I’m trying to get this clarified.

On a 69 Camaro with a turbo 350;

1) The bottom line from the transmission goes to the bottom connection of the radiator and the fluid flows from transmission to the radiator. The top line on the radiator is connected to the top of the transmission and the fluid flows from the radiator to the transmission in this line.

Is that correct?


2) For an installation of a 2004r in place of a turbo 350, you switch the lines at the transmission, the top line from the radiator goes to the bottom of the transmission and the bottom line of the transmission goes to the top of the radiator. The fluid still flows the same direction, into the bottom of the radiator and out of the top.

Is this correct?

i do not know which port on the trans flows in or out (you can probably find that answer using google)
but i do know that you want coolant to flow in the top and out the bottom of the cooler

Anyone else?

This maybe my problem, I ran the car and the transmission temperature climbed up past 175, so I parked her. I have an external filter as BO wanted but I have it on the top line of the radiator, flowing in the wrong direction if you’re right about the return line flowing into the top of the radiator. I’m guessing at this point that I have severely restricted the flow of transmission oil.

I just found from a source that the top line on the 2004r is the pressure out, which I assume is the line that the hot fluid comes out of the transmission at, making the bottom line on the transmission the return line. Correct?

Can anyone else verify which line in the radiator is the incoming hot fluid, (top or bottom)? I was doing a search and someone else said the top line is the return line to transmission, making the bottom line the intake and the top the exit.

I'm sooooooo confused at this point on how I should have this hooked up in my car, soooo frustrating.

How long were you driving it when the trans temp went past 175? Can you get a reading past 175, or is that where the gauge stops?
175 degrees for a transmission isn't very hot at all. I think that's pretty cool.

Well according to Bowtie Overdrives, it shouldn't go past 150; the reading is coming from the pan of the transmission. Something is not setup right or I just need an external cooler. Other than the temp, everything seemed to be working OK, even the converter lock up was working.

Maybe I'm wrong.... I always thought trans temps ran in the high 200's.

i do not know which port on the trans flows in or out (you can probably find that answer using google)
but i do know that you want coolant to flow in the top and out the bottom of the cooler

I think that's backwards - fluid should enter at the bottom and exit the top. (side tank radiator cooler) although I don't think it's terribly critical

i thought that trans should stay near 200* and have always heard something like every 10* above 200 the trans looses 10,000 miles of life? but I could be totaly wrong

I always install the lines bottom in, top out.

175 trans temp is fine, 200+ isn't.

175 trans temp is fine, 200+ isn't.

Alright.... I don't know where I got that then. Maybe I'm thinking oil temp.
:o

Well the only thing I can say is that Bowtie Overdrives says the temperature of the fluid as measured in the bottom of the transmission pan should not go above 150.

Where is the temperature of the transmission fluid usually measured, if the car has a gauge?

Anyone out there who installed a Bowtie Overdrive transmission, what temperatures were you getting?