The swap to the manual would be cool (I'm a huge fan of manuals and want one for mine). If you're not comfortable with your wrenching prowess or lack the sufficient tools, you could possibly dig yourself into a hole. My thought, if you aren't 100% comfortable with a manual swap, get your trans rebuilt. I didn't catch it in the thread but assume you have an E4OD, I had one that blew in my old Expedition and I spent I think about $2000 or so (I could be wrong, but I don't have the receipts handy) for a complete rebuild including a shift kit and a 3 or 4 year warranty.

 

Yep, that's a cooler. There's also one in the radiator. I'd install a temperature gauge in the trans pan and see if the coolers are doing an adequate job. If not, then I'd bypass the radiator cooler and replace the small cooler behind the grill with a larger one.

As for the shift kit, well there's no such thing as a shift kit for a manual trans since the driver has full control over each shift in that case. Shift kits are for automatics ONLY.

 

ok assumeing I stick with the auto what "shift kit" should I look at?