DIY Ultimate CVT Cooler with pics

Tobiman

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There might not be any clearance issues with a factory charge pipe. After adding a little more bend to one of the factory hose barbs on my CVT warmer, I ended up with adequate clearance for the PRL charge pipe.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean about running the bypass valve in parallel to the CVT warmer and run my cooling system in series. It sounds you believe the aftermarket cooler could be installed onto the factory hoses that run to the CVT warmer.

Based on this, I'm wondering if you understand the design of the factory CVT warmer block. The two factory lines going into the front of the warmer are carrying engne coolant and not transmission fluid. The warmer block allows heat transfer from the engine coolant to the transmission fluid without mixing the two fluids. To run a transmission cooler you need an adapter that provides outlet and inlet ports for the transmission fluid to flow through. That was the critical piece I used from the ETL kit.

Does that make sense or did I misunderstand the cooler configuration you had in mind?
You are bang on the money. I got carried away and was thinking about the CVT warmer on the WRX. The adapter is indeed needed!
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Are you willing to make a couple of those mounting brackets you made to mount the radiator and ship them for some money? I’m trying to follow this guide but don’t know how I will make the brackets. If it wasn’t hard I’ll just wing it and give it a shot probably
 
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ClintFK7

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Are you willing to make a couple of those mounting brackets you made to mount the radiator and ship them for some money? I’m trying to follow this guide but don’t know how I will make the brackets. If it wasn’t hard I’ll just wing it and give it a shot probably
When I made my brackets I used the lower passenger side bracket from the Sirimoto oil cooler kit as my template and just replicated it for the lower driver side mount for the trans cooler. Unfortunately I didn't take any measurements and can't make another set without removing what's already on the car. The upper bracket I made was a basic L but it was wide and tapered narrower to clear the vertical plastic air dam when going from the radiator support to just behind the grille. This is the best picture I have of all the brackets.

Honda Civic 10th gen DIY Ultimate CVT Cooler with pics PXL_20210827_195233358


If you plan to run the Sirimoto oil cooler kit you will only make the 2 silver brackets for the driver's side of your trans cooler because the center mounting points of the trans cooler will share the center mounting points for the oil cooler. You can make these out of flat bar steel or sheet metal. I used a piece of stainless sheet metal from McMasterCarr that was .06" thick as this was close to the thickness of the Sirimoto brackets. If you are just trying to run this configuration as a stand alone trans cooler you will have to figure out bracket locations and spacing so it will take some patience. The Sirimoto kit really has a unique upper bracket that would be hard to replicatesso your upper center mounting point would just be whatever you can figure up.
 
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It's a good idea by the way.

The license plate could be move a bit higher and may be switch to larger IC Grill and Radiator Grill may be a good idea too ?
 


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Did you add any additional CVT fluid after installing the cooler or are you running the normal amount?
 
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Did you add any additional CVT fluid after installing the cooler or are you running the normal amount?
It needs more fluid given the cooler and lines increase the capacity. I filled the fluid level up to the CVT check plug but I did a fluid change at the same time so I can't tell you exactly how much more it took.
 

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Thanks for the DIY. Used bits and pieces of this information to install my ETL CVT Cooler. Loving it so far! Notice a 20-25°F difference in peak Transmission Temps!

Honda Civic 10th gen DIY Ultimate CVT Cooler with pics IMG_20211126_150205_112


Honda Civic 10th gen DIY Ultimate CVT Cooler with pics IMG_20211126_150205_147


Honda Civic 10th gen DIY Ultimate CVT Cooler with pics IMG_20211126_150205_068


Honda Civic 10th gen DIY Ultimate CVT Cooler with pics IMG_20211126_150205_098


Honda Civic 10th gen DIY Ultimate CVT Cooler with pics IMG_20211126_150205_112


Honda Civic 10th gen DIY Ultimate CVT Cooler with pics IMG_20211126_150205_147
 
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Thanks for the DIY. Used bits and pieces of this information to install my ETL CVT Cooler. Loving it so far! Notice a 20-25°F difference in peak Transmission Temps!

