Abo Bob

Well here it is done. thanks for the positive feeback. I've forgotten to take pics of what I did with the stone guard tray thingies but sufice to say I cut them around the cooler and then bolted them back up no worries. All fits well.

I think its the gasket that goes between your turbo and manifold. Mine spat a chunk of it out and did just as you describe.

Well I have driven eastern creek with full trim, subbie in the boot etc then I took the subbie, spare, jack, carpets and sundry other crap out and did some more laps. The back end was noticeably looser in braking situations both straight line and corners but it was harder to tell whether it made any difference with the power down. Perhaps that's because I don't have all that much power though. This is with stock GTT suspension. I guess if your suspension was adjustable you could compensate.

Heaps. $600-700 for a new set I think. Mine went at about 67000kms.

It seems to me that it says right there that nothing over 15 years old will be imported.

Now I guess I'll have to paint the pipes in the same manner. I haven't attached the stone guard tray yet cos I'll have to make a tiny cut to the side ones but the middle one will need some looking to tonight when I get home due to the hanging down pipe. I haven't actually attached the front bar yet either. It's just sitting there. Also I've always wanted to cut out that bit that supports the large style number plates.

The pipes are easy to put in but there is a little problem... the bottom pipe hangs below the front bar slightly. This is the painted pic you were all waiting for and the front bar on pic to show how is hangs down. The other hang down picture I put is taken from only a little bit higher up and you can't see the pipe but still...

This is the top mounting point. Not even close to lining up. I thought about trying move the whole cooler up and using a different hole and maybe this is what you're supposed to do but the thing is jammed in there. Not a mm to spare. You would have to cut the front bar support. So all I did was put the bracket in there anyway so it's not going to come up at least. I just have rely on the way the cooler is jammed in and the bottom mounting brackets to hold it there. To be honest, it feels solid as a rock.

Mounting the intercooloer. Put the brackets the mount on the sides of the intercooler on the car first. There are 3 likely looking holes to use but the right one is the bottom rear one. I don't know where the **** the pipe mounting bracket is supposed to attach. It's not near anything!

The two pipes that go in the hoses that go to the transmission cooler have to be cut. You can't bend them because it pinches off the flow at the bend. I cut about 5 cm off each of them and reattached the hoses. It's a bitch getting the hoses back on cos the pipes are fatter at the new ends. I was hoping not to have to do this but they fouled on the intercooler when I tried to mount it with out cutting the pipes. As you can see from the attached pic the trannie cooler fits beautifully in it's new location.

Next I had to relocate the transmission cooler because it gets in the way of the FMIC. I used wire to hold it up in several places which sounds dodgy but it's held in there quite solidly.

That's because there are nuts holding on to bolts that are round so you have to grip them really hard with the pliers while someone else undoes the nut.

Next pull off the old intercooler. That's pretty easy although you have to take the air box out to get to the rings that hold the hoses onto the cooler. You might need two people to get the bolts undone that hold the curly pipe to the actual body.

Ok first I just pulled the front bar off. I used the thread that Omran made about water spraying your stock cooler for info on this. Just take off the bottom stone guards. I just undid the front and dropped them down but I think it would have been easier to remove them altogether. The side ones go around the wheels arches and you need to take them off or at least mostly off to get to the screw thing that holds the bar on. My bar was also connected by two of those little clip thingies behind the number plate. I think I remember Omran saying his were already removed. Also Omran said there was a clip on each side holding the bar up but I found that I had to unscrew it to get it off. So... the bar is held on by two clips on the inside of your headlights, two behind the number plate, two screws in the far top corners of the bar and two clips/screws about 20cm around the top of the bar from there.

I know what you mean and you're right but I don't think this happens so much in performance related places. Just my opinion.

That's the theory.

I spoke to that guy too but I wish I had some other knowledge. Wait... doh! My dad is a mechanic... ok just called him. He said it would make sense that the Racing ATF with no slipperiness additives would produce less wear of your bands and such. If anything it might put more stress on your planetary gear set but due to their design they are unlikely to be a weak point. If you know how they work you will understand.

Good to hear.

I'm getting worried. My car is still in pieces in my garage....

Do you think it will hurt my powersteering to hang the transmission cooler from it?

I do.

I've taken the masking off and it looks absolutely awesome but no pics yet. I will add a bunch of pics when I'm done cos I intend to do a little how to. I'll just add it to this thread ok.

Guys, I might be out of line here but rather than asking a bunch of comparitive detailed questions of the guy organising the group buy, how about we all do our own research? You need to convince yourself that this is what you want. He is not selling it to you, he's getting it for you. It's not like this pump is an unknown quantity and even on this very forum you will probably find all that you need. Perhaps as interested people do the searches they might like to post links to any good info that they find. It's just that I've seen a smiliar sort of thing in a couple of group buys now and the person organising it can very easily get the shits with it all and decide it too hard then we all lose out. Let's all help each other here.

265 35 18 would work exactly. 255 45 will never work, way too big.