05-20-2024, 07:43 AM | #1 |
Transmission Cooler Questions
Hello All,
Hope you guys are doing well today and had a good weekend! This might sound like a dumb question, but I've just been thinking about it and am curious about it. So I have an SS1LE with the A10, and since I do plan to add more power to it eventually, I plan to change out the stock transmission cooler to the ZL1 A10 transmission cooler. I'm wondering if there would be any type of cooling benefit to add the SS transmission cooler in-line somewhere else for the transmission cooling system, say from the transmission to the e-diff, or from the e-diff return to the transmission? Any thoughts on this? |
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05-20-2024, 09:22 AM | #2 | |
Petro-sexual
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It seems like there's building evidence that controlling engine oil cooling has a strong impact on the entire cooling system. As you might already know, all of the powertrain cooling, except the supercharger (in ZL1s - duh), pass through the radiator in some fashion. As a consequence - there is a huge load on the engine radiator, with one tank having the engine oil cooler and the other side containing the tranny/differential. Evidence is showing supplementing/replacing/divorcing the engine oil cooler from the primary radiator circuit improves track performance for ALL. One method replaced the supercharger aux. cooler with an engine oil cooler and significant coolant and engine oil temperature improvements were found. Another found considerable improvements in eliminating the aux. radiator (right cheek) with a dedicated engine oil cooler. I believe BOTH eventually divorced engine oil from the OEM engine oil cooler, but BOTH methods showed demonstrably improved TOTAL powertrain cooling, including tranny. Not to take away from your idea at all. BUT - because you're wanted to track the car, perhaps the engine oil cooler circuit is best addressed. I will freely admit I haven't tracked my car, and may never, but I HAVE noticed that I can heat the oil up under certain driving circumstances I wouldn't think would matter (and it's repeatable, so I know it's a thing). The single thing I worry about, is foul weather driving, and driving with engine/tranny oil too cold. I wonder if GM designed the cooling as it is for COLD weather, too. I'm sure hardly anyone will beat on the car in the freezing weather, but I wondering if that's part of the design architecture that we got from them. Let us know what you come up with!
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'20 ZL1 Black "Fury" A10, PDR, Exposed CF Extractor Magnuson Magnum DI TVS2650R // RFBG // Soler 103 // TooHighPSI Port Injection // THPSI Billet Lid // FF // Katech Drop-In // PLM Heat Exchanger // ZLE Cradle bushings // BMR Chassis-Suspension Stuff // aFe Bars // Diode Dynamics LEDs // ACS Composites Guards // CF Dash // Aeroforce // tint // other stuffs |
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05-20-2024, 11:21 AM | #3 | |
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My thought about adding the ZL1 cooler was that it's pretty OEM already and it's an easy swap, so that's why I was looking at that avenue. I plan to address the oil cooling as well by adding the C&R coolers up front, as those seem like they've been proven to actually work. |
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05-20-2024, 12:49 PM | #4 | |
Petro-sexual
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I know there's a point of diminishing returns, too, as far as core design goes. Sometimes too thick starts restricting flow to the cores behind it and I've often wondered if my thicker HE helps or hurts, but it's face isn't any bigger than stock, so I'm crossing my fingers at least that's okay. Who knows?... LOL.
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'20 ZL1 Black "Fury" A10, PDR, Exposed CF Extractor Magnuson Magnum DI TVS2650R // RFBG // Soler 103 // TooHighPSI Port Injection // THPSI Billet Lid // FF // Katech Drop-In // PLM Heat Exchanger // ZLE Cradle bushings // BMR Chassis-Suspension Stuff // aFe Bars // Diode Dynamics LEDs // ACS Composites Guards // CF Dash // Aeroforce // tint // other stuffs |
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07-02-2024, 10:19 PM | #5 | |
Waiting 4 A Point By!
Drives: 2020 ZLE, C8 Z06-Z07 2LT Carbon Join Date: Mar 2023
Location: South Carolina
Posts: 119
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I am addressing this issue and others...
Let me drop these two videos so everyone can get a sense of where I am going with my ZLE... first, here is a short I shot at Nine Lives Racing where Johnny C. is building some killer aero stuff and doing the full CFD of my Camaro so all can benefit from his work.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nm0aON7IzQw This video should answer a LOT of questions and if you have any, I am happy to share what I have learned.
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07-03-2024, 11:08 AM | #6 | ||
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If you don't mind me asking, what new radiator are you using for the transmission? Definitely seems like something I want to do eventually while working on the cooling. |
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07-03-2024, 04:37 PM | #7 | |
Waiting 4 A Point By!
Drives: 2020 ZLE, C8 Z06-Z07 2LT Carbon Join Date: Mar 2023
Location: South Carolina
Posts: 119
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Quote:
I plan to have a kit available for just the flat HX and adding the driver's side Aux HX to this system and another means of separating the eLSD to use a pump through a cooler of its own.
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07-03-2024, 09:25 PM | #8 |
Drives: 6th Gen LT1 Join Date: Jun 2023
Location: Southeast
Posts: 312
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The system is designed also for cold temperatures. Hence the flow of oil through the coolant. Heating up the oils is important for gas mileage and reduced wear.
The coolant temp is bein read from the engine block, not the radiator. The radiator is usually cooler, unless the thermostat is fully open. If you don't want to loose factory functionality, just add a bigger Transmission cooler. The A10 has a bypass at 145F. Under that temp, it would internally bypass the flow of the radiators. |
08-01-2024, 09:40 PM | #9 | |
Waiting 4 A Point By!
Drives: 2020 ZLE, C8 Z06-Z07 2LT Carbon Join Date: Mar 2023
Location: South Carolina
Posts: 119
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Just an update... here is the cooler setup finally. I will have an in-depth video once everything is back together and complete.
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