Hey guys, so I have a 63 Fairlane with a 302 and a C4. My issue is that the C4 lacks the 4th gear. This car is my daily driver and I'm driving about 99% of the way to work on the freeway. Anyways my question is what all am I going to need for the swap? I want to do a little research and see how much this might cost me before I start the process. I know I could swap the rear end or change the gearing for cheaper but I love the amount of start off power it has so I'm not interested in changing that. Thanks George
No, my question on that other thread was asking about the upgrade from the C4. I wouldn't ask the same question twice in different threads.
i just did the opposite swap.you will need trans and convertor,shifter,flex plate depending on how many tooth flex plate is on your motor,also the the motor plate between the block and transmission .there are two different length aod's so your driveshhaft might have to be modified.you will also need a dipstick.
Certain Lincolns and pick ups have tailshaft housings that are 1 inch longer. Also, try to get the slip yoke when you get the trans. "Urban myth" is the C4 and AOD slip yokes are interchangeable. Some are and some are not. AODs are significantly larger than a C4, about the same size as a C6. If you are lucky, you may be able to move the trans crossmember to match the AOD mount and drill new holes.Read as much as you can on the TV linkage. You can fry a brand new AOD in less than a 1/2 mile with an improperly adjusted TV cable. (Around here, the friendly price for a rebuild is over $1,000.)The OD is .67. If you have a tach, see what your RPMs are at your desired highway speed with your current setup. When in OD, your RPMs will be about 1/3 less.
I know you said you like the off the line of the lower rear gear, but the easiest (and cheapest) way to improve your cruising rpm is to change to taller rearend gearing. Assuming you have an 8-inch rear, there are literally millions of 2.80 or 3.00 center sections around. All 8-inch are 28 spline, so you do not have to worry about axle spline count like the 9-inch with 28 or 31 spline axles. Agree that the AOD would give best of both, lower gear for takeoff and then lower rpm for freeway. But that could be a lot more work and expense, just consider what the swap will require.
your other thread had a link that gives most info on what parts you need and what is involved with swap. TCI, phoenixtrans.com and others provide a lot of info and parts. also, do a long search here for AOD - lots of info posted. try searching Mustang sites for good info too. hope that your job pays good for you to get quality parts, because this all can really add up to a lot of $$. you do have a early 302? you still will have to swap out the gears in rearend to 3:55 / 3:73 - hard to find used for a 8". if you run taller gear ratio with AOD you will have sluggish performance in first gear. is your rearend a true dropout center 8"? search online for: projetc33.com and click on calculators - there you can input the trans, gear ratio, tire size to see exactly what rpm to expect from the C4 with taller gears and from the AOD. have fun
Not nesessarily. I had a Crown Vic Police Interceptor with 351W/AOD/3.08 posi. Yeah it's 49 cubes bigger, but still a heavy car, but fast enough with the 3.08 & AOD to chase down cars.
I installed a 1984 302/AOD, Holley 600, Ford Shorty headers, 3.00 axle ratio, 215/75R 14 tires on True Spokes in my '36 'glass roadster..weighs 2900 lbs. At 70 mph it is doing 1,764 rpm. I plan on installing an Eaton posi 3.55 ring and pinion, which will put the rpm's at 2,058 at 70 mph. More ideal for my aggressive driving habits. Did I hear airborne?
Hey guys.. I am looking for help on a similar topic. I was running a C6 behind a 84' 351w in my '62 F100. I decided I wanted overdrive for a better cruise ride. I bought a AOD out of a junkyard, It came out of a 87 Ford Van with a 302. I went ahead and had it rebuilt by the same guy that built my C6 (nothing wrong with C6). Hooked everything up using the flexplate I already had (C6 to 351w) and the torque convertor that came with the AOD. Started it up and nothing happened.. No movement in any gear and no fluid traveling through cooling lines. Took everything apart and carried it back to the rebuilder. He said the front pump was fried because I used the wrong flex plate. But he went ahead and fixed it anyway with no charge. Meanwhile, I researched and bought a new flexplate for a 351w/AOD in a crown vic. Hooked everything back up with new flex plate and the exact same thing happened. No movement in any gear and no fluid moving through cooling lines. I really don't want to upset my builder if he was being nice, but I'm not sure he fixed it in the first place. Help Please!
