Operation cool down…..Tranny cooler Nova Project Part 10

So, the thing that kills automatic transmissions is heat.

  I tend to over thing and over-engineer my stuff, but nothing sucks worst than being on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.  So,  I tend to err to the side of caution. I want to try and eliminate as much of the unnecessary heat that builds up while towing. 

 I started on the last entry with the deep pan.  That adds about 3 qts of fluid, which will give more capacity to carry the heat away from the transmission.

       Next is the cooler itself .  

This cooler is a B&M Supercooler.  It's pretty compact and rugged.

I looked for a place to mount this cooler up front.  The problem is a real estate issue.  There is only so much room available, so I had to pick what I wanted up front.  I'm not a fan of installing anything in front of the radiator, but with the new R134 systems, keeping airflow moving is key, so the A/C condenser won out.  I wanted airflow while I was moving, so I started looking…I wanted it away from the floor boards, so the heat wouldn't transfer to the passengers feet.  I finally settled on an area below the cargo bay floor.  It's not ideal, but if we are pulling our little trailer through the mountains, air will be moving across it.

I decided I needed a way to mount it to the bottom of the floor, without using sheet metal screws or bolts, since it is falling under the rear cargo mat.  I didn't want to have to have someone inside holding a wrench while I installed it.

I decided to hit up a buddy to borrow his rivnut gun.  This basically works for of like a pop rivet gun, but it installs a threaded insert instead.

Here's the rivnut before it gets pulled.

I attempted to take pics after installation, but the flash made it kind of hard to see.

There was an existing rib underneath that I picked up.  This spaced it off the floor approx. 1.5", which allows air to flow through.  I built some spacers for the rear to match the front.  After I built them, I found some in the hardware bin at Lowes for about 2 bucks.  I'll just buy them next time.

Next, I needed to plumb it.  I didn't want 10 feet of rubber hose to worry about on the bottom side of the car, so I ordered a roll of 25' of -6 (3/8") aluminum line from Summit Racing.  It's what they call dead soft aluminum, basically it has never been heat treated to give it a hardness.  It makes it very malleable and easy to work with.  I use it on tranny cooling lines and fuel lines.

You can use this little tubing cutter to cut the tubing.  It's really quick and easy.

 Below is the ferrule and B nut, which will be used on the flare side of the tubing.

A picture of it looking forward from the rear of the car.

I decided to make the flexible portion of the line out of Push-Lok hose made by Parker hose.  The have a special hose and fittings that you can just push on and no clamping is required.  It sounds too good to be true, but it works well. I use them on my race car and NHRA approves them.

 I added AN fittings on the transmission instead of using the inverted flare fitting . *Caution* Make sure that you get the fittings designed for the transmission case.  If you try and use the straight pipe fittings, you may crack the case and your tranny is scrap.

I used Adel clamps, butterflied together to give me adequate spacing all the way too the back of the car.

 If you are wondering about the wad taped to the pinion yoke, I got tired of hitting my head on it.  

After 15 times, I figured I should do something.

One more thing to check off the list. 

 Now, if it will just not leak……...

This and that….Nova tow car rebuild Part 9

I have a self imposed deadline of May for the Nova tow car.  I tend to do this to force me to stay on track.

I have the proverbial punch list where I try and chip away at all the things left to do.

One of the things I wanted to do was to add a deep pan to the transmission to aid in cooling and capacity. It's just added insurance.

 I ordered a B&M deep pan kit.

Here are the two side by side.  Check out the difference in size.

This is the stock filter configuration.

The kit came with a filter extension.

The new modified version. Now all that's left is just to install the pan.

The view I was waiting for....and now on to other things.....

I had to modify the transmission crossmember to accept the TH350. 

Before, I could pull the crossmember, I had to build something to hold up the tranny until I could remedy this situation.  I had an old rotor, some scrap tubing and a 1/2" bolt to add a little adjustability.

 It appears the previous owner had tried to do the modification, but apparently, he did it to the wrong side because the bolts on the mount wouldn't line up.

I trimmed the flange on the chop saw and cleaned it up with a hand grinder.

I welded the seam to make sure it didn't separate.

You still can't remove the pan with the crossmember installed, but that's not a show stopper, now that I have the handy dandy tranny jack I just built.

On to other things......

I needed to clean up my rocker panel trim pieces before  could install them, but they had 50 years of rock dings, scrapes and road rash.

They weren't horrible, but they did require some hammer and dolly work along with a gradual step up sanding process.  They were probably anodized clear years ago, but chemicals and other elements have taken a toll on the finish.

The only thing left to do was to sand them and gradually increase the grit count on the sandpaper until it was ready to buff on a wheel.

I started with 150 and worked my way up to 1500.  I lost interest about half way through, so I recruited Mama Root to try her hand at it while I did other things.

Anyway, it's not perfect, but it will pass for driver quality.