OK, all you automatic freaks, I'm-a-doin a 350 chevy engine & 350 automatic tranny convertion. If I use the fj40 original stock radiator, where is the best place to mount the tranny radiator? If I mount it, in front of, or in back of the stock radiator, I'm afraid my engine will overheat!!! Since this is my first time installing an automic, I need all the help I can get. So pour it on. Any other advice will gladly be excepted. Thanks...Phil. :confused: :confused: :confused: :D

I am running my cooler in front of the radiator; however my stock FJ-40 radiator is the 2” larger one that Toyota installed with the factory A/C option. I have seen guys run them successfully on a wheal well with an aux. fan on them. (Parma-cool sells them with the fans attached) You could also use a small cooler and mount it by the cool air intake for the stock carb cooler. (Left side) Last option of course is to toss the stock radiator and install a GM unit with the cooler built in. (Big Chevy truck one)

I built a SBC/TH350 truck several years ago, when I did I realized that most companies that made aluminum radiators charged a lot more if they built in a oil to water cooler / heat exchanger and that I could save some cash if I just ran a trans cooler seperatly that was an air to oil cooler and did not use coolant...

I called B&M and talked to the local transmission builder guru. Both said that you have to run a fluid heat exchanger to keep a consistant even temperature of the ATF. They said to run the ATF through an auxillary cooler first and then through the radiator heat exchanger to bring the ATF to a consistant temp before it goes back to the tranny.

I did not explore it further, but marine applications use a torpedo shaped oil to water heat exchanger that goes in a heater or radiator hose. They could be used to regulate the ATF fluid or even to make a hot water shower and you could use a cheaper or stock radiator w/o the built in tank.

Here is what I am talking about:

http://www.glen-l.com/inboard/0067.html

Not sure if this would be a good thing to do, have not done it myself and I don't know for sure if what the tech guy at B&M and the local trans guy said about having to do the radiator with the heat exchanger is a MUST do.

Just something to think about.

-Stumbaugh

One more thing, make sure you mount the engine as far foreward as you can, if you have more than a 2" lift with the lenght of an auto you can run into some rear driveshaft issues. You also will have to cut a notch in the pan, move the engine over the left and or get the AA part that makes the top yoke of the front drive shaft shorter.

If you have any amount of lift at all consider a rear shaft with a CV. I hear you can use an early FJ60 front shaft modified for use on the rear but I have no experince in doing that.

-Stumbaugh

Pull your heater and blower set-up and install it over the vent...trannies get plenty hot to heat the cabin of a cruiser....just make sure to reverse the directions during the summer so it don't get to hot.....look at www.acmeoffroad.com to see what I'm talking about.....

I fought the temp issue with my conversion. I put a TH350 and a 327 into my FJ40. I had to push the radiator slightly forward (I slotted the frame mounts to mount the rad frame farther forward, and installed spacers to push the rad farther forward in its frame.)
I installed a trans cooler on front, but not on the radiator. It is on my front brush guard, but protected by the winch. I have a trans temp guage on the return line and it never looks overheated. I would use the "stacked plate" style trans cooler instead of the one that looks like a big "S" tube through the fins.

Originally posted by coyote
Pull your heater and blower set-up and install it over the vent...trannies get plenty hot to heat the cabin of a cruiser....just make sure to reverse the directions during the summer so it don't get to hot.....look at www.acmeoffroad.com to see what I'm talking about.....

Here is a picture of Dan Gable's Cruiser with the cooler mounted like Coyote said

I ran into cooling problems with my cooler in front of the radiator so mine is now mounted under the tub with a 8" electric fan on it.

I tried it out for the first time today and it is cooling great!

Trail has not been a problem but it was roasting on the road with just the radiator tranny cooler and when I just had the cooler under the tub with no fan.

When it was in front of the engine I had no problems at all getting the tranny hot, but I was heating up if I drove over 45 mph on the road.

Today I ran 20 miles at 65 mph and the engine was in the green at 210 and the tranny never went over 200*.

The tranny stayed at 160-180 on the trail without the fan on....so it is just road that heats mine up so bad.

Most heat generated from an automatic trany comes from the torque converter, so the harder and faster the converter works the more heat you get.

Nolen, how's that electric fan going to stand up to thick mud or a deep water crossing??

Originally posted by 60seriesguy
Nolen, how's that electric fan going to stand up to thick mud or a deep water crossing??

:eek: Thick Mud? Who is going to steal my Cruiser and drive it in thick mud? :barf:

As for water, it is on a manual switch which is more than I can say for my electric fan on my motor.

No deep water (on purpose) and no mud for Kate, thank you VERY much :flipoff2:

Let me know your travel plans to Gilmer so we can camp together.

th350 trannies do not run that hot to start with.
i only have a couple of things to add:
1) run a good cooler! don't get a cheap piece of crap!
2) do not mount the cooler to the rad using those damn plastic zip ties they supply with the coolers. you will wear a hole thru your rad tubes within a very short time(especially in a 4wd with all the extra vibration) and then you'll be buying a new rad! :flipoff2:

Look at my pics to give you another idea. Scroll down a little. I mounted mine on some angle iron that I welded to the radiator frame.

I plan on putting a temp guage when I get some $$$.

http://www.lslc.org/austin/austinbios/blumenthal/Dulciena.html

HTH,