i bought B&M plate cooler kit 70264 and B&M remote filter 80277 from amazon.com for 56.35 and 25.16 and free shipping. i should have gotten the Perma-cool filter PRM-10678 for $38 from summit because it has 90 degree fittings and it includes 4ft hose which cost me another $12 at local auto parts. the tight design on the b&m filter won't allow 90 deg fittings and not having 90' fittings clutters up the installation.

i also bought a set of 'fuel line disconnect' tools and used the 3/8in size to get the old hoses off w/o having to cut them. where the return hose was crimped to the return line, i cut that crimped connector off with the dremel. someone else recently posted that (good idea). cut the crimp lengthways in several places, then crossways, and you can peel it off without cutting that steel line. i also used my tubing bender to bend the hard lines parallel with the frame in order to route the hoses where i needed them. i used a tubing cutter to cut the flare off the pressure line at the check valve and to cut the return line at the top of the radiator (remove it first). i removed the plastic fender liner to get access to the steel inner fender and bolted the cooler mount to it, bend the lip down where its close to the filter. i marked the location for the zip ties in the ac cooler and gently made a hole in the fins with a screwdriver, then unbolted the ac cooler and gently lifted it out in order to put the zip ties in from the rear. about 1 qt of fluid ran out of the radiator. with the filter and cooler it took about 2 qts to fill it back up. combined with the drain plug in the transmission pan, what i can now do is simply drain the pan and change the external filter easily. because the filter is low, it will probably allow the radiator and external cooler to drain. i will only need to drop the pan to occasionally change the internal filter. it should come from the factory this way. i'm real real slow, this took me all day. edit... routing of hoses is ... pressure line to filter(in), filter(out) to rad(bottom), rad(top) to cooler(top), cooler(bottom) to return line.

 

What do those tools you mentioned cost?
The fuel line disconnect tool?
Pipe bender?

 

plastic 3/8 fuel line disconnect is a little as $5. its really all you need. is just a little split circle tool that circles the line, and then you press it into the disconnect socket, and it spreads the little fingers inside the socket, and then you wiggle it loose. it helps to spray some wd40 into the socket first. you can spend a little more and get a set of multiple sizes.
i bought the fancy aluminum one at autozone for $19.
http://greatnecksaw.com/product_info...ducts_id/91156
here's a cheap one. its all you need.
http://www.autobarn.net/lis37000.html

cheap tubing bender is about $10-15. here's one.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=3755
here's the one i have. it says not recommended for 3/8 steel, but i used it anyway.
http://www.autobarn.net/xxxw-lis44000.html

 

thanks!

 

alright, here's a question for you guys that's been wandering around my head today...

When i install my trans cooler, I'm also going toT in the sender for an electric trans temp gauge. Should it be on the feed or return side of the cooler? From what I've read, the return side is most favored. But it seems to me I want to know what the fluid temp isINSIDE the trans, not the temp of the just-cooled fluid that's going back into the trans. My vote would go towards the feed line to give a better idea of trans temp.

though it would be interesting to see before AND after the trans cooler temps, see how much it really is cooling, but having 2 trans temp gaugeswould bea bit asinine

 

put the temp gauge as close to the trans as you can, possible in the pan, or on the hot line. what you're trying to monitor is trans operating temperature, as high temps here are what burns up the components.

 

If I were doing only the T sending unit, I would put it in the line heading to the trans cooler. I prefer to know what the fluid temp is at it's hottest.

I run two sending units, though not at the moment because my wiring on the pan sending unit got tore off. But when it's hooked back up again, I have a sending unit in the pan, and a sending unit in the front servo port on the trans. This gives me the temp of the fluid in the trans, and the temp of the fluid after it has been cooled. Both sending units are wired to single temp gauge in the cab with a switch to toggle back and forth between the two. I find this the only way you get a true picture of the condition of your trans fluid.

 

I left my stock transmission cooler behind the A/C condensor when I put the new one. It's not hooked up anymore, but I was wondering... Would it be over kill to run the fluid through 2 coolers? So it would go...
1. transmission
2. radiator
3. Stock cooler
4. Auxillary Cooler
5. Transmission

Just playing with the idea, becasue I'm compulsive like that

 

do you happen to have a picture or diagram showing this front servo port on the trans? if i can have the temp sender on the trans itself I won't even bother with T'ing into the line.

 

There is a lot of rumors about the front servo port. Some say that it only has fluid in it in certain gears, and that the reading is not accurate. Others say your only reading the temp out the housing your screwed into. I have run this long enough now that I think it is a very good place to put a sending unit. Once I was able to compare it to the temps I was seeing in the pan, I could tell that it was accurate. The governor port does absolutly have fluid in it all the time, but I know a guy who tried a sending unit in it, and got some readings that didn't seem right. I recently tired it myself for a day too, and got the same results. So I went back to the front servo, and am happy. All that you really need to know is when things are out of the norm, which you come to know just by watching the readings over a period of time.

Heres the ports:

[IMG]local://upfiles/9095/86C64E87420B4BDEAADB72B6C3D0EDF8.jpg[/IMG]