Opinions on heat sink trans and engine coolers

[NorCalGal]

Time for me to order a engine and trans cooler for my truck. A little background, I'm running a ZZ4 350 small block with a turbo 350 trans with a gear vendors OD, a 19x22 triple pass radiator w/o trans cooler and delta pag fan. I,m leaning towards a heat sink style because of the simplicity of mounting and installation. Anyone have some experience with this style?

[joedoh]

in the world of heat transfer, conduction ( by contact) > convection ( by airflow) and convection is purely a game of surface area. tiny heat sinks fit lots of places but dont have a lot of surface area, in contact with fluid or in fins. convection is limited by ambient temp and humidity too for heat rejection.

stacked plate style coolers have at least 10x the surface area and that is why they are much more efficient than sink or fin type. coolers in the rad are 10x more efficient than that, which is why they are run like that, and in the rad they deal with the constant temperature of the coolant (conduction) and the HUGE convection potential of the rad. trans damage is exponential as temps go over a certain point, I think I remember it as 325 degrees.


does that mean the sink type are bad? no. any cooler is better than no cooler. I would be interested to know what the effect of the OD is on the trans? does the OD make the trans run hotter (from load) or cooler (from slower rpm) if you are set on using a sink, make sure its in the wind as much as possible.

[NorCalGal]

Thanks joedoh, being I don't have trans cooler running in my radiator, I guess it's best to run a stacked plate cooler. Would the stacked work ok in front of my a/c condenser or should I run a designated fan for it?
(I forgot to mention I'm also running a/c)

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by NorCalGal

Thanks joedoh, being I don't have trans cooler running in my radiator, I guess it's best to run a stacked plate cooler. Would the stacked work ok in front of my a/c condenser or should I run a designated fan for it?
(I forgot to mention I'm also running a/c)

you can put it out in front of the ac condenser, and you wont need a fan.


most stacked plate type have a waxstat to reduce flow until heated up, so even in cold weather you get the benefit of a trans that warms up!

I like the B&M stacked plate type, I have one on the shelf that I havent needed just yet (always able to use the rad cooler)