Transmission Cooler Install
Written By: Harry Stone

Parts list:

Installation:

You asked for it; here it is. The photos aren't the greatest, but neither is my camera. First, jack the front of the car up and place on jack stands. Remove the lower air dam, IIRC, it's held on by 6 10MM bolts, 3 on each side. Then, open the hood and locate the 2 vertical slots in the lower radiator support on the drivers side. That is where the cooler lower studs will go. see pic 1. You will need to flatten a portion of the 2 upper mount brackets on the cooler to allow them to fit flat against the upper radiator support. See pic 2. You should do a trial fit to see how much to flatten. If you don't flatten the brackets, it will still bolt up, but won't lay perfectly flat against the support. Remove the right hand upper bolt from the hood release, see pic 3, and loosen the left hand bolt, enough so the cooler bracket can fit behind the hood release bracket. Slide the cooler studs down into the slots in the lower radiator bracket, see pic 4, and put the upper left cooler bracket behind the hood release bracket, pic 3. Reinstall the bolt in the hood release, ensuring to captivate the cooler bracket. Make sure the bolt goes thru the hole in the cooler bracket. Don't tighten the bolt, with a marking pen or anything that can make an indelible mark, locate the hole in the right bracket for the cooler against the upper radiator support. See pic 5, remove the cooler and lay aside. You will need to drill a hole where you marked the spot on the upper radiator support. If you look at pic 5, you will see 2 holes to the left of the right hand cooler bracket, those are the correct size hole, match the drill bit and drill away, use a centering punch first to make a dent in the support, don't worry if the hole is angled, the bolt will go in straight enough. After the hole is drilled, reinstall the cooler, left bracket under the hood release bracket, and the 2 lower studs in the slots. Reinstall the hood release bracket bolt, and install the 2 stud nuts on the cooler, but don't tighten anything till you get the upper right bolt started. Now tighten all bolts, including the left hand hood release bracket bolt, see pic 4A, and the 2 nuts on the lower studs. Only tighten these to about 12 lb/ft. Now get the shortest of the 2 pipe assemblies, and loosely install on the lower threaded holes on the cooler. The pipe should be routed so it goes under the lower radiator support. See pic 6. Get the other pipe, and loosely install on the upper cooler threaded hole. You don't need any teflon tape, in fact, if you use any, you could cause a leak. At this point, you will need to be under the car, your attention should be where the 2 pipes cross under the radiator support. Pic 7. The 2 pipes may not be exactly together at this point, but you will have to squeeze them together enought so the bracket will go over them, see pic 6A. Install the bracket so the bent end is in front of the radiator support, see pic 8, you will notice there are 2 small holes in the bottom of the radiator support that correspond to the bolt hole ears in the bracket. Using the small bolts that you have with your kit, bolt the bracket to the lower radiator suppport. Snug the bolts, about 10 lb/ft is enough. Now that the pipes are located, go back and tighten the flare nuts on the cooler, don't over tighten these! Now, you will need to disconnect your existing trans cooler hose from the pipe that goes to the radiator. You shouldn't get much fluid out of the line, but you should have a catch container just in case. Using pliers to pinch the hose clamp, slide the clamp away from the pipe and further onto the rubber line. I used the upper line of the 2 from the existing cooler, it was the one that the new line seemed to fit with best. You can reuse the old clamp or buy new clamps. Slide the hose from your new cooler onto the existing pipe and secure it with a clamp, and then slide the existing hose onto the pipe from your new cooler and secure it with a clamp as well. I've heard of people even using 2 clamps per hose, but I don't think it's necessary. Now you will need to notch the lower air dam where the pipe bracket interferes with it. Reinstall the air dam locating the bolt holes on the passenger side, and mark on the air dam where it hits the bracket. I used a dremel with a cutting disc to cut out the offending area of the air dam, but use what you have. I guess you could use a hacksaw if necessary. It make take several tries to get it so the air dam fits properly. See pic 8 again. Once you have it trimmed properly, you will notice you have lost the left hand bolt hole on the air dam. I drilled a new hole near where the old one was, see pic 9, and used one of the small bolts(same as the ones used to bolt the bracket to the lower radiator support). WARNING! the radiator is just in front of this location, make sure the hole you drill is near the rear of the radiator support and you shouldn't have any problem, use your fingers to feel where the old hole was and where the radiator is. Reinstall the air dam and lower the car. Start the engine and, with your foot on the brake, shift the trans thru each gear, stopping at each one for at least 5 seconds, do this twice, returning to park when you are done. Leave the engine running and let the trans warm up. Once warm, in park and with the engine still running, check the trans fluid level. You will need to add fluid. Use a small funnel and a GM approved trans fluid, add enough to get the fluid into the hash area on the stick. Once this is done, you are too. Enjoy your new cooler. Make sure you check for leaks after several days. 

Picture 1	Picture 2	Picture 3
Picture 4	Picture 4A	Picture 5
Picture 6	Picture 6A	Picture 7
Picture 8	Picture 9