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ACS-TWIN-COOL Auxilliary Cooling System

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Old 03-28-2012, 02:40 PM
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Thumbs up ACS-TWIN-COOL Auxilliary Cooling System

I received my new under tray yesterday as promised. My first thought when I pulled it out of the box and unwrapped it from the bubble wrap was WOW! The tray is very strong and you can feel that when you hold it however it is also light. I will be mounting this tray next week and will be able to report on the fitment and all then. I chose to go with the tray that has 2 coolers with fans on the tray. The coolers are actually bigger than I thought they would be (which is a good thing) and the fans look to be of great quality. The fitment of the fans on the coolers...and coolers then on the tray looks perfect. The fans come pre-wired and ready to go.

Underneath the tray are screens that allow for the coolers to be protected however provide mass amounts of air flow to the coolers. The screens are not tiny screens but in fact they are opened up quite a bit to allow the most air possible to flow to the coolers while the fans are pulling in the air across the coolers.

The tray came with all hoses, clamps and hardware needed to make them work. The coolers can be used for anything such as engine cooling, AT cooling, etc. I will be removing my front mounted tranny cooler from my car to allow more air flow into the front to cool the engine. I will be using both coolers on the tray to replace the cooler I am taking out of the front to cool the AT. I will use them in sequence to allow fresh air to be pulled from underneath the car into the coolers by the fans to cool the AT. By doing this, I not only cool the tranny with cooler air from under the car and across two coolers instead of just one like I have now in front of the car, but I also get to remove the cooler from the front of the car allowing for more air to have easy direct access to my radiator to cool the engine better.

This tray is awesome, seriously. I am excited to install it next week after the motor mounts I bought from Scott as well are installed in the car. Some people have compared this tray to the GTSpec one in other discussions. I would like to add that both the GTSpec and the one from RX8Performance were both weighed. The RX8Perf tray with the 2 coolers and fans is still lighter than the GTSpec one with more functionality as well

Working with Scott and RX8Perf has been a great and easy experience. He always answers back when asked questions and follows up on the product to make sure his customers are happy. I see great things in his products and you can tell he takes his time and puts hard work into them. Definitely looking forward to see what comes next

Here is the link to RX8Performance showing the tray I am speaking of and purchased.
http://www.rx8performance.com/produc...cooling-system

And here is a pic of the tray I received

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Old 03-28-2012, 02:47 PM
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great looking tray.



LOL wait, completely thought you were Highway for a second.... wow, late in the afternoon.

Last edited by Chris; 03-28-2012 at 03:30 PM.
Old 03-28-2012, 02:50 PM
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Have you ever considered the fact that you will run into overcooling issues? Why do you think what you had wasn't working? Are you even sure the transmission fluid will flow properly with all that extra piping?

I can see this working for coolant but it still seems like overkill to use both coolers. Or maybe one for coolant and one for the tranny.

BTW, you are a good little fan boy, I hope Scott doesn't make you look like a jackass.
Old 03-28-2012, 02:58 PM
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Originally Posted by 9krpmrx8
Have you ever considered the fact that you will run into overcooling issues? Why do you think what you had wasn't working? Are you even sure the transmission fluid will flow properly with all that extra piping?

I can see this working for coolant but it still seems like overkill to use both coolers. Or maybe one for coolant and one for the tranny.

BTW, you are a good little fan boy, I hope Scott doesn't make you look like a jackass.
It's called advertising. Look at his pre-love story posts. Completely different grammar, writing style and knowledge. He's just copy\pasting what he's told to.

MT tranny cooler without oil pumps are useless anyway so no, you can't use this cooling system for everything.
Old 03-28-2012, 02:58 PM
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LOL, Scott...its alright bud. I am a big boy will be the first to "eat crow" if that was to happen, but I am positive it wont But thanks man.

The one I have now works fine for cooling my tranny...however you have to consider the space it is taking up in the front and how removing it will allow for better flow into the engine for the engine to cool. By removing it from the front and using the lower ones on the tray to cool the tranny, I get better engine temps and the same, if not better, tranny temps.
Old 03-28-2012, 02:59 PM
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He has an AT. Does the AT have a pump in it? What about a thermostat to bypass these when it's cold out?
Old 03-28-2012, 03:04 PM
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Originally Posted by Highspeed
LOL, Scott...its alright bud. I am a big boy will be the first to "eat crow" if that was to happen, but I am positive it wont But thanks man.

