PWR clone trans coolers.

[vlad01]

Has anyone used one of these PWR clones before?

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/235863747800

These are a fraction of the price and the pics show it looks decent enough. The PWR ones in my opinion are way to expensive now for the universal type like these. I'd be happy paying maybe 100 bucks for one, but not 160 ish for their going price when shopping around. They often sell near $200. They have gone up a lot over the last few years. I am sure I only... "only" paid 92 or something before covid for the exact same one.

I like Aussie made stuff but if it's out of affordability I need to look elsewhere, whether I like it or not.


I'm looking at down sizing from the largest PWR unit I currently have down to this smallest size as I will be repurposing a lot of the hardware from an auto cooler to a PS cooler as the auto is out and a T5 will be going in and I'd rather not leave all the front mods deleted which would be an obvious eyesore, and hit two birds with one bolt and cool the PS fluid a little bit as they are too hot in my opinion and I blame their short life on this excessive heat, considering the way I drive.

Because I do want to try out an under-drive PS pulley, the smallest cooler like this should be perfect. The cooler I have for one is 5/16, not 3/8 and is massive, about 30-40% of the rad size in area at a glance. That's so big that a PS pump and fluid would never get up to a reasonable operating temp.

On the ol red VP this sized cooler was pretty bang on for the PS, I recall it ran by feel at maybe 70-80c but with a normal pulley. It certainly stopped the over expansion of the fluid which always resulted in a "boil over" at the cap that would always make a mess on all other cars I have/had.

[VK_3800]

As a power steering cooler it's probably about ideal, even has mounting provision which is often lacking. As a trans cooler it would be well undersized, much like those cylindrical finned hot rod units (I actually use one of these for a PS cooler, it also adds a bit of capacity).

I'd be surprised if the actual item was quite as pretty as the photos. But really as long as it flows enough and doesn't leak you can't go too far wrong, limited pressure on the return.

[vlad01]

Yeah that's what I am thinking, the return has bugger all pressure drop.

The mounts are the same as the PWR ones, it looks like, the sizing is off by a few mm in the overall width but that could well be for copyright/patent reasons. Not that china cares for that stuff anyway.

Since I have the modified VT front cooler brackets already bolted to the front rad support on the VP with the PWR cooler in mind, installing this will make the job with some minor alterations easy. A lot of other brand coolers don't have mounts as you mentioned. One I found that is popular here in Aus with mounting holes, which I think maybe for our market only, I forget the brand, rail?, they have weird barb sizes, in between the usual of 5/16, 3/8, 1/2 etc... I think 11/16? if that rings a bell. Like why! what oil cooler or trans lines use those weird sizes!

So I have been holding off for ages until I had some money to get the PWR one, but then these came up as a suggested item and I'm very tempted.

[immortality]

I think I have one about that size on our VX for the PS cooler. That is very cheap.

Even Holden finally figured out these things were running hot and they started fitting very rudimentary coolers into the return lines from VT onward.

[vlad01]

The interesting thing is there were those hard line loop coolers as a dealer retrofit kit as far back as the VQ, so they knew well it was beneficial for the PS to have a cooler, but always a cost thing when profit matters. I think as the cars got heavier and with wider tyres, there was more load on the pumps, so in the end they had to fit coolers to the VT and such so to avoid warranty issues too early on.

Juddering steering is almost a given on the VN-VS due to the pump wearing out too fast. And heat is a killer for breaking down the oil film and allowing the fluid to bleed past the vanes and outer cam, that in turn generates more heat due to efficiency loss, add infinitum. Most of the heat is cooled via the rack itself due to it's bulk and large area in good airflow and some heat sunk into the K frame, albeit a limited amount.

If it wasn't for that, the PS fluid would get super hot! The V6 can sink some extra heat into the block and bracket, but only if the fluid is hotter than the engine. So, not a lot of help but along with the rack is the reason it doesn't heat up infinitely hot. The V8 has the larger metal canister which aids a little too, but too hot either way. A cooler def helps and running the pump a bit slower with a larger pulley should help with life span and heat too. Should reduce hp loss too. Any gain is a good gain and they add up with small changes like this.

[immortality]

I had a trans cooler on my VN, fitted it when I went from the factory 14" wheels to some 17" mags from a VT. I also had to tighten the wheel bearings some when I put the bigger wheels on as they rubbed the strut but never had any bearing issues with the smaller wheel/tyre combo so it shows how much extra load is put on the suspension/steering with bigger/wider wheels.

I'm going to try a electric PS pump next on the VT.