I swapped out the seals and filter on the used C6 I'm going to slap into my F-350. A few more tweaks and it's swap out time. I'm replacing the trash filled factory cooling lines with an auxiliary cooler like on my Dodge I've been running for years. One change from the Dodge is I plan to add a remote filter into the cooling lines. My cooler has a fan and the filter kit comes with a temperature gauge. Heat is the major killer of transmissions so I plan to keep it cool.

Anybody out there happen to know which line is the pressure output cooling line? There is one in the middle of the transmission and one more towards the front and upper part. Normally I'd say the upper one would be the return but its proximity to the front pump makes me wonder.

It's going to be a few days before I have all my parts on hand so no rush, inquiring minds just want to know.

 

Last I looked into it I found the front port is the fluid going out, and the rear is the fluid return.

 

From AI

On a Ford C6 transmission,
the front port (closest to the engine/pump) is the out/pressure port, and the rear port (closer to the tailshaft) is the return/in port. The front port pushes fluid to the radiator/cooler, and the rear port returns it for lubrication.
If you read the instructions that come with the cooler, they usually warn you not to run just the cooler, but put the cooler in series with the factory radiator cooler for enough cooling. You can flush the old cooler out to clean out any debris.

 

Yes add the 2nd cooler as a add on not by it's self. Transmission> radiator cooler> add on cooler> transmission.
I had a 76 E350 that was used to pull a 2 car open deck trailer and I ran the factory radiator cooler and 2 other large coolers, 3 in all and the transmission still ran hot.
Yes it was a 460 / C6 combo.
Dave ----

 

That's what I was thinking but it's been years (decades actually) since I worked with these.

As for AI, I don't trust it. AI can sound like it knows what it is doing when it doesn't. It's a replicant program not bothered by experience. The cooling lines inside a radiator can be problematic when trying to clean trash out of it. The problem with an auxiliary cooler is air flow. At low speeds not enough air transits the fins for heat transfer. That's why I'm going to use a fan on the cooler as well as a transmission temperature gauge.

 

If the cooler is big enough, with a fan you might be OK ditching the stock in tank heat exchanger. Make sure the gauge sender is installed BEFORE the cooler, not in the return. ALso keep a close eye on it till you learn if it is big enough.

 

I found a spot on the radiator that may need repair. If I have to boil it out and repair it, or replace it, I'll clean the lines and go hybrid with both the radiator and auxiliary cooler with the fan on it. I can get a new 3 core for $125-$200 or recore my original with a 4 core matrix for $190. In the next week or so, I'll be pulling the truck apart and toss in the parts I'm accumulating.

I noticed the engine is running 180 when warmed up. Either I have a leaky thermostat or someone swapped a cooler one in. Since this is pre-computer, you can get away with that. I've never noticed any performance gains from that on street engines and heat suffers in the winter. I'll find out when I do the timing chain.

 

FYI running a cooler than factory stat can lead to faster wear on the motor, dose not get hot enough to boil out the condensate / gases for the PCV system to remove and burn.
Now running cooler you might be able to bump the timing up more and not get pinging as the combustion temps would be lower.
Dave ----

 

I generally try to stay stock unless I have a good reason to do otherwise. Usually that will entail redesigning a stock system such as brakes. I figure the people who designed something had a lot of letters after their name so should know what they're doing. The last 20 years or so though, they usually get over ruled by bean counters or have to deal with inefficient regulations. When I raced we changed things all the time one item at a time for performance. This isn't going to be a race vehicle. Back in the late 60's and early 70's when I was getting my training, 180 thermostats worked fine but you had a gentle heat rather than really hot. With the volume inside my cab, I want good heat. Plus, I'm old and like my warmth.

A lot of stuff today is just for looks. Watch the car rebuild shows. You see long beards and guys wearing shorts. I have a beard but keep it short for a couple of reasons. It's stiff and heavy enough it flairs out like a flower and doesn't hang down, plus I've had backfires set it on fire. As for shorts, I've been wearing my big boy pants for years and if you're using a cutting torch, drop some hot slag in your shoes and no matter HOW fast you get it off, tain't fast enough.

One thing I'm going to do now that decent weather is getting here is check my expansion plugs on the block. I'm pretty sure the coolant was kept up enough but if I've got some seepage around them, I may pull the engine transmission assembly and do a heavy refresh. This will entail popping the expansion plugs out and put new ones in all over. When I did this the last time, I got enough sand and rust out of the block to almost fill a 5 gallon bucket. Unrestricted coolant helps cool the cylinders much better when hot and warm up faster when cold.

I will quite likely go stock, but it will depend on what I find when I get in there. Some of the previous work was...um...uninspired to say the least.

 

I have had a 180 degree thermostat cure pinging after disconnecting the EGR system. And there are some transmission shops that will not warranty their work unless you buy a new radiator.