The one I have now works fine for cooling my tranny...however you have to consider the space it is taking up in the front and how removing it will allow for better flow into the engine for the engine to cool. By removing it from the front and using the lower ones on the tray to cool the tranny, I get better engine temps and the same, if not better, tranny temps.
I doubt that little secondary AT cooler is inhibiting flow to the radiator at all. REDRX3RX8 has one mounted on his AT RX-8 and he had no cooling issues on the track. You don't even track your car. Your are still missing the point regarding the amount of extra piping and volume you are adding to your transmission with the addition of two coolers, lines, etc.
Old 03-28-2012, 03:05 PM
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I am being told to say nothing bse50 and I am just writing my thoughts on a product...the same way other members around here do on products they like. No different my friend.

using these coolers Scott is not different than using the cooler that comes in the stock radiator. I have changed nothing going to aftermarket coolers except for the routing of the tubing to the cooler, that is it. Unplugged hoses from stock radiator when I installed the Mishimoto Radiator and ran the hoses to the aftermarket cooler. With this setup will just uninstall the aftermarket cooler I have and run the lines to these coolers. So I only have something to gain, not lose with this
Old 03-28-2012, 03:07 PM
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Scott...I have a MUCH bigger cooler than RED is running. I am not running the one I installed last year...I upgraded to one almost the size of the condenser a couple months ago. When I was running the Texas 8 last year, my tranny got WAY too hot from paddle shifting. You are missing the point...I will be actually shortening the piping by going to coolers underneath the car than from the front
Old 03-28-2012, 03:09 PM
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Originally Posted by Highspeed
I am being told to say nothing bse50 and I am just writing my thoughts on a product...the same way other members around here do on products they like. No different my friend.

using these coolers Scott is not different than using the cooler that comes in the stock radiator. I have changed nothing going to aftermarket coolers except for the routing of the tubing to the cooler, that is it. Unplugged hoses from stock radiator when I installed the Mishimoto Radiator and ran the hoses to the aftermarket cooler. With this setup will just uninstall the aftermarket cooler I have and run the lines to these coolers. So I only have something to gain, not lose with this

Dude .

You are adding about two quarts compacity to your AT system (which it was not designed for). What is going to push that fluid through the system? You do realize the engines coolant is also used to warm the ATF as well right?
Old 03-28-2012, 03:14 PM
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With what you are saying Scott...what pushes it through the coolers we have on them now aftermarket? Mine or REDS? It is no different. And as for the winter...if I need to I can always unplug the fans, very quick and easy to do, for the winter weather. Remember, the AT's had a tranny cooler on the bottom of the stock radiator as well.

We will see how it works but I am positive I will not have any issues with it. Like I said, if I was to have issues, I have no problem admitting when I am wrong and will eat crow if I am wrong.

Now to head to pickup kiddos at school. Have a good afternoon guys
Old 03-28-2012, 03:24 PM
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Originally Posted by Highspeed
With what you are saying Scott...what pushes it through the coolers we have on them now aftermarket? Mine or REDS? It is no different. And as for the winter...if I need to I can always unplug the fans, very quick and easy to do, for the winter weather. Remember, the AT's had a tranny cooler on the bottom of the stock radiator as well.

We will see how it works but I am positive I will not have any issues with it. Like I said, if I was to have issues, I have no problem admitting when I am wrong and will eat crow if I am wrong.

Now to head to pickup kiddos at school. Have a good afternoon guys
Pushing through and extra 1/2 quart (REDRX3's setup) is totally different than pushing through and extra 2 -3 quarts. Unplugging the fans does not negate the fact the the ATF is not flowing through the radiator and not getting warmed up by the coolant. It will still be flowing through your two coolers in cold weather. That should work well to heat up the ATF

All the stock system does is route the ATF through the lower tank of radiator, it's not have a true tranny cooler like you see on other OEM setups.

