what front lip is that? Looks nice!

 

Why even use a trans cooler?

Use a trans heated sump pan that exchanges heat via coolant. Don't have to block off airflow to the radiator or remove any fogs with it.

Dodson Heated Sump

Perfect time to do it when you flush the trans fluid and replace with OEM SSTF-1 and a paper trans filter.

Also, Mobil 0w-40 seems to protect the best at a fraction of the cost. 0w addresses the pre-start turbo oil lubrication issue, 40 weight is good protection when it warms up and in an oil analysis thread on one of these Evo forums, shows the best results. Plus it's readily available and very cheap on Amazon.

 

My tuner and the guys at Performance Race Solutions down here in Orlando strongly suggested the 5w-40 Euro blend, which is why I will probably go with that. I have zero concerns with cost as far as oil, it can be cheap or expensive I just want what works best. The oil filter/fluid flush will happen at my next oil change, and I have decided there is no need for a cooler or anything at any time.

 

Are you planning on tracking the car at all?

If so, the trans heated sump to act as a trans cooler is pretty much needed.

The trans sump will also serve you well on the street, as it will heat up your SST to proper operating temperature much faster than by regular driving. We're talking 15-30 minutes of freeway driving to heat up the SST. A big contributor to SST Clutch wear is hard shifts when the trans has not fully warmed up yet.

There are oil threads around, and they show different statistics like additive count, wear rates and other things found in oil analysis. I wanted to buy the best protection possible, and after looking at the numbers, settled on 0w-40 Mobil 1. Do your own research, the information is floating around on the forums.

 

Switched to Amsoil 5w/40 European Blend as well as installed:

ETS UICP
ETS LICP
ETS 3.5 FMIC
ETS Intake

Car is much more responsive plus sounds completely excellent. The extra power is nice as well.

Maybe a mod can move this thread to Show & Shine, I don't want to clutter it up here.

 

Who did your tune?

 

Mike Adkins of MTuned does the tuning and Mike Collins at Performance Race Solutions does the work, although this time he was cleaning up my not so well installed UICP/LICP. Both came highly recommended from Kozmic motorsports, I was very nervous about having my MR tuned since they can be so fickle.

Here's a video of one of the baseline pulls.