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2002A transmission cooler



For the '02 automatics out there:

I'm trying to add a cooler to my transmission to help combat the 
heat-death of my gearbox. Mine either never existed or was removed when 
the radiator was recored (before my time with the car).

I've got a nice little intercooler off an '86 Volvo and some fittings off 
a Mercedes steering pump... yes, it's a Frankenstein project.

The trouble is where to connect it. My Haynes manual doesn't admit such a
beast ever existed.  I was told over the phone (by a mechanic reading out
of his service manual) that looking at the tidy row of three 17mm plugs
directly abaft the bell-housing and forward of the sump, the drivers-side
plug (which points straight down) and the center plug (which angles toward
the passenger side) should be the two connection points for a stock
cooler. 

Pulling these plugs, it appears that they both join together about 1" 
into the transmission casing, becoming a single passage... Now I'm a 
biologist, not an engineer, but I don't imagine that's going to circulate 
much oil...

Pulling the third (passenger side) plug (also angled toward the passenger
side, parallel to the center plug), it appears to branch up into the
casing and aft, into the sump. This seems a much more likely route for a
return line to me. 

Has anyone done this? Does anyone still have a stock unit (that runs 
through the very expensive 2002A radiator) still connected? Could someone 
suggest a source for this information?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Charlie Wright
'74 2002A