.....to getting the old warrior back on the street.
I was running a short loop of 5/16" tubing instead of a transmission cooler, the fluid never got hot enough while I was racing to need a cooler.
Different story now that I'll be running around town with the car, so I bent up some 3/8" hard lines and installed a B&M Supercooler behind the front bumper. The cooling line fittings on a TH400 are for 5/16" tubing so I stole some off an old ST300 2-speed trans, they have fittings for 3/8" tubing.
The lines are far enough away from the headers so the fluid won't cook in the lines, I tried to keep them slightly above the A-arms so they wouldn't rub during suspension movement. I didn't make the lines follow the frame as they come toward the front past the A-arms so they could be easily removed without bending them.
Note the new heater hoses, I put the heater assembly back in the car so my feet don't get cold while prowling around late at night (more likely driving to work in the morning).
Looking upward from under the radiator support, the lower line that carries hot fluid from the converter enters the bottom of the cooler. A store-bought 60" length of hard line just happened to reach from the trans to the cooler all in one piece, what are the chances of that?
The return line was made from another 60" length, but it wasn't quite long enough to reach. Just as well, if it was any longer I wouldn't be able to take it out without bending it up some. I had to make up one short length of tubing and put a 90 degree bend in it, along with a 3/8" inverted flare union to finish up the return circuit.
Easy access to the union from the slot in the front bumper, it just happened to end up in a good spot for getting wrenches on the fittings.
A shot of the cooler location from the front.
Bending up hard lines is a bit of work, but you end up with very durable lines that have the same look and quality as OEM equipment. Very reliable, and cheap too. I have less than $20 in these trans cooler lines and fittings, and a few hours worth of work making them up.
Tube flaring tool set, a necessity when making up lines that seal with inverted flare fittings.
