Installing a big oil / transmission cooler? It's easier than you think!

[flak_monkey]

After much struggle, I have come up with a simple and effective way to install even the largest oil cooler in front of a 93-97 Camaro's A/C Condenser. I am sorry that I do not have pictures, at the time, I do not have a working camera. The following will help you if you have had too many transmission failures and are trying to bypass the factory cooler altogether.


After many failures, it will become impossible to clean out the stock cooler from all the smut and sludge, metal and burnt fluid that has accumulated there. You'll need to bypass the cooler altogether, and you'll need to use something big. My cooler is a B&M 29.2k BTU unit 70274, about 11x11x1.5 inches. This is FAR too big to fit without removing the v shaped bracket in the middle of the air flume between the nose of the car and the a/c condenser that holds in the wiper fluid reservoir and the hood latch. This means that the whole front of the car will need to come off, or the v shaped support will need to be cut. But there's a trick!

It's so simple!

You'll need

A large transmission cooler like the B&M 70274 if you live in a hot climate or will race the car
A set of scissors
Some diagonal cutters
Pliers
Mounting hardware for the cooler like pull-through-radiator zip ties
Fittings for the cooler. Mine were 1/2inch NPT to 3/8 inch barbed outlets
Fittings to adapt the 3/8 inch line to the 5/16 inch factory line, a 3/8 to 5/16 barbed brass fitting
a bunch of worm drive hose clamps
basic socket set, line wrenches, maybe 1/2 inch crows foot.
Dr. Trans Kooler Klean
5 feet of transmission oil cooler line, the high PSI kind. Don't use oil cooler line, it will blow under the high PSI
A quart or two of transmission fluid
A drill with a 1/2 inch bit or dremel to cut plastic and run your lines.

Just unbolt the plastic trim with the serpentine belt routing info and other stickers on it. There should be three 13 or 14mm bolts.



Pull back the other plastic concealing the front of the a/c condenser like an air funnel, and slide your cooler in from the top. It is just wide enough, if you pull the plastic back hard, to fit a 1.5 inch wide cooler in there.
mount the cooler up with the zip ties that you have. Mine came from another trans cooler, the B&M didn't have any mounting or installation equipment.

Make sure that the fins on the cooler run parallel to the fins on the a/c condenser. Mounting a cooler in front of the condenser will somewhat reduce the efficiency of the A/C, but this effect can be lessened by making sure that the fins run parallel.

Thread the ties through the a/c condenser and the radiator, put the back on them and snug them down, then clip the excess. Turn your fans with your hand to make sure that they are not hitting the ties.

Unbolt the cooler lines from your transmission if you've had a trans failure.

You can then remove the battery and unbolt the cooler line (1/2 inch line wrench) from right below the radiator cap, near what I call the "puke tube" which runs below the battery and out through the underbody.

The other cooler line, which is easy to find but harder to remove, is down by the bottom of the passenger's side of the radiator. This will likely require a crows foot and some swearing to get loose. The good news is that both lines can be cut because the metal cooler lines are attached to rubber hoses.

At this point, you will want to blow the lines clean. Get your KoolerKlean and attach it to each end of the two cooler lines and clean it out. Then blow through it with compressed air. It will make a mess, so keep paper towels nearby.

The top hose should connect to the top of your new cooler, and the bottom one to the bottom of your new cooler. Simple enough, right? Run your cooler lines like you want, and attach to the factory with the barbed adapters and hose clamps. I'll post pics of how I ran my line soon.

Connect the cooler lines back up to the transmission. Start it up and check for leaks thoroughly. Add enough ATF to account for the extra volume you added to the system with your new cooler.


That's it. It's far easier than it looks to put in a big cooler.

If you are going to do this, you should probably have a 160 degree thermostat and your tune modified to turn the fans on, you might be blocking some air flow to the radiator.

[92camaroLT1]

Na, just put in front on the air damn.......LOL looks good in pics too