|
Hi. Your idea is good, i like it. Your not using your car hard so the transmission should be able to handle the thinner fluid in the summer, winter will be the biggest benefit. However with a 7 mile drive i would say there is no way that this will heat your transmission oil any benificial amount before the end of your 7 mile drive. Farther sure, but not 7 miles in the winter. Your engine first has to heat up, then your valve opens and the engine has to heat all the cold coolant in this secondary system. Then once its warm convection through the wall of the jacket, theough the wall of the transmission to the trans oil has to be higher than the cooling effect that winter air has passing over the jacket your making and the rest of the transmission.
Just imagine a stovetop. Have you ever used a double burner? Just imagine a pot of water thats not boiling- 190f instead of 212. Then 2 thick sheets of aluminum on top of it. Then on top of that a 2-3L pot of oil with 5f wind blowing on it. Its going to take more than the time it takes to drive 7 miles to warm that. It can get warm this way but i think it needs much more time.
The best way i think to do it quickly is to buy a heat exchanger-probably one thats already meant to exchange heat between engine coolant and engine oil- and use it to transfer heat between the coolant and transmission oil with a pump for the transmission. All that stuff is readily available to buy and if the pump quits nothing bad happens. No added weight and minimal coolant capacity added. Quick and more importantly efficient heat transfer. The way you plan to do it i think you will loose a lot of heat to convection to ambient air.
Were you able to take transmission temperature readings before you started this to compare to after?
Looks like your comitted to doing this jacket though, so what about insulation over the jacket to not loose as much heat to ambient?
|