I decided to go with a B&M cooler. I picked this one up at summit for about 50 bucks. 5.75" X 11" X .75". It came with 5ft of hose and a whole bag full of hardware. Most of which, I didn't need. I did, however, end up needing an additional 5 ft of hose, which I found at Napa. If you are setting up a cooler, make sure you use transmission fluid hose. Not heater hose. After reading Slosurfer's thread, I decided to mount it right behind the grill. As you can see, it will get maximum air flow while driving. The fan will also pull air through it at stop lights.











Instead of mounting it on its side, I chose to mount it with the barbs facing down. It just seemed to fit easier this way. I drilled an additional hole between the two existing holes on the cooler (bottom right) and used a pre-existing bolt to tighten 'er down.






On the top, I used the mounting brackets included in the kit. I used tin snips to make room for the grill.






Here you can see where I did a very mild grind on the grill to make room.






Top view: There is about 1/4" of clearance between the grill and the cooler.







Done.. You can barely see it back there.




Plumbing:
On the 3vze-auto, the bottom of the radiator is used as a transmission cooler. You want to make sure your fluid is running through the stock cooler first, and then the aftermarket cooler. The passenger-side barb on the bottom of the radiator is the return line. Plumb from there to your aftermarket cooler, then from the aftermarket cooler to the hard line that goes back to the tranny.

 

good stuff. if I ever do one on mine, i'll use this as the instructions

 

Looks good....."slosurfer" style

 

nice job, looks good. I did the same thing fabed up mounting brackets when in I installed mine, It seemed that it was it was more secure that way and it was the only way i could fanagle it in the grill. Definitely a mod worth doing!

 

Yeah that's one of the good low pressure drop coolers. Nice job.

BTW is that Hillary in your avatar now?

 

Does anyone here have problem with the trans heat light coming on when driving far on the highway? I have a 1st gen V6 and have considered doing this. Also is ther ea trans fluid dipstick....I found what i thought was it up front on the drivers side but it refuses to come out.

 

Why, yes it is..



Yes, it is right next to your oil dipstick. There is a little latch that holds it in. You have to hold it back to remove the dipstick.

 

1 of the very reasons i like manual trannys. Clutches are cheap and if you know how to drive,you'll very seldom put 1 in

 

Update:
The cooler has made a noticeable improvement in the way my tranny operates. Before the install, the tranny was having some heat issues. My A/T light has never come on. However, on hot days the torque converter would lock up prematurely in 3rd gear to cut back on heat.

Since my cooler install, I have not experienced this premature lock up. IMHO, this mod is a must-do for us auto tranny guys. I believe that it will extend the life of your transmission significantly.