Stand alone tranny cooler

[xaza]

I had a spare auxiliary electric fan and some sheet metal laying around and decided I wanted to try to make my tranny cooler have it's own fan. Built the shroud and attached fan and cooler together and attempted to install. WOW it is way bigger than I was thinking and does not fit under the hood. Originally I was planning on it pulling air from engine bay and dumping out through passenger side hood louver. After some deliberation I thought of mounting assembly to roof rack and with the shortening of one bar it will drop safely into the cover of roof rack. I figure with the installation of a snorkel I will have something solid to route electrical and fluid lines to roof. Will the tranny fluid be able to migrate that far uphill to allow cooler to work? Still have some trimming to do on sheet metal possibly but wanted to wait and see how it is going to mount first. My alternative would be to get 2 smaller tranny coolers that utilize the extra space from Taurus electric fan when that conversion is complete but am not ready to complete that mission just yet. Thanks in advance for any help as to location and function of setup.

[Patrolman]

Nice work on the shroud!

The 90's 4Runner auto tranny models have the tranny cooler built into the radiator, like most rigs. They actually have a transfer case cooler though, since it runs on ATF as well. It is a small cooler, mounted on a bracket in the tranny tunnel. Any chance of mounting it there? Anywhere else under the chassis that is above the frame rails should be fine. Maybe along the exhaust area, or near the fuel tank? I would think the roof is a hard place to put it.

[xaza]

Thanks Jeff. I don't see anywhere it can fit underneath, except right near gas tank (thanks for making me look that far back) It might be possible depending on how much rear axle flexes. The assembly measures 13"x13"x5"depth. I can rebuild shroud possibly to drop depth down to about 4". My main concern with mounting underneath is water crossings will put electric fan under water. Took some pictures of fan sitting in roof rack about where I was thinking. By shortening the one 1" bar it will allow it to drop down and be protected by roof rack.

[Patrolman]

It fits nicely on the rack, doesn't it! I was just concerned about the hoses and if they were to leak. what a mess. Any chance of mounting it under the hood? I suppose you already checked the clearance in the grille?

[xaza]

yeah, even contemplated leaving grill off to make it happen...looks pretty ugly. Yeah that would be a mess if the hoses were to leak up there :lmao:. Starting to lean toward just installing the cooler like everyone else in front of mechanical fan and forgetting about using it's own fan...makes things so simple, I always gotta try the hard way first it seems...maybe that's why we end up doing everything twice :erm:

[Patrolman]

the other option would be to use computer fans. That make slim fans, and they are 12v. When I finish my Cushman snowcat engine swap, I plan to use a pair of computer fans. The radiator on it will be a tight fit. Here is something similar to what I plan to use. They are only .6 inches thick. There are other options, this is just a sample.
http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Slim-80mm-Standard/dp/B005C31GIA/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1378079137&sr=1-1&keywords=computer+fan+slim

[Popsgarage]

The sheet metal worker in you shows up in the clean box bends, Cliff!!!!!:thumb:

[xaza]

Thanks Jon. Too bad I didn't think to use my measuring tape before building shroud :D Got frustrated and moved on to replacing mechanical fan clutch and when installing new clutch I realized I had a big problem. My entire mechanical fan is back and not even inside it's shroud. Double checked and the new clutch is shorter, but only by 1/8 inch. Going to extend that shroud tomorrow with some light and see if my issues get resolved...I expect they will considering there is a half inch gap between shroud and fan...need to check my old shroud to see if that happened when changing that out because I swear I checked that when the overheating started after installing new motor. Will feel like a real dumbazz if that is the case. Thanks for the link on the computer fans Jeff. I think I might pick up 4 of them to turn hood louvers into a power vent, will heat up my pop tarts faster that way :lmao: Going to mount tranny cooler to front of condenser coil on mechanical fan side.