Stillen 7AT coolers installed?

[wstar]

Anyone installed the Stillen 7AT cooler yet? Mine's sitting the garage now, will probably attempt it either Sunday or sometime next week. Just wondering about install gotchas.

The big thing I'm concerned about is that they recommend pre-filling the cooler to avoid having to top off the 7AT itself after install (which is a dealer-only thing due to needing CONSULT-III to accurately check fluid temp ). This leaves me wondering (a) does air in the new cooler lines matter, should I pre-fill them as well, or is that just not enough to matter? and (b) is it going to be feasible to disconnect the existing 7AT->Radiator line and hook up the hoses to the Stillen cooler without pouring a bunch of AT fluid out in the process? Very quickly stab some kind of temporary cap over the ends?

[wstar]

Made an attempt on Sunday, but backed out halfway through the process. Stillen's kit ships 3/8" ID lines (and 3/8 clampless barbs -> 6AN -> M22x1.5 fitting harware for the Setrab side), but the metal pipes on the car side they slip over (one on the radiator, one hard line from the transmission) are clearly 5/16" OD. Without clamps, this combination leaks fluid. I have no doubt I could squeeze clamps on it and make it stop leaking for the moment, but it doesn't seem like a very safe idea for hot transmission fluid of varying pressure. Pipe O.D. and Hose I.D. are supposed to match for clamps/beads/barbs/etc to do their jobs properly.

I sent an email to Stillen a couple days ago asking for clarification on whether I had the right parts, and/or whether the car they designed/tested this kit on had different fitting sizes than mine. No response. Sent a reminder followup today.

What would you do? Is it possible the fluid flow to the cooler is so well-regulated and low-pressure that clamping 3/8 down onto 5/16 is a non-issue? I checked over at summitracing.com, and I could piece together the right adapters from there to make their kit work with 5/16" transmission fluid hose.

[advan37]

I also ordered a Transmission oil cooler from Z1 for my 5AT and i wonder how the installing will be , will see soon.

[wstar]

As far as the rest of the kit goes, my primary complaint was that the holes on the mounting bracket aren't quite large enough diameter for the shipped self-drilling screws (the self-drilling is for the radiator core support lower shelf). You can sit there and drill through the bracket with the screws before you install it, but it just dulls them and takes forever. Far easier to drill them to 1/4" diameter with a proper drill bit, which makes me wonder why they didn't do this in the first place.

With two sets of hands (two guys crammed under the front of the car on Rhino Ramps), it's possible to pre-fill the cooler and new hoses, cap them temporarily with a couple of junk bolts of correct diameter, and then do the hose swaps with minimal fluid loss.

I'm likely to switch to 5/16" hardware/hoses unless I hear something different/better out of Stillen. If I end up going that route, seems like I would have been better off financially making my own bracket (a peice of steel with 7 holes drilled in the correct spots would do) and buying my own Setrab and hardware though, than buying Stillen's kit.

I don't mind paying someone to put together a ready-to-go kit and save me some trouble, but if I have to re-drill the bracket, abort the process wasting a whole day when I find out the hoses don't fit right, and then replace most of the fittings and hose they sent anyways, what was the point?

[wstar]

FYI, the parts I'm looking at on summitracing.com are:

2x AER-FBM2978 - Aeroquip 90 degree swivel -6AN F-to-F
2x AEI-15635 - Aeromotive -6AN Male to 5/16" hose barb

^ Those, combined, would replace the -6AN Female to 3/8" clampless barb 90 degree fittings Stillen ships. Then you just need ~6-7 ft of good 5/16" SAE J1019 rated transmission cooler hose (NAPA Auto Parts has this by the foot in my area, so does O'Reilly, they both seem to stock Gates brand too, which is good), and 2 more worm drive clamps (to go with the 2 they already shipped).

[11Thumper]

Needed for track use? I guess spirited driving with the 7AT is cool, but if you wanted a track car why not 6MT?

FYI, my car is 7AT too.

[370z owner]

i have the stillen trans cooler installed. however i also have the CSF radiator installed. so in total i have two trans coolers. i also had concerns about topping of my trans oil however i wasnt going to waste 500 on a change as the dealer told me that the Z's come with super long lasting trans oil. so far the cooler works great and i feel it by not having any lag time in between shifting. Also the CFS radiator works great and my A/C is super cold.

