If I turn the bottom hose the other way around, so the corner nearer to the rad and further from the thermost, and can kind of force it all to fit. The reason for this distortion is that the metal pipe that goes over the top of the gearbox had to be bent up a couple of centimetres.
this might be good enough just to start the engine maybe a short test drive, but I can't leave it like that.
This is how the transmission cooler sits
If anyone with a V6 could confirm if I have the pipes the right way round?
The mounting bracket will need modification though because it bolts to an engine that's no longer there. It would have been easier to fabricate with an engine / transmission on the floor but I didn't realise.