Finally decided to get off my bum and install my Hayden ATF cooler. It is the stacked plate design which imho, is better and more compact than the tube-and-fin design, I got the #676 which is for small cars. The cooler fittings are 3/8" and the kit comes supplied with a length of 3/8" inner dia hydraulic hose, but our stock ATF cooler from the radiator fittings are 5/16", so I had to go to a hydraulic supplies shop in Ubi to buy a metre of 5/16 Parker/Weatherhead/Dana hydraulic hose and hose joiners and elbows with the appropiate size match. The instructions that came with the kit suggest that I mount the cooler by pushing the supplied rods thru my aircon condenser and attaching the end caps... not acceptable as in future the only way of removing the cooler later is by cutting off the rods. So I decided to fabricate mounting brackets of of steel bands with pre-drilled holes.
pic of cooler with brackets installed, hoses and elbows
cooler with the elbows installed
next, to add a little bit more complexity and challenge to the job, I decide to mount the cooler with the front bumper still on the car, so essentially I'll be like trying to install the cooler through the louvers of the front air dam and the gap between the aircon condenser... woohoo, the automotive equivalent of performing heart bypass surgery through your belly button :blackeye: ok! ok! The truth, actually I was unable to remove the front bumper as I've rounded the small plastic screws of the front splash guard, so I decided to leave the front bumper on.
there...prove that the front bumper is still on the car
finally after an hour of wrangling and wrenching, I finally got the cooler in place
and here's how it looks like from the front airdam
then disconnect the stock ATF cooler
return line, reroute it to the new cooler and then back to the gearbox. That means I'm adding the Hayden as additional cooling after the stock cooler in the radiator... this is also what the instructions suggest. Apologies as I do have any pictures of the process of connecting the hoses as; 1) I was on a roll, 2) hard to take pics when your hands are covered with ATF, 3) the sky is getting dark...
I've wrapped small pieces of paper kitchen towels around the hose joints to provide warning of any leaks, so far so good, no leaks...will remove the paper towels after a week. Next check the ATF level, I guess the cooler I chose is small, so there's not much drop the level of the ATF so I did not bother to topup. Car feels the same, no lag in shifting, will replace the old ATF with fresh ATF soon.
The aftermath... due to my clumsiness, got a few bent fins on my aircon condenser, some tiny scratches on my front bumper to match the numerous stone chips and about 5 or 6 tiny nicks and cuts on my grubby hands and fingers. Overall it is still a satisfying DIY, knowing that I did a somewhat decent job by myself, but I would not want to go through the hassle again ....especially trying to do it with the front bumper still attached. If I were to do it again, I'll gladly pay a workshop $50 to install it. :P
if you managed to make it to the end of this post without falling asleep...I thank you for your patience... :salute: