small little update. managed to get the 70268 B&M cooler kit installed:
i was using this how to guide as a good piece of info for what to expect:
B&M 70268 SuperCooler Transmission Cooler Install on a 3rd Gen
Its a great guide, but here are a couple of tips on where i deviated from it:
-i can get goodyear 250 psi hose at cost so that is what i went with. i bought 5 feet of 3/8" ID hose, but you need 6' to do the feed and the return line. i ended up using the good year stuff for the feed line, and what came in the kit as the return line. the good year hose is MUCH nicer than whatever is in the kit. i will keep an eye on the return line, but as soon as it gives me any issue, its coming out and being replaced with the better good year stuff.
-the soft hoses that go to the hardline on top of the front subframe are an absolute PITA to get off. heat cycling through out the years make this stuff damn near impossible to get off; you arent going to pull it off. it being in such a cramped place doesnt help either when you are trying to cut the hose off. i ended up finding a razor blade with a hook on it and that eventually cut off the soft line. im not sure what this type of razor blade is used for, but if you google 'razor blade with hook', you will see what i am talking about.
-the zipties that come in the kit are super aggressive. you only want to be running this through your radiator one time. we were originally going to feed it through the front to use as a 'guide' so i could feed it back through in the same way the guide linked above does. the problem is once you feed it through the front, we noticed it was chewing up the rad fins pretty good. so we just installed the zip ties this way.
-i recommend you mount the cooler FIRST and get your lines all setup. it was abundantly clear that once i had everything in front of me and the grill off, the cooler needed to go in first and then route the lines. we chose this way of install because it allowed us to ensure the cooler would fit with the lines on, and we got all of the hose routing done once the cooler was installed. this basically made it so once it was time to unplug the hard lines and pop the new ones in, the hardlines would only be exposed for a minute or two, minimizing the potential ATF spillage and keeping the mess down to a minimum.
-the good year hose and the hose in the kit i used would not go on for the hardlines. it would get right past the nipple and stop. i had to use a heat gun to persuade it to go on all the way. if you use this hose, you will need a heat gun to get the hose real hot and expand. once its hot, wrap it in a rag and get it pushed onto the hardline ASAP. the hose cools down fairly quickly and even when its warm, its not hot enough to get it on the hard line all the way.
-i didnt replace my radiator because it looked fine although i have no idea how old it is. at 240k, i want zero chance of pink milkshake, so i just capped the radiator trans cooler lines all together. im surprised people install these and still loop through the radiator; which IMO is the main reason to do this swap and eliminate the possibility of pink milkshake all together.
also went up to the snow yesterday:
my resistors from euro land came in last week. although there is just one problem. they are way too small. there is no way i am going to be plugging this into the airbag clip. so much for not cutting off that clip. i dont think we are going to want to try to soldier this in the car, so i will likely have to make a harness with a resistor on it and connect with spade connectors or something. i have 2 1 ohm resistors and im not sure if they will fit in the slots together, much less stay in there. i might try that before committing to cut off the clip.