Custom Derale 13960 Transmission Cooler Install

[sakudog]

Hey guys I thought I'd share some pictures from my Derale Remove Mount Transmission Cooler install!

The Derale Cooler will be a supplementary unit to the 3rd Gen F-body Radiator/TransCooler that the car has today.

The cooler is a 25 row stacked plate cooler that has -6 AN fittings, an integrated fan shroud and 500CFM fan, thermostatic switch. The cooler is 13"x10"x6" so mounting in a discrete yet effective way became tricky.

The old B&M cooler is shown compared to the Derale, there isn't a comparison as they are priced completely different and separated by 10 years in technology development. It does show though how much better the Derale unit is than what I had before.

I elected to build some basic custom brackets to mount the fan exactly where the old B&M cooler was, UNDER the passenger headlight area, just at the end of the frame rail.

The Derale took up considerable more room than the older cooler and required it's own relay controlled power system. I'm big into clean, near factor wiring so that effort alone took about 4 hours but it came out really nice.

With all things Turbo Buick, when it comes to the Electrical System I don't play around with trying to get power to anything on a shared factor circuit. Bison taught me that 2 years ago! The Fan/Relay system runs on it's own power feed and body ground using a 30AMP fused battery source and 4 post relay. My car friends that have never owned a 26 year old GM car didn't understand why the electrical system was so over built, but when I showed them the factory harness etc they stopped asking questions.

Next up is the PTFE -6 lines & trans temp gauge install, hopefully next weekend I can get that started and completed just in time to install my newly built Husek transmission and 3021 stall converter.

LINK TO PICTURES

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/...073741870.100000993492856&type=1&l=312050abc3

 

[Jay J]

Nice! Is it located under the passenger side headlights?

 

[Pronto]

So are you going to run it alone or in conjunction with the radiator cooler?

 

[626gn]

Very cool install.

 

[sakudog]

Edited above:
1) Location: under the passenger head light area but you can't see it with out getting under the car and looking up, very clean.
2) The new cooler will supplement the 3rd generation F-body radiator

 

[Phoneguy]

Very nicely done.

Bryan

 

[sakudog]

Forgot I had made a video when I was testing the switch!

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[LIVE4RDO]

Do you have the exact dimensions/drawings of the brackets? Or would you be interested in making a set of brackets and selling it?

Thank you.

 

[Nick Micale]

I have installed a few of these over the years and the one in my race car in mounted under my driver's seat on the underside of course.

Having seen a few cars with fabric oil lines around the engine bay, especially tranny lines near the down pipe cause a fire, I used steel lines between the cooler and the trans, as I did not want any oil lines around the engine.

Your work looks very nice, and I am sure you have also given the same treatment to routing your lines.

 

[sakudog]

Thanks for the kind words about this simple install, it was fun and rewarding.

My current plan is to run from the trans to the radiator/cooler and back via steel braided PTFE with DEI heat shielding near the downpipe. I've built a lot of PTFE hose for different applications and had no issues/leaks. The hose is reated to 500F but won't be any close to the downpipe (which is coated by the way) than say the -8 fuel line is to the stock manifold on the driver side.

It SHOULD be fine, but you make me worry with your statement. The OEM steel lines have been bent and mangled by the previous owner and I can't envision running a new set through the K-frame in lieu of braided PTFE.

 

[sakudog]

Well, after a deeper dive I can see why there is some risk here. -6 PTFE line is a bit thicker than steel 5/16th and THUS to route the lines safely I'd have to go down the passenger frame rail, across to the trans...it is possible but I thought I'd try another way coupling the 5/16 factory line at the K-frame area to the -6 via fittings. We will see how that goes first.

 

[696]

Well...how did it turn out?

 

[sakudog]

Awesome! I went with earls 5/16 to -6 fittings at the kframe area and added DEI's hook and loop heat shielding to the hard lines. http://www.jegs.com/i/Earl%27s/361/AT165056/10002/-1?CAWELAID=1710586920&=&cagpspn=dyn&gclid=CMT7yKfkqb0CFZRr7AodLX0A2g

Everything else is PTFE -6 from (Summit's brand)

After a 60 miles cruise and in stop and go traffic in 75 degree weather Trans temps never went above 160.

Really, really happy!


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[psycho6cyl]

Do you have a picture of how lines were ran. About to do mine and scared of running them over my dp. Seems like it defeats the purpose of the cooler

 

[sakudog]

If you re-read my last post, I think it explains I ran the stock hardline to the K-frame, cut them and added the Earl's 5/16 to #6 A/N fittings. Then #6 A/N to the cooling system. I also added DEI heat shielding to the factory hardline to give it extra heat protection.

 

[sakudog]

Updated link to pictures. I no longer own my Buick but someone messaged me and I got an email so I logged into the site to update this thread with a link to the pictures.

Good luck to you guys!