IMG_20211126_150205_112.jpg


IMG_20211126_150205_147.jpg


IMG_20211126_150205_068.jpg


IMG_20211126_150205_098.jpg


IMG_20211126_150205_112.jpg


IMG_20211126_150205_147.jpg
Wow! Nice. I am doing this right now too. I also purchased the ETL kit. Great job!
 


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ClintFK7

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How have you liked the transmission cooler? Amazing install!!
I am very happy with having a transmission cooler. Even after hard pulls on hot days the trans fluid never gets above 180F. The stacked plate cooler I'm using is a lot of cooler for this car. The tube and fin version included in the ETL kit will serve most driving situations. I recommend watching the transmission fluid temps after install as the transmission fluid will not warm up as fast as the engine coolant. I usually make sure my trans fluid is at least 130F before any spirited driving.
 

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The highest CVT temp I've ever seen was 270°F but this was basically track like conditions with prolonged WOT pulls constantly. On some of the most spirited backroads cruises I go on with a group called "Went Fast Didn't Die" I'm used to seeing 220-240°F Temps. So far the absolute highest Temp I've seen so far since installing the CVT cooler is 200°F. This was a situation I would normally easily be at +220°F.

I'll also note that when CVT Temps got that high they took forever to cool back down. It felt like they wouldn't come down unless I completely stopped driving and popped the hood lol. I noticed 200°F CVT Temps drop back down to 180°F just cruising on the highway casually after only a matter of maybe 8-10 minutes. So not only does the CVT cooler help keep peak temperatures down. It helps cool down high Temps while still driving.

So far it's looking like a great upgrade to combat high trans temps. If I ever upgrade it further in the future it would likely just be a bigger core than the one that came with ETL kit. Like the OP of the DIY post did, just having the adapter plate allows you to run virtually any core you wish.
 
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Finished install. Test drive complete. Very happy with this mod. Thanks to all of you for helping.

Honda Civic 10th gen DIY Ultimate CVT Cooler with pics 990071DA-BF30-4BE1-A46B-3A603B566C41


Honda Civic 10th gen DIY Ultimate CVT Cooler with pics 080FDC5E-7FBC-41A6-8E7E-A43CE800DB8C


Honda Civic 10th gen DIY Ultimate CVT Cooler with pics 964BD5C1-06AD-4F95-8AA8-D1231951C47B


Honda Civic 10th gen DIY Ultimate CVT Cooler with pics 44100D74-6555-4807-8F20-6270E59A688A
 
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ClintFK7

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Looking good Sport_Hatch_17_412

For those asking about fluid capacity, I found this chart on the back of my Derale stacked plate transmission cooler box.

Honda Civic 10th gen DIY Ultimate CVT Cooler with pics PXL_20211221_020513570


A 4 pass tube and fin cooler like the ETL holds about 4 ounces of fluid. An additional 6 feet of 3/8" hose to and from the cooler would hold roughly another 5 ounces. In total you might want to add 9 ounces of fluid upon install.

The 19 row stacked plate cooler I'm running holds 12 ounces of fluid plus another 6 ounces for the 7 feet of hose as my grille location required a little more hose length. In total I would need about 18 additional ounces of fluid.

Now when doing transmission fluid changes later, the calculations get a little trickier unless you measure exactly how much fluid came out when you drain it. With no cooler installed the factory fill procedure for refilling to the correct level is to fill until fluid comes out of the CVT check plug with the car sitting level. However, with my cooler behind the grille, it sits higher than the adapter block, which means the fluid in the cooler likely drains back into the transmission, because of gravity, once the engine is turned off. For this reason I add the number of ounces I need for the cooler and hoses after I get everything filled to the check plug level. Otherwise once the fluid fills the lines and cooler, the fluid level in the transmission would be lower than recommended during operation.

However, for a cooler mounted behind the fog light cover portion of the bumper, the cooler sits lower than the adapter block and, because of gravity, the fluid in the cooler likely does not drain back into the transmission when you turn the engine off. For this location the check plug level should be the right amount without needing to add more.

Hope this helps.
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