Good idea.....or bad?

Loves302Chevy

Loves302Chevy

"One test is worth a thousand expert opinions."
When I put my car (84 Trans Am) back together I will be completely removing the AC.
Would it be a good idea or a bad idea to use the condenser for either an engine oil cooler
or transmission oil cooler?
Since I can't run an increased capacity oil pan, this would give me extra volume.

ac condensor.jpg
 
Are you talking about the used one off the car or the new one in the picture? Can it
be relocated to a different area of the car away from the radiator?

If it's clean inside then you can't go wrong with extra cooling potential.
 
Indycars said:
Are you talking about the used one off the car or the new one in the picture? Can it
be relocated to a different area of the car away from the radiator?
Click to expand...

The original used one. I would use it in its original location in front of the radiator. But it is pretty large.
It might cool too much, especially in the colder months. I will be using an oil cooler thermostat.
I currently have a combo engine oil & transmission fluid cooler mounted where that condenser was.
This was just a thought I had.
I'm was not sure if it could be done, but if I used it to cool engine the oil, it would give me what looks
like to be at least 2 extra quarts.
 
The Hose connections made must be leak proof Mike.
One way is to have AN Aluminum fittings TIG Welded on .

The other method is to use Russel or Earls Tube to AN Fitting adapters.
It uses a Compression wedding band style clamp seal ring.
 
I tried this very idea several years ago and found the condenser too restrictive.

One hose would swell up and leak after driving a few days.

Eventually I just installed a trans cooler and no more problems.

Anecdotal for sure, just sharing my personal experience.

Seemed like a great idea.

Thanks
Randy
 
Thanks, I will have to further inspect the condenser.
The tubes look big enough, but after so many passes, it just might be restrictive.
 
The old style AC Condensors are a simple S- tube layout.
Its like that on my old 1994 Suburban but tubes are slightly flat.
On my 87 C4 Vette its a Basic S-tube layout.
New cars have a similar layout to Auto radiators.
Just my observations.
 
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