(DONE) Adding the Performance Package Trans cooler to a non-PP car

[nitepjony]

Update: I got it in! After 5 (painful) hours of work I got the cooler in place. While it definitely is possible, it is a huge PITA. Here are some things to keep in mind:
1. If possible, do this on the lift, 90% of the work will be done under the car
2. For easier work, you will have to remove one of the undertrays.
3. When removing the old line, the side held in by the retaining clip will need to be removed with the nut in the transmission, this nut is connected to the piping, you will need to use a socket and hammer to disconnect the pipe from the nut, and hammer the nut onto the new pipe.
4. To access the HB2 bolts holding the other side of the line, the O2 sensor connected to the Catalytic converter will have to be removed, use a 22mm wrench.
5. To get the lines in place, you will need to use a wrench to remove the pipe from the thermostat, and install the cooler lines in 3 pieces (remember which line goes where on the thermostat)
6. You will need to move around the starter lines to get the brackets to fit onto the engine mount studs. (I was only able to get one bolt on, but the lines felt sturdy enough so I didn't put the 2nd bolt)
7. There isn't that much spillage, but you will spill a few ounces of ATF.

While possible, unless you really want to do it, I wouldn't recommend it. This install was a huge hassle. I got to drive my car around and did notice the temps did get lower, however I didn't push the car too far, will do further testing and update the doc with the rest of the instructions.

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[nitepjony]

Little update, Ive been cruising around for a couple of days, the transmission does indeed run a few degrees cooler, but I haven't had the opportunity to get the trans hot and test it. Below a certain temperature the transmission will act as if it doesn't have the extra cooler up front cause of the thermostat, I have no idea what the thermostat is set to. So I wont be able to see the full potential of this cooling system unless I get it up to a higher temp where the thermostat opens, Ill try some more testing and post my results.

 

[nitepjony]

So it’s been a couple weeks since I’ve installed my trans cooler and I’m ready to give my final thoughts.

1. Does it work, yes the cooler actually works well, driving in 90 degree heat with traffic my transmission would 100% have gotten to temperatures around 210F, and after some rough driving It would rise to 220 very quickly. After adding the trans cooler my traffic temps never went past 190F, during heavy use I’ve seen it go to 202 and the temperature recovery is amazing due to the new cooler being directly in the heat exchange.

2. Cost, this was very expensive, the cooler was around 300 bucks and then the accessories and cooler lines were 500 bucks. So a total of around 800 bucks. Could I have gotten a universal kit and adapted it to work with my car? Yes, but I honestly wouldn’t know where to start, especially with connecting the lines to the transmission and actually mounting the cooler. The OEM cooler works fantastic, despite being a pain to install (will touch on this next), I do hope some companies make a kit for non-PP cars or a kit to upgrade PP cars with larger heat exchangers if needed to heavily tracked cars.

3. Ease of Install, only good thing I can say is that it is 100% possible, and all the mounting spots and threads are there. For everything else, it’s horrible. That’s just my opinion cause I had to do this job on a cold concrete floor on jack stands with barely any room under the car to work with (seriously I should’ve gotten higher lift jacks and a crawler it would have saved me tons of scratches, cuts, and sore muscles). I also did have to account for some time spent figuring things out or just genuine struggles. My main 3 being getting the flare nut out of the old transmission line (socket and a hammer is what worked out for me, and just hammer the nut onto the new line), getting the bracket to fit and not get caught or stopped by starter wires, and getting the lines in their correct spot (ended up having to separate the lines from the thermostat and reinstall them afterwards).

4. Final Thoughts, If you have the tools, time, money, and skill. Go for it, it works amazing, I for one will never do this again and would have rather just paid a shop to do this. Ima give this mod a 6/10, works great but the biggest and first pain in my ass for 2026

5. Future Plans, I do plan to add a lot of the PP amenities to my car so I can have more fun and abuse it without dealing with temp issues. So my next project (not until a while lol) will be an oil cooler, and yes I know the oil temp gauge is inferred so I will be installing a real oil temp sensor and disabling temp related limp mode if possible via my tuner or just wait and see cause I do know some members on this threads are working with tuners to get the PP oil temp algorithm working on non-PP cars.

6. Got any questions? Reply to me on this thread or just DM me and I’ll help you out with anything related to this project whether I’d be buying parts or getting help on a specific step or process (though a lot of the information you need may be in my doc already, check the first message!!) Hope everyone here does well and has a joyful 2026!

 

[Bullit69]

So it’s been a couple weeks since I’ve installed my trans cooler and I’m ready to give my final thoughts.

1. Does it work, yes the cooler actually works well, driving in 90 degree heat with traffic my transmission would 100% have gotten to temperatures around 210F, and after some rough driving It would rise to 220 very quickly. After adding the trans cooler my traffic temps never went past 190F, during heavy use I’ve seen it go to 202 and the temperature recovery is amazing due to the new cooler being directly in the heat exchange.

2. Cost, this was very expensive, the cooler was around 300 bucks and then the accessories and cooler lines were 500 bucks. So a total of around 800 bucks. Could I have gotten a universal kit and adapted it to work with my car? Yes, but I honestly wouldn’t know where to start, especially with connecting the lines to the transmission and actually mounting the cooler. The OEM cooler works fantastic, despite being a pain to install (will touch on this next), I do hope some companies make a kit for non-PP cars or a kit to upgrade PP cars with larger heat exchangers if needed to heavily tracked cars.

