• Hello Guest, welcome to the initial stages of our new platform!
    You can find some additional information about where we are in the process of migrating the board and setting up our new software here

    Thank you for being a part of our community!

aw70 cooling lines

lane stradler

lane stradler

Active member
Joined
May 29, 2006
Location
boston
i got 95% of my tranny swap done (and all the other ugliness that reared its head on the way).... then i went to put on the tranny cooling lines that goto the radiator... well, as always, there were problems. it seems the recycled lines i was going to use had some bad threads. i tried to force them on and ended up stripping the first few threads on the compression fitting that is on the radiator. i tried to get a tap/die set to fix it... but, of course, the thread size/spacing i needed doesnt come with the set. i think it requires a m12 x 1.25. i went to fcpgroton and ipd to see how much new lines would cost; but i couldnt find them on their sites.
can any1 verify those thread dimensions? and does any1 know where to get replacement lines and how much they should go for?
please and thank you
 
Last edited:
threads are no longer an issue...
but the recycled coolant lines are leaking.
any 1 wanna buy a pita... i'm so f'n done with this project...
 
ok... i've got some more patience....
i'm thinking i should just buy new materials for the coolant lines. i was thinking about copper and bending/flaring it myself and recycling just the compression bolts at the ends.
would that work? if not what would?
 
do a search for a thread where BDKR showed what he did for his trans cooler. basically cut the ends off the stock hard lines and ran some rubber hoses to a universal cooler, iirc. neat
 
well... braided would have been nice.... but home depot only carries SAE threaded stuff. so i bought some 1/4" bendable copper line, a flare tool, some O rings, and recycled the compression bolts. put the O ring in the compression bolt and then slid the 2 on to the copper line. then hit it with the flare tool. repeat. rinse.
IT F'N WORKED!!!!!!!!!
been a week with out the car. its good to have it back... and now it has a functioning kickdown cable and all new mounts! SOLID.
 
So you replaced both lines with copper? How much line did you end up needing?

I posted a thread a little while back about the fittings, but -5 AN is a pain to find, so I haven't fixed mine yet.
 
i planned on needing at least 6' per each line. i only needed to fix 1 of them. since i wasnt 100% sure of my flaring skills, i rounded up to 10'. i ended up getting type UT 1/4 OD x 20ft in case i needed to do the other one. both 10' and 20' sections can be found at lowes/home depot. lowes had them at almost a buck/ft. i think the 10' was 10 and change and the 20' was 19 and change. then i used size #83 "O" rings. they seemed to be just a smidgen too big for the OD diameter. but i was able to fit them in the compression fitting with the help of a small allen wrench. then i slid both compression and O ring onto the 1/4 OD soft copper tubing. it seems to be holding. i went 90mph and nothing bad happened. but i do wonder how long before the O ring dies.
 
Cool, thanks for the details. From the looks of the puddle under my car, I may have to put one of these together for the short term while I track down a more permanent way to fix it.

Did you just route the line as best you could, or did you just tape or tie it to the other factory line?
 
splat said:
...-5 AN is a pain to find...
Click to expand...

When I was installing a transmission cooler I ran all over the place trying to find 5/16" fittings with no luck. I eventually just gave up and tried 3/8", which actually seems to fit just right. The fitting leaked a little bit until I stuck an o-ring in it, but that may have been because I didn't tighten it enough; I am always terribly afraid of stripping threads.
 
Hmm. Wiki says the threads on -5 and -6 are just a tick off - 1/2-20 vs 9/16-18. So no issues with that size? I may try to find some locally. Did you just use rubber tubing?
 
No issues as far as I can tell. The fittings screw on and off smoothly without mangling the threads. I'm using 3/8" rubber transmission line from Autozone for a couple of short runs at the radiator. It would probably work just fine to replace the whole line, too, as long as the hose is away from the exhaust manifold and held in place so it doesn't shake loose.
 
I took one of the fittings off my blown transmission and dug out a thread gauge - it's definitely -5 AN based on the specs I found (1/2 diameter, 20 thread pitch). I guess I'll take it around soon and see if I can find some sort of barbed fitting that will work. If I can't, I'll punt and go the copper route.
 
Another update:

Bought 1/4" copper today at Home Depot, but could not find o-rings or a flare tool. But someone on another forum linked me here to this - the right fittings, built to order with some pimpy line. Steps down to 1/4" ID tubing, but I don't think that would be an issue.

http://www.mcmaster.com/nav/enter.a...h=&selectfamily=&search=&pagetype=&catnum=114

A little spendy, but within the "F it, I want to be done with it" budget.
 
o rings are near the bath tub replacement parts.
flare tool was alittle over $20 at home depot and lowes and should be near the pipe cutters and plumbers wrenches.
 
Taking the copper back tomorrow. New goodies installed:

lines5.jpg
 
1/2-20. Perfect fit. Only gotcha is that I had to make another "custom" shorty wrench out of a 5/8, these are SAE.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top