Quote:
Originally Posted by Steveiam
Did it overheat even with a transmission cooler?
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Yes. As I broke this down though, it really goes back to the installation of a slim shroud fan setup. It was installed to gain space between the turbo/exhaust/fan shroud. The goal of increased space was accomplished however, the smooth transitions of the factory shroud were replaced with a squared off shroud, creating a lot of turbulence and decreasing flow through the radiator. The auto has a heat exchanger which uses coolant to quickly increase trans temp; works great when the car is run under normal operating conditions but turbo and 100 degree ambient track temps certainly aren't normal, and reduced airflow through the radiator just exacerbated the problem. Coolant temps on this particular track day were 220-240 and even though the trans cooler was oversized, it was sandwiched between the AC condenser and intercooler.
There have been many changes since that track day..... radiator changed to Koyo, fan shroud modified for better flow, AC removed (not a daily driver), fabricated ducting, bypassed the heat exchanger and installed a thermostat, changed to 19 row stacked plate cooler, and changed from WS to Amsoil signature series synthetic. I don't expect to have any trans cooling problems going forward but we shall see.