3. Ease of Install, only good thing I can say is that it is 100% possible, and all the mounting spots and threads are there. For everything else, it’s horrible. That’s just my opinion cause I had to do this job on a cold concrete floor on jack stands with barely any room under the car to work with (seriously I should’ve gotten higher lift jacks and a crawler it would have saved me tons of scratches, cuts, and sore muscles). I also did have to account for some time spent figuring things out or just genuine struggles. My main 3 being getting the flare nut out of the old transmission line (socket and a hammer is what worked out for me, and just hammer the nut onto the new line), getting the bracket to fit and not get caught or stopped by starter wires, and getting the lines in their correct spot (ended up having to separate the lines from the thermostat and reinstall them afterwards).

4. Final Thoughts, If you have the tools, time, money, and skill. Go for it, it works amazing, I for one will never do this again and would have rather just paid a shop to do this. Ima give this mod a 6/10, works great but the biggest and first pain in my ass for 2026

5. Future Plans, I do plan to add a lot of the PP amenities to my car so I can have more fun and abuse it without dealing with temp issues. So my next project (not until a while lol) will be an oil cooler, and yes I know the oil temp gauge is inferred so I will be installing a real oil temp sensor and disabling temp related limp mode if possible via my tuner or just wait and see cause I do know some members on this threads are working with tuners to get the PP oil temp algorithm working on non-PP cars.

6. Got any questions? Reply to me on this thread or just DM me and I’ll help you out with anything related to this project whether I’d be buying parts or getting help on a specific step or process (though a lot of the information you need may be in my doc already, check the first message!!) Hope everyone here does well and has a joyful 2026!

I’ve been wanting to pull the triggger on this setup, however I have a few items fighting for real estate. I have a Moshimoto Raditor and the Roush Radiator, do you think the trans cooler would fit. Seems like it’s pretty tight from the pics you provided.
Appreciate any insight.

 

[nitepjony]

I’ve been wanting to pull the triggger on this setup, however I have a few items fighting for real estate. I have a Moshimoto Raditor and the Roush Radiator, do you think the trans cooler would fit. Seems like it’s pretty tight from the pics you provided.
Appreciate any insight.

AFAIK the Mishimoto radiator will allow fitment, I’ve seen them installed on dark horses with no issues and those also have the same trans cooler as the PP. For the Roush radiator I’m confused, if you mean the intercooler on the Roush Supercharger kits then it should fit, most intercooler setups on the S650 mount at the very front past the AC Condenser. As long as there is enough room between your radiator and condenser you should have no issues. Only issue I may see is that the extra radiator thickness may create some issues while trying to sandwich in the heat exchanger, but I don’t know that for sure, but in an ideal world easiest install would involve removing the radiator or atleast pushing it out to get enough room for mounting.

 

[Bullit69]

AFAIK the Mishimoto radiator will allow fitment, I’ve seen them installed on dark horses with no issues and those also have the same trans cooler as the PP. For the Roush radiator I’m confused, if you mean the intercooler on the Roush Supercharger kits then it should fit, most intercooler setups on the S650 mount at the very front past the AC Condenser. As long as there is enough room between your radiator and condenser you should have no issues. Only issue I may see is that the extra radiator thickness may create some issues while trying to sandwich in the heat exchanger, but I don’t know that for sure, but in an ideal world easiest install would involve removing the radiator or atleast pushing it out to get enough room for mounting.

Yeah my bad, I meant the Roush intercooler. I’ll have to run it by my tech. He stated it was already a pretty tight fit with the Moshimoto radiator. We were looking at the Power by the hour trans cooler underneath the spare tire well.
Thank you for your insight!

 

[Stang24]

Progress Report #3, I’ve picked up the transmission cooler lines, retaining clips, and bracket bolts. After a bit more analyzing I’ve gotten an idea of how I will put the line in place.

Red Circle: Flexible connections, get connected to the heat exchanger at the front of the car
Blue Circle: Thermostat, controls the flow of fluid to the heat exchanger, this part bolts onto the passenger engine mount bracket studs
Green Circle: This part connects to the transmission, and replaces the 7A031 line as seen in the non-PP diagram on my doc.
My gameplan:
1. Start at the bottom, and snake the heat exchanger connections to the top and bolt the thermostat on using the two HN1 bolts in the PP diagram
2. (Keep a few rags to plug the open transmission ports) Since these lines are somewhat flexible we can replace the line connections 1 by 1. Remove the 7Z465 retaining clip, remove the old connection and put in the new connection, and reinstall the 7Z465 Retaining Clip
3. Remove the 2 HB2 bolts holding the other side of the 7A031 line in and remove and replace with the new line connection, reuse the HB2 bolts to bolt on the connection. Step 2 and 3 can be done in any order I don’t think that it matters much.
4. Get back at the top, to access the heat exchanger connections the passenger intake and radiator cover must be removed, plug in the connections and use the two extra 7Z465 retaining clips that you bought to connect them.
5. AFAIK that’s it, turn on the car and check for leaks, if no leaks then celebrate, if there are leaks then do something ig.

When connecting the cooler lines, how do you know which hose goes to the top connection and the bottom connection of the heat exchanger?

 

[nitepjony]

When connecting the cooler lines, how do you know which hose goes to the top connection and the bottom connection of the heat exchanger?

I honestly just followed the diagrams on the ford website, but the lengths that the topside hoses reach are different, the longer reaching hose goes to the bottom connection and the shorter reaching hose goes to the top. Luckily when actually connecting them Im pretty sure due to the varying lengths it will be impossible to put the wrong hoses in.

 

[Stang24]

I honestly just followed the diagrams on the ford website, but the lengths that the topside hoses reach are different, the longer reaching hose goes to the bottom connection and the shorter reaching hose goes to the top. Luckily when actually connecting them Im pretty sure due to the varying lengths it will be impossible to put the wrong hoses in.

Good to know thanks. Going to do this project this week.

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