AOD Cooler line kit

[Steve McMahan]

I’m hoping someone who made the AOD conversion can recommend a line kit. I’ve looked at the offerings on Amazon and in most cases, they are universal, and there always seems to be some question if they work on the AOD, leak, etc.

What I’m looking for is a kit to connect with a straight connector to the transmission, a hose with a 90 degree turn, and long enough to connect directly to my cooler on the passenger side. I’m not using the radiator cooler. The car is in western AZ, no issue with it being too cold, ever. I don’t need fittings for the other end as I’m connecting them to the cooler hose fittings.

If someone has something they’ve used, please let me know. Thanks, Steve.

 

[Bill73Ragtop]

When I built my 69 vert - I installed an AOD - Classic Tube made me a set of SS tranmission lines that fit very well. https://classictube.com/
You might want to give them a call and ask.

 

[Mister 4x4]

I had purchased an Inline Tube kit for my FMX when I lucked into my [almost] free AOD. It came with about 8-10" of its cooling lines still attached, so I cut the FMX lines off within an inch of where the AOD lines ended, bubble flared the ends of both lines, and bridged the gap with some high pressure fuel injection line using worm drive hose clamps. Unfortunately, the rubber hoses gave up after 8 years, and I scored some silicon hose to replace the rubber pieces. That set-up works like a champ since the transmission cooling lines aren't under high pressure (just gotta use the right hose material to join 'em up).

 

[Steve McMahan]

My cooler is on the passenger side. All of the AOD line kits I’ve seen go to the radiator cooler. I want to run lines straight to the front, route where the battery use to be, past the core support, to the cooler that’s already mounted. I’m hoping to find a flex hose set that will allow me to do that, without having to buy one of those universal kits (which have questionable reviews). I tried the folks at In-Line since I have their fuel line, but the AOD stuff, it’s just all stock lines, and they don’t have a flex line kit for the AOD. I’ll try the Classic Tube folks. Thanks,

 

[Don C]

Make your own with nicopp (nickel-copper) tubing. Easy to bend, easy to cut, easy to flare, and looks good, more like nickel than copper., and will never corrode. Be easier to make your own than try to modify and rebend pre-bent tubing. If you want flexible all the way, get Earl's hose and fittings (or save a few bucks and get Summit's).

 

[Steve McMahan]

I haven’t had great luck with the copper clad tubing. So, I’m going to go all hose. I think i’ll call Earl’s and order the pieces I need to get from the transmission. What I need is the adapter/fittings that connects to the trans, and two 90 degree fittings from the adapters to a barb 3/8” line. I can run trans hose from there to the cooler. Thanks.

 

[Don C]

Nicopp is not a copper clad tubing, it is an alloy.

 

[mrgmhale]

When I swapped out my 73 Mustang C4 for an AOD we used Nickel-copper line (in a coil pack), a tubing bender, and a double flare tool to make our own cooling lines, which lead to an external transmission cooler, not the factory radiator cooling tank. It worked perfectly. The Copper-Nickel metal is not the same as copper tuning. It can handle the higher pressures form various hydraulic systems, and is easy to bend and flare/double flare.

I video recorded the entire AOD transplant, and posted a few YouTube videos on the project. The one video showing how we did the cooling line fabrication and installation is in the following video link, beginning at 07:31 minutes:secomds into the video, and ending at 15:34 into the video:



You can purchase pre-bent transmission cooling lines, but they are bent to fit the radiator cooling tank, not bent for an external cooler. When you use a rubber line for the external transmission cooler it is important that you use only a high pressure rubber hydraulic hose. The kits I have purchased always included the proper hose. But, if you have to get additional rubber hose material be sure it is for high pressure hydraulic use, not vacuum or fuel line hose (although high pressure fuel hose made for use with fuel injection systems ought to be fine as they can handle higher pressure than a non-fuel injection fuel pump delivers.

I have additional AOD related videos re: the transplant we did on our 73 Mach 1. Just search inside my YouTube channel, or read the attached file, or simply look at the following links:

















https://youtu.be/XZ7CkcY1vFQ



https://youtu.be/vdR-z3KV0UE



https://youtu.be/YCBBgd-olQ0



https://youtu.be/NcYr68atRjM



https://youtu.be/iFNXTGXNNcQ



https://youtu.be/2tTwnbcZZkY



https://youtu.be/8QncIKQTvNo



https://youtu.be/b4lnPReGWuM



https://youtu.be/zfYe--Gsjdk

 

[Steve McMahan]

I’m going to buy these parts and run hydraulic hose to the cooler. I believe this will do the job.

 

[Bobby]

Having been unable to find a stainless braided hose kit that would actually work, I as well went the copper-nickel route (5/16) for my AOD conversion. The only issues was finding the right connectors. I recycled the connectors on the radiator and was able to find the proper connectors on eBay for the transmission since the original ones were chewed up. Looked as though someone had used a pair of vice grips on them. I double flared the tranny line termination and single flared the radiator termination. The copper-nickel line is easy to bend and shape.

 

[detritusmaximus]

I thought the radiator coolers were more efficient at thermal transfer than a standalone cooler? I know a separate cooler is helpful, but the radiator cooler does the majority of the cooling?
How big is your cooler?

 

[detritusmaximus]

By the way, I've found John Henry Foster is a good source for fittings and knowledge. If you can't find it, they may have it.

https://www.jhf.com/products/

 

[Steve McMahan]

I’ve already bought the trans fittings. I’ve found a great local hydraulic hose company in the AZ town where my car it at. He’s going to make my hoses with 90 degree 6an fittings that I’ll be able to attach to my cooler. He made me a custom power steering hose and will be using the traditional hydraulic hose used for heavy duty pressure applications (he’s using the lowest pressure hose he has, and that is still 50 times more than is needed). Thanks for the advice.