Can some one verify some transmission cooling line questions?

smug

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I have a fancy GM aux trans cooler on my car and as of right now it is spliced into the stock rubber section of the transmission cooler line with some metal hose barbs and clamps. Every thing is working properly, but is just bothers me to have a ghetto looking splice and clamp that if it ever did come apart I would probably smoke my trans.

Now what exactly would I need to fix this with some hard line tubing or a with a similar set up like rich has on his Lumina?

I think the stock hard line is 5/16 but I am not 100% sure.

My setup currently flows from the trans to the radiator, then to the aux cooler, then back to the trans. I dont see any problem with is:dunno:

So yeah what do I need to do.

Oh by the way the metal hose barbs are pretty wicked. I tried to pull the rubber line of the hose bard and it was not happening......
 

RICH17

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Alot of people splice into the stock rubber section. Thats how mine was but I started to develope a slow leak where the factory crimp was. I believe the lines are 3/8ths tho.

I wanted to route hard lines instead of the hydraulic ones that I made at work. The pupose was for a cleaner look. The only problem was that the engine/trans moves around. So there would have to be some flex in it somewhere. But i wanted something quick and easy and went with the rubber hydralic stuff. You can run the same as well but if I were to redo it I would buy the fittings and the hose first, route it, then have the crimps done. I just guessed at 3ft long on each hose and it seems to long. But my car is more towards the function over form anyways

Also I took my the radiator portion of the trans cooler out of the equation a while ago because the lines going to it were shity. So I dont know how much of a difference it would be with or without running that.
 

SleeperLS

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I did think of doing that also..... Tell me what size fittings you used.

Damn that is one loaded question...took me for freaking ever to figure it out( don't ask james about how much I bothered him with it). I had a hard time finding the direct fit npt fittings so I ended up using the hard line adapter fittings and used -6 throughout. The reason I used the hardline adapter pressure fitting was to keep the stock back check valve. It costs a decent amount for a -6 inline one. Really the hardline adapter fittings are easy as shit to use. If you have hardline for your cooler, then it would be a easy option. Still allows for secure stockish connectivity.
 

jbigalow

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yeah 3/8ths hardline for both the thread in and quick connect oem lines

the oem lines flare quite nicely even without a hydraulic flare tool so its no problem to just use the oem ends if they arent rusty.

on hk's car the oem outlet line (verticle fitting) is used as is, then i used the rad portion of the retrun and cut it off where it parallels the lower rad core support and flared it to mate to a new line around the drivers side of the radiator to the ext cooler. then new line from ext cooler outlet around radiator did a partial flare (only the first step aka the bulge) and connected the oem return line (horiz fitting)/hose directly to it with a couple clamps.
the coppernickle lines bend quite nicely and are pretty corrosion resistant even though they are more $
 

smug

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cool cool.

I was thinking they were 5/16 at first so I guess I am glad I did not buy any parts yet. I am going to take a second look one of these days and figure out exactly what I want to do then order some parts.

What kind of pressure runs through the cooling lines? I have heard that it is only like 15 psi.
 

Turbocharged400sbc

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hardline is cheaper in both fittings and material, you can get bend it to a 1 inch radius with a good bender, it can fit through tighter area's than hose which is a larger OD than tube of the equivalent ID. however its harder to work with and if you dont know what your doing you can end up scrapping a line due to an incorrect bend location/etc.
braided stainless or reg hose is often easier to route but can kink with too tight of bends and braided stainless can and will rub through softer metals so it is a good idea to slit rubber tubing and put it over it if your close to something.
both have their pro's and cons
 
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