Re: ultramatic tranny cooler flow

Posted by Ross On 2014/3/9 6:04:12

Love the car and particularly like the copper and brass accents on the engine. I also have a handmade roadster built from Packard scrap--also running a straight eight and Ultra.

I have never actually measured flow through the cooler lines. That flow is largely dependent on convertor-in pressure which you can look up in the hydraulic charts in your shop manual. The fluid that is pushed out of the convertor by the incoming is what is being sent to the cooler. Convertor pressure is rather low when idling in neutral, but jumps up when you start to accelerate. It drops very low once direct engages. That is controlled by the convertor valve.

Howard is quite correct about the flow path and that all bushings need to have a good fit and be in position. The correct nominal fit all through an Ultra is .003" clearance and the upper limit for good performance is about .006-.007.

The only bushings that have any tendency to walk out of position are the two inside the high range clutch drum, but they are only "active" in H position.

Ah, very important in the overall cooling flow is that the brass spool that bridges between the input shaft and the planetary set be in place. Otherwise all the fluid will just dump out at the planetary.

It seems you have already caught that the adjustment of the selector valve is critical and must be set at 5/16" exposed when in reverse.

Let us see a photo of the manifold setup.