We recently had a similar situation with an OT project car. Essentially the same symptoms as yours. Had the trans out and back to the trans guy 3 times. (Ugh!) Fourth time we changed trans guys and the new new guy found a sticky check ball in the valve body. You may want to consider leaving the trans in the truck and pulling the valve body out for a close inspection and check. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is one definition of insanity. I hope our collective insanity was temporary. Pulling automatic transmissions is really tough on old people.
+1 If you happen to go with the AOD, as stated above learn all you can about the TV cable, extremely important piece in regards to this tranny. Without the right tools and knowledge to set the trans up you could easily ruin it.... I've heard of guys getting it driveable and getting it to a trans shop asap for them to dial it in perfectly.
I did not like Ford's AOD tubular bracket lever so I installed Lokar's #KD-2AODHT (TV cable) with bracket SRK-4000 and TC-1000HT throttle cable. Very functional (no wobbles) but a bit pricey, about $180-200.00. Lokar's instructions say to use a 0-60 psi trans pressure gauge to verify TV setting with the cable set gauge they provide in the kit. All easy to do if you can read. Very satisfied and have piece of mind I set it up correctly. The pressure gauge confirms the TV cable was set up correctly.
Thanks, I learned quickly with my last car. I had a 200r4 and had it rebuilt. The trans company had no clue how to set the tv cable so I had to play with it and dial it in perfectly for my liking. It took a bit and luckily YouTube had a few videos that helped me.
You might possibly have a problem with the installation. Did the bellhousing mount flush to the block before tightening the bolts? The AOD converter needs to "click" into place a couple-few times before it's fully seated. If it didn't seat all the way, it may have jammed something when tightened down. http://www.mustangmonthly.com/techa...drive_transmission_installation/photo_20.html http://www.network54.com/Forum/260730/thread/1334001338/AOD+to+c-4+conversion+issues
Good deal... And as stated before look into the lokar part numbers...pricey but makes the cable mounting much easier
A couple of other thoughts ... The stock overdrive gear in the AOD is 0.70, I believe. There is a wider gear set that came in the 4R70W (electronic development of the AOD), and that has a 0.67 overdrive gear. But I don't know if that ever came stock in an AOD. The AOD has a lock-up converter that works in 3rd and 4th gear. Good for mileage, not as good for performance. If you want more pep in those gears, you may want to get a non-locking converter. But it has to be well-designed for the application. Off the shelf stuff out of Summit or Jeg's may not be the best for you. Also, the long tailshaft AODs came in trucks (F-150, etc) and the police package Crown Victorias. (As I understand it, the longer tailshaft gave the driveshaft more support and let Ford raise the speed limiter on police models.) So those ones may not fit as well. The shift levers at the transmission end vary by application. Some hang down, some point up. I don't know which kind works best for your car. The shift points in the AOD can be raised somewhat by adjusting the TV cable tension ... but the proper way to do it is to change out parts in the RPM governor. There are several different flavors available for different applications. Mustang AODs will rev higher than Crown Vic ones, for example. You can also do some good things with valve body modifications. This guy offers some cool stuff: http://www.silverfoxtrans.com/silverfoxtrans.com/VB_AOD.html
Vans (& Trucks?) have the lever pointing the opposit way & are reversed pattern if installed in a car. You have to swap the cross rod to one from a car.
I think it gets even worse than that. As I recall, the Crown Vic, the Mustang, and the Thunderbird ALL had different levers. I think that not only was one lever the opposite way, but there may have been different lengths from the pivot point to the cable bushing.
The AOD was barely adequate for most of the applications it was used in, but is is possible to make them a lot better. If you plan to use the trans with more power than the engine it came off of, or it will be used for anything more than ordinary driving, you should consider having it upgraded by someone who understands what needs to be done for your use.
Here is a video posted by one of our members about adjusting the AOD http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZwsQViZilQ to learn more about the AOD one of best sources is right here: www.clickclickracing.com
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