But hey man, you are positive you have it all figured out so we shall see................
Old 03-28-2012, 05:10 PM
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What you are saying makes no sense. The reason I say this is that ALL I have done is bypass the fluid going through the bottom of the radiator by replacing the radiator with an aftermarket one and adding a tranny cooler. I bypassed NOTHING but that. So please tell me how I am doing any different than what RED is doing by passing it through an external cooler as well...since you seem to think REDS setup works...how is mine not working? By what you are saying, then ALL setups where you add a cooler for the AT since you replace the radiator with an aftermarket one would fail. I ran a external tranny cooler WITHOUT the AT fluid going through the radiator all winter this last year and had 0 issues with it

I think I am ok since I am not living in Antarctica in the winter. yes sir, we shall see but like I said, will always be the first to admit when I am wrong, but I am confident in this product and saying I dont think I will have to admit being wrong on this one.

Thanks for the concern though and the input, always good to bounce thoughts and ideas around. never know when something may come up we dont think about from others
Old 03-28-2012, 05:29 PM
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Oh man.
Old 03-29-2012, 12:14 AM
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sorry for my question, but out of curiosity, those extra coolers are for coolant? i am confused...
i looks nice..those extra coolers are for coolant, as extra from radiator, or for oil?
steven
Old 03-29-2012, 12:32 AM
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Originally Posted by 9krpmrx8
Pushing through and extra 1/2 quart (REDRX3's setup) is totally different than pushing through and extra 2 -3 quarts. Unplugging the fans does not negate the fact the the ATF is not flowing through the radiator and not getting warmed up by the coolant. It will still be flowing through your two coolers in cold weather. That should work well to heat up the ATF

All the stock system does is route the ATF through the lower tank of radiator, it's not have a true tranny cooler like you see on other OEM setups.

But hey man, you are positive you have it all figured out so we shall see................

You do know that the pump doesn't care if it is pumping 1 gallon..or 100..as long as the head doesn't change the pump doesn't care if it pumps 1 gallon 100X or 100 gal once. What will notice the difference is the wear on the tranny for having extra oil to lubricate it before it is worn out. This is why a larger oil capacity is good.

Have you ever actually looked at the amount of heat that a transmission makes during driving? Even is sub zero weather my MT gets above 150 degrees in minutes......

If you are really worried...there are coolers that come with a thermostatic bypass ( like our OEM oil coolers) and thermoactivated fans. If you want I'm sure Scott can help you with that. I do doubt that anyone in the SE US needs to worry about that though
Old 03-29-2012, 09:29 AM
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Scott has told me I could get the thermo he has for the setup. I am not sure I will need it here in Oklahoma.

Halim - These coolers will be used to cool my tranny. I have an external tranny cooler in the front bumper right now but want it gone to free up flow to the radiator. So the tranny fluid will now flow through both these coolers on the tray with the fans pulling fresh cool air through them.
Old 03-29-2012, 09:51 AM
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Originally Posted by dannobre
Have you ever actually looked at the amount of heat that a transmission makes during driving? Even is sub zero weather my MT gets above 150 degrees in minutes......

If you are really worried...there are coolers that come with a thermostatic bypass ( like our OEM oil coolers) and thermoactivated fans. If you want I'm sure Scott can help you with that. I do doubt that anyone in the SE US needs to worry about that though
I have seen temperatures of 150 degrees... Celsius! That's under track use though. The solution isn't a crappy misoriented cooler with a fancy electric fan. A 2gpm electric oil pump and a little 10rows\235mm oil cooler will work way better. You won't even increase the system's capacity by much, roughly 320ml.
This allows the installation the cooler close to the tranny without reducing flow to the oe radiator.(even with a flat underbelly... just add a naca duct).
It is also possible to front mount the oil cooler without taking away much from the radiator's path, just add an intake duct on the lower right side of the front bumper, where the plastic plate ("mouth") restrictor is.
Way better setup, less current draw as a common switch can keep you in charge

All useless stuff for a road setup though, overcooling and possible extra headaches aren't worth the effort (even 210F for a tranny isn't a high temperature by any means). Just switch to a better oil!
I guess some products are good for marketing, others are good for driving.
Old 03-29-2012, 10:06 AM
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Originally Posted by dannobre
You do know that the pump doesn't care if it is pumping 1 gallon..or 100..as long as the head doesn't change the pump doesn't care if it pumps 1 gallon 100X or 100 gal once. What will notice the difference is the wear on the tranny for having extra oil to lubricate it before it is worn out. This is why a larger oil capacity is good.

Have you ever actually looked at the amount of heat that a transmission makes during driving? Even is sub zero weather my MT gets above 150 degrees in minutes......