[advan37]

What is the size of Stillen trans cooler ? is it 13 row?
Main will be 19 rows serious 1.

[wstar]

Originally Posted by 11Thumper

Needed for track use? I guess spirited driving with the 7AT is cool, but if you wanted a track car why not 6MT?

FYI, my car is 7AT too.

Kind of off-topic and it's already been beat to death elsewhere. The 6MT is known to be superior for tracking driving, but my car is mixed-use over the long term and it was my decision. I still think it will be quite trackable in M-mode.

Originally Posted by 370z owner

i have the stillen trans cooler installed. however i also have the CSF radiator installed. so in total i have two trans coolers. i also had concerns about topping of my trans oil however i wasnt going to waste 500 on a change as the dealer told me that the Z's come with super long lasting trans oil. so far the cooler works great and i feel it by not having any lag time in between shifting. Also the CFS radiator works great and my A/C is super cold.

The stock radiator has a trans cooler inside it like the CSF unit as well. It wasn't too hard the first time around to prevent losing any serious amount of fluid during the hose-swapping process, but as mentioned above I had to back out to sort out this hose diameter issue. Hopefully the second time around it will be relatively spill-free as well.

Did you do the Stillen AT cooler install yourself, or was it a shop? Any idea if they saw a hose/tube size mismatch, and/or how they dealt (or didn't) with it?

Originally Posted by advan37

What is the size of Stillen trans cooler ? is it 13 row?
Main will be 19 rows serious 1.

The Stillen kit ships Setrab's 19-row Series 1, which is much smaller than Stillen's engine oil cooler uses. It looks sufficient enough to be helpful though, and if I need more down the road I could always swap coolers while keeping the same lines and fittings.

In other news, still no response to my two emails to Stillen. Between this and the ******** I put up with over their ill-fitting first-generation catback a couple of years ago, Stillen's pretty much on my ****-list as a vendor now.

[wstar]

Finished installing my cooler, so far so good on the 5/16" setup.

[Wonka2581]

Subd, any updates??

[wstar]

Ancient thread resurrected!

I recently upgraded the Setrab to a 19-row Series-6, as my track sessions have gotten more abusive over time and I've needed more cooling for the fluid. Still on the same lines/fittings as before (which are smaller than the ones stillen ships). Still working fine.

[Nut_N_Much]

Originally Posted by wstar

Ancient thread resurrected!

Yep, it's the only one of its kind. I used it... You are a 7AT hero ..

[Orestp]

Originally Posted by wstar

Ancient thread resurrected!

I recently upgraded the Setrab to a 19-row Series-6, as my track sessions have gotten more abusive over time and I've needed more cooling for the fluid. Still on the same lines/fittings as before (which are smaller than the ones stillen ships). Still working fine.

I bought an AT cooler from GTM and had a similar issue - the hose and fitting that came with the kit (3/8") did not fit well when connecting to the hard line coming off the tranny - leaked even with 2 clamps on the hose - then I switched to 5/16 fitting and hose and all is good - but I'm suspicious why the kit didn't come with the correct size hose and fittings - I feel like I must have missed something??? But in any case - it all works fine with the 5/16th hose and fittings.

[markesc]

***Questions***

Okay so about to pull the trigger on the Stillen Cooler:

https://www.stillen.com/nissan-370z-...ooler-kit.html

Do I really need:

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/a...2978/overview/

+

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/aei-15635

and is this the right hoze (fake laugh):

https://www.amazon.com/Gates-27056-T.../dp/B000CRBQ9U

or is there a consensus that the dealer can simply use the kit alone?

I only ask as I'll be wimping out and having the stealership install, and would like to supply exactly what they need to make everything go on smoothly.

I'm on a "remanufactured" 7AT now with only 56k miles on my car, so hopefully this provides some real/actual longterm insurance (until I can get a recession special ZL-1 Camaro that some poor bastard went through a divorce and has to fire sale: "she took everything maaaannnn" <--- suckers/I'm never getting married haha).

Thanks everyone for your help, these forums have been GOLD!