without the radiator cooler, it kind of gets to be a toss up. Keep in mind I am no expert and am fudging based upon what I read and what I have been told. I would think in the winter, the 18,000 cooler would cool your fluid too much unless you were towing. In summer I think you would be OK either way.

Depending on how the AOD handles temperature controls I would guess in really cold weather it would shift hard and rev about 500RPM higher than normal before shifting until it is warmed up. I have an E4OD so on an AOD I am guessing.

A lot of the cooler rating also depends on where it is mounted and airflow, so even the maker rating has a lot of fudge factor built in.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson