Thread: Can I run w/o trans oil going into radiator???

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Thanks Robot/Mike, Nothing like actual data! Well I pulled the transmission cooler off the side of the frame and am having adventures in plumbing the lines to the radiator. As Henry Rifle mentioned before, I want some sort of flex line between the transmission and the hard lines to the radiator. The tech guy at Walker Radiators says I only need a 5/16" hard line to the radiator and I found some right angle 1/8" pipe thread fittings at NAPA (only two tries!) so I can route the tubing down away from the fan. Even though the fan is higher with the Zip water pump there is still not a lot of clearance down by the crossmember so I have to route the tubing down a way and then across through the tight area by the fuel pump. Then I have found after three tries a combination of fittings to put a short length of rubbercoated braided hose from the transmission to the inside of the frame rail to privide some flexing between the drive line and the frame. The hard line will still have to pass by the down pipe of the headers but using the trans cooler in the Walker Cobra radiator I can now install the fuel line along the outside of the frame rail away from the heat of the cooler and I can use the mounting holes I made for the cooler to hold the fuel line. Everything takes three tries for me but the Walker Tech guy says the water cooler at the bottom of the radiator should be enough cooling if I don't intend to do any towing. Now for the question. I want to install a B&M #80226 transmission temperature gauge as several of you have suggested. It does seem that the only way I can tell if the cooling is OK is with a gauge but the installation requires a non-flare joint on each end of a T-fixture for the thermocouple. Do those bead-type joints really seal OK without a flare? Should I cut the tubing at a slight angle to let fluid reach the thermocouple but push the tubing all the way in to make butt contact? I may be worrying too much but the joints are really in a tight spot between the frame rail and the starter solenoid so I don/t want to be messing with wrenches in that tight space later on if there is a leak!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder