if you own an evo or even just frequent the boards, you know the weak link...

TRANSFER CASES!!!!!

has anyone seen or designed a transfer case cooler and pump for the evo? heat just plain flat out SUCKS for anything metal in a vehicle. pretty simple day one stuff. we find a particular spot or component that has alot of thermal energy going on and then we combat it! we are humans and automotive enthusiasts so we make stuff to fix problems, thats just what we do!

so how come everyone (including me) just keeps WHINING (pun intended) about a problem with no solution? did we all just accept that this is a maintenance item?

NOT ME! my summer project has begun

i will try and find some pics of proven systems that work. i know there are a few from my porsche days that should work well.

 

experience or thoughts?

 

here are a couple components i found that are readily available and not too expensive

 

someone has to have some input?!?!?!

 

hear we go....

BUMP!!!! c'mon guys i want to chat about this!

 

66 views???

c'mon yall can chat about ebay CF lips for months, what about the good stuff???

where are all the bright bulbs at???

 

Okay, I'll start. First off all, why would you think it would be simply an issue of causing premature wear? Could heat really be the root cause of the issue, and if so why is it not affecting the rear differential as well? Personally, I disagree with this notion but don't dismiss it entirely. While heat does cause catastophic failure, it is not the only cause and is often a symptom of another issue.

Food for thought, or simply a general observation. I always noticed the transfer case is far lower in fluid than when I fill it versus the rear which maintains its' level fairly well between fluid changes. My curiousity is where the fluid is going. Having recently disected a transfer case, I find myself scratching my head at this especially when there's no sign of leaking anywhere. I wish I could have had more time to examine this avenue of thought but had to get the car rebuilt on a deadline and didn't have time to really look further into this.

My other curiousity about your proposal is fitment. Where will all of this go? Mind you, our front bumper area is already pretty well packed to begin with, thus adding another cooling unit/radiator will prove interesting. Fitment will either impede airflow to existing components or will be impeded by existing components. How do you propose to overcome this in order for this to work effectively?

 

Not sure of the answer to where to put it. The obvious place is the drivers side but ducting will be tight there.

You might PM Chad Block at CBRD, he's got extensive experience in IMSA where ducting is totally mandatory. His duct for the CBRD oil cooler is effective and placed properly. i would also trust his opinion on the necessity of a TC cooler.

FWIW

Milburn

 

Mattyb,

You wouldn't get critized by me for having such a innovative idea. I give you a lot of credit for sharing your thoughts.

Lets move to the technical aspect though. Transfer case have known to fail for excessive stress due to power/torque and for over heating when left without oil.

I am the first person to raise my hand admiting I destroyed a transfer case by negligently leaving the transfer case with zero oil after a transfer case oil change, that just happened to me a few months ago on my Stealth R/T TT.

Leaving personal experiences aside, ask yourself: does the Evo transfer case fails because of just hot temps or because what I just mentioned earlier( over stress HP/TQ and/or low oil levels).

I am saying, lets see the roots cause of failure before we think of enhancements.

Your turn

Carlos

 

thanks guys for getting the ball rolling here....

to answer some of your question on what or why i was thinking this way...

after reading alot of post on "transfer case" noise , we all know how many of them there are. i started to realize alot of are from ring gear failure. from what i read it is due to tolerance issues. well if you have poor tolerances even after a replacement or rebuild due to flexing that was STILL not be fixed by a 10 mil bolt upgrade, you still have heat.

o.k.... where to put this damn heat exchanger....
i thought a good place to put it of coarse would be up front. like it was stated above, a little sparse on frontal area. i figured the next best place to put it would be flat. laying it flat against the skid plate with proper ducting. or possibly in a front fender well. like most of you know, i work for BMW so i am copying some clever places we have placed heat exchangers.

also i second the mysterious fluid loss. it would also benefit (i would assume) from a reservoir with no cooler and just a pump. like a dry sump set up with say a qrt and a half or so

just so everyone knows i am by NO means a driveline guru! i do have a brain and ideas though if i stated anything wrong or incorrect please advise me so.

felt we were due for an intelligent transfercase thread, i got a little sick of the "there is a whine in the front of my car" "you need a transfercase" threads!

 

I would be interested in a cooling solution like this if it is determined to remedy most transfer case issues. I know someone mentioned asking Chad Block (CBRD) I don't know about a transfer case cooler, but I know he is working on a possible transmission cooler. Either way I am sure he has put some thought into some of the issues you are facing with the tcase cooler.

 

Regarding location - see pic closely! This could be an option perhaps!?! Uber-low cars may smack it right off, I suppose!

 

^^^ yes, good pic and not a bad idea. plumbing it back would be a little long though. still not a bad idea though.

ill try and find pics of an exchanger that is mounted flat though so you all know what im talking about

 

here is a little bit of an idea of an exchanger laying flat. it is a SMG box out of an
E60 M5, the cooler on the right of the box is a hydro cooler not for the trans.

i am trying to find a picture of the under areo parts but am having a hard time.
so if any one has em post em up

 

most TC failures seem to be from incorrect or low fluid, or clutch-dumping diff shattering launches, not heat. so i'm not sure how beneficial this would be. it doesn't seem to be like the 4th gear issue in the 6-speed caused by heat on the road course, their TC's are holding up fine with the heat. until it would be confirmed that heat causes TC problems, when most i see are from the previous reasons stated, i think this is just an unneccessary expense.