If you are really worried...there are coolers that come with a thermostatic bypass ( like our OEM oil coolers) and thermoactivated fans. If you want I'm sure Scott can help you with that. I do doubt that anyone in the SE US needs to worry about that though

Yeah but I'm not sure you can compare a 6 speed manual tranny to his 4 port auto tranny. Does the 4port auto tranny use a gear driven oil pump?

My point is that auto transmission failures have not been an issue and is the Scangauge II (I think that is what he is using to monitor temps IIRC) even an accurate way of measuring those transmission temps? Where does it get it's readings from? Is there a factory AT temp sensor?

I'm not doubting the effectiveness of this product, it will definitely cool some fluid. I just don't think anyone really knows what adding all of this will do to the system. I guess if it does have a gear driven pump in the AT then it may not matter how much piping and fluid you add to the system. But I sure hope he accounts for all this and properly installs this stuff. It just seems kind of pointless to use two large coolers to cool the transmission of a 4 port auto that is only daily driven.
Old 03-31-2012, 04:51 PM
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it is pumping a foot or two more than it already pumps to the cooler in the OE radiator, not to the top of Mt. Everest

you are the King of Pointless and overseer for the Land of Irony, not to mention you're going on about something you clearly have no understanding of.
Old 03-31-2012, 11:00 PM
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Originally Posted by bse50
I have seen temperatures of 150 degrees... Celsius! That's under track use though. The solution isn't a crappy misoriented cooler with a fancy electric fan. A 2gpm electric oil pump and a little 10rows\235mm oil cooler will work way better. You won't even increase the system's capacity by much, roughly 320ml.
This allows the installation the cooler close to the tranny without reducing flow to the oe radiator.(even with a flat underbelly... just add a naca duct).
It is also possible to front mount the oil cooler without taking away much from the radiator's path, just add an intake duct on the lower right side of the front bumper, where the plastic plate ("mouth") restrictor is.
Way better setup, less current draw as a common switch can keep you in charge

All useless stuff for a road setup though, overcooling and possible extra headaches aren't worth the effort (even 210F for a tranny isn't a high temperature by any means). Just switch to a better oil!
I guess some products are good for marketing, others are good for driving.
What's wrong with increasing the oil capacity...the more the merrier to a point

If you thought your tranny gets hot...put a temp probe in your diff I have had tranny temps above 300F degrees....and diff temps to 340F+.....not good for either. Even with expensive oil......

Not needed for the street...but if you track hard...you had better come up with something for a diff cooler especially...

Something a little better than a little 10 row cooler as well

Oh...by the way...we were talking about an AT cooler originally by the way You guys are so set on slamming anything Scott that you don't even keep yourself on topic
Old 04-01-2012, 03:57 AM
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Originally Posted by dannobre
What's wrong with increasing the oil capacity...the more the merrier to a point

If you thought your tranny gets hot...put a temp probe in your diff I have had tranny temps above 300F degrees....and diff temps to 340F+.....not good for either. Even with expensive oil......

Not needed for the street...but if you track hard...you had better come up with something for a diff cooler especially...

Something a little better than a little 10 row cooler as well
I'm not against increasing the oil capacity, if it looked that way then i'm sorry (and dumb!).
I saw temperatures of up to 160°c in the transmission, over 170°c in the differential as well (pretty similar to you). I also rebuilt the differential recently and everything was fine though, that little pumpkin is tough!
I don't like the idea of having 2 pumps (16A current draw) active on the car while I run so i opted for a single pump\oil cooler for the most expensive component (tranny) while i try to find a cover for the diff to happily modify "heatsink" style.
Old 04-01-2012, 02:07 PM
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I think this would be cool to run if someone were using a liquid/air intercooler.

my .02
Old 04-01-2012, 10:17 PM
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I will be installing this tray Tuesday night. I have decided to use one cooler for an AT cooler and the other as a secondary AUX cooler Will let everyone know how it goes and what differences I see in temps. I am using a Scangauge so I will be able to read the true temps
Old 04-01-2012, 10:44 PM
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Dannobre is right if some could stop whining and realize the rx8 family only has so many suppliers to choose from. FFS I had to buy an accessport from a loser, I had no choice.
I've purchased from scott then and now, no problems. We are older, grow up move on.


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