1.I like the 42R series rubber over steel re usable gasket from the OEM.
2. I wouldn't replace the solenoid pack unless there was a problem already.
They are easy to replace later if a problem arises.
3. These transmission are basically a 904 that has the same soft and early shifts as any other stock 904, so the stage 2 Transgo kit works great to fix that.
When I put mine in I went with the middle of the road mods of the instructions so as to not make it uncomfortable in the shift quality when just cruising.
If I was doing it again I would put a stiffer spring in the 1-2 shuttle valve, but other than that I like it.
4. Front port for cooler lines is out to the cooler, and the rear port is the return.
5. Most tell a guy to do a higher end parts rebuild before it goes in.
For the guy that has not done one before I don't recommend that, because there are too many things that can go wrong when changing so much at a time.
I'm also not one to tell everyone they can do it at home either, unless they really want to. (There are a lot of us here that can help with questions and such)
I used to build them for a living (shop foreman/builder for a large chain) so I just did the swap with the shift kit and will go back in and fix or upgrade whatever I need to later if needed. (It's just a transmission and not even a 4x4 :D) but years later and probably 20k miles it still works as good as the day it went in.
I did my 5.9 Magnum and A500 swap in a weekend because I needed the car Monday morning.
The next weekend I built the automatic shifting system for it.
I only pay $150 for these transmissions, so if I need to replace it it's not a big deal.
BTW, what was in the pan on mine was pretty much exactly what yours has.
I rinsed the obvious stuff out with ATF, cleaned the pan out, replaced the filter and put it in.
I rinsed and blew out the valve body while I had it apart for the kit.
That's pretty much the way I looked at it when I put mine in, so all I did was to add the stage 2 Transgo kit.
(they are also rated for 5k lbs towing capacity, so add that to the things your 3000 lb car won't be doing.):D
