Alright just adding some info for the community, but recently it was mentioned by a forum member in the classifieds that even though the dimensions of the Automatic trans cooler and the factory R1 passenger oil cooler are the same, the internals are a little different.

Now I have heard of people using the auto cooler with no problems after getting new fittings but this was the first time I had heard anything to the contrary. Being in the midst of a build myself I just happen to have 5 coolers sitting around so I thought I'd follow up.

It seems that the passage holes into the cooler itself do seem to be a huge difference between the two as the following pictures will show.

So let's discuss....

cheers

Side by Side of passenger oil cooler and auto trans cooler



Side by Side of thermostats (look identical but I haven't tested temp operations)



R1 oil cooler passage



Automatic Trans cooler passage

 

so in other words.

The auto cooler is a no go?

 

not necessarily..

2 is still better than 1, but if you decide to add a passenger one, you might as well do it right the first time around.

 

Agreed. The R1 coolers are available, brackets can be purchased from Ray if they are hard to find. Bolts up as designed...too easy.

 

Nice info there Are the pictures still working for you? I cant see any of them...

 

I would guess that using the auto cooler would severely restrict the oil flow which is not good.

Pics are working fine for me....anyone else having trouble? Maybe copy the pic location and open in new window?

 

I'm not familiar with either cooler. Are the passages in a position that the holes can be drilled out to match the oil cooler size?

 

As can be seen in the pictures, the oil passage holes are substantially smaller in the AT cooler than the oil cooler, (it's the holes on the left side of the bottom pictures in the first post, the holes straight ahead are for the thermostat) one would have to drill through the welded on plugs in the cooler body to get to where the oil passage holes are, drill them bigger, weld on new plugs and then clean the cooler so that any bits of aluminum don't find their way into the engine. One could put an additional in line oil filter on the return line, but honestly, even if you have a welder for aluminum, with all work involved and the potential risks for engine failure, it's not worth it. Just be sure you have a R1 cooler and not a AT cooler.

 

Seeing that it's totally not worth doing. ALL your oil for the engine passes through the cooler, with that big of a restriction you have a potential for a pressure drop at high RPM, and that isn't good for anything.

Dale

 

Very good info, I was going to go with the tran cooler route, gonna ditch that idea and use my spare driver side cooler instead.