2001 Ford F250 - Shift It Right!

That allowed us to finally place the deep ATS pan onto the transmission's belly. As you can see, the pan is blue and that is a choice that Nic had done independently, so the piece would color coordinate with his Kelderman suspension kit.

From the factory, a pressure bypass was fit so that fluid can still cycle properly should a problem occur in the lines or stock cooler. Running the higher pressures induced by the ATS accumulator and valve body modifications will allow this bypass to run all the time, which will keep some of the fluid from being cooled and filtered properly. For these reasons, the bypass needed to go.

In the ATS kit are fittings that replace the bypass parts so that every drop of the Amsoil fluids will wind their way through the cooler and external filter to stay safe.

A few quarts of Amsoil's synthetic ATF were poured into the Five-Star ATS torque converter and it was hoisted onto the transmission input shaft. Once it was fully set into place, we moved the transmission under the F-250.

Plenty of rags were used to prevent the custom painted trans pan from being damaged while the 4R100 was gently placed into position and bolted onto the 7.3L's back.

A fresh coat of aluminum silver paint was sprayed over the transfer case and it was bolted down. Finally the polyurethane mount was slipped in, both driveshafts were re-mounted, and all electrical and linkages were reconnected.

A pair of rudimentary steel mounts were bent, painted, and mounted to the driver-side framerail to provide a home for an external trans cooler.

ATS supplied us with an external thermostatically controlled, fan-forced transmission fluid cooler. Trans temps can get downright ugly while towing or off-road driving and the heat is a transmission killer. Utilizing the extra deep ATS diesel transmission pan, coupled with ATS's external transmission cooling system, will ensure we have a foolproof way of beating the heat.

As an added bonus, ATS kept the theme going with one of its differential covers. We removed the factory cover and allowed the used fluids to drain. The fluids were dirty and gritty, which is bad, in case you were wondering.