Well my C4 is going to need some work soon and I was thinking about putting an AOD in it this time. I have one out of my dad' 89 Lincoln Mark VII. What can I do to it to make it dependable on a car that is capable of running 11 second quarter mile times? Also who has a link to a step by step installation of an AOD in a Mav.?
search the web for Baum enginering. I dont have the book mark here at work. They have alot of good info there. Chad
How about Lentech Automatics? I've heard good things about them, might be worth calling. http://www.lentechautomatics.com/
I can't afford a complete perfomance tranny. After reading the Lentech site I wish I could though, there is alot of stuff they do to the trannys to help them last. I just want to get this one I have built good enough to last a couple years and by then I hope I can afford a good heavy duty unit from a place like Lentech. But for now I want to find a hardened input shaft, maybe a Lentech valve bady (It was reccomended on a Mustang site too) and a 3000 stall convertor. And of course a good rebuild kit. Any other advice would be appreciated.
I don't know much about the AOD's, but i do know that most them came with an A, B, and C overdrive servo (the weakest part of the AOD). The B and C servo are the most common, but the A servo is the strongest. I would be willing to bet it would be on most heavy cars that came with the transmission (i.e. crown vic and grand marquis).
yes, you can get the servos from AOD-equipped trucks, T-bird supercoupes, etc. They're available from most trans supply houses, as well as http://www.bulkparts.com Also, think about upgrading the band to the wider one from the later transmissions. I think the AODE had them, but not positive about that. Add the band, servo, as well as a good shift improver and you'll be set! The AOD is actually pretty tough in design, just the OD band is weak and the long, tiny input shaft. Easy to work on, though for the DIY folks like us
A solid input shaft seems to bump the AOD's capacity quite nicely as well. The loss is the converter won't lock up in OD anymore, just a standard converter then. The plus is you won't break the 2 piece input shaft. I'm still debating on that one, although I'll probably do it whenever I do the tranny. Upgrade your tranny cooler. Makes a difference even on a stock AOD. I'm looking into beefing up the AOD as well, custom job. I'll be doing this myself. Its not much cheaper that way tho, last I priced a good AOD kit with manual valve body and electronic OD was about $1400, not counting the solid input shaft.
Thanks Mavman, that site has a good list of parts. I found these parts that might go togethor to make a good tranny Starting with an 89 Mark VII AOD that I believe has the wide ratio gear set and getting the rebuild kit p/n HP27002BP from HERE and then the shift kit p/n 27930 from HERE I think this is the wide band from an AODE that I have heard about from a couple different boards? p/n 27998 from here And the A servo like THIS ONE Then a Street Terminator valve body from Lentech. I still need to find the good input shaft. Then all I need is a book to tell me how to put it togethor. It can't be that hard, right?
Ryan, the Lincoln trans is a good one to build from. It has more clutches and a B- OD servo. The A servo comes from a T-Bird SC trans back around 87-88. The gear set in not wide ratio. Only the AODE later years had both std. and wides (4r70w). The wide OD band needs it's drum to go with it. When you install wide gears, there becomes shift rpm issues to settle by changing the govenor assembly. Bauman site will tell you all about this. In your light car, I would keep the lockup feature. This trans is strong enough to support your level of power. The OD will not see a lot of torque applied on the highway however the band is important in third gear and may need at least the A servo upgrade. If you don't use the lock up feature, extra heat is generated from the inherent slip especially if you use a higher stall converter. The TV link has to be in place by using a mid 80s carbed car parts or equivelent. The trans cross member will have to have an extension rearward. Also the drive shaft will need to be shortened because the Lincoln trans output housing and shaft is longer. See my sig.... I run a Kenne Bell blower against a Bauman equipped AOD in a 90 LSC at 3980 pounds weight. See the Jan issure MM-FF the big Ford shootout. Butch Craft's 88 LSC runs mid 11 sec ets on K.B. blown 331 at 14 lb boost. Pulls the front wheels off for about 60' and has 1.7 sec 60' times. The trans is a PA built unit. The trans is pretty tough if given half a chance with the right mods, cooler and synthetic fluid. Hope this gives you a perspective on the the trans use.
Ok I'll probably just keep the gears that are in it instead of swap the gears and governor. Are the overdrive band and drum interchangable from the aode to the aod? I really want to use the wide band if it dosn't involve changing too many parts. What benefits would be gained/lossed by using a non lockuo convertor? I only want to tun 12.0 1/4 times since I don't ever want to get a cage so I am going to have more power than neccessary so I don't need to worry about a tenth or two gained by using which ever convertor will be faster.
When I had mine done I had the AODE 3rd clutches and drum installed so there were more clutches in the pack, aode band and drum this also requires the mating end of the drum, A servo and a trans go shift kit. I had it in a 91 crown vic. IT shifted nice and hard with 2.73 gears. I could have made it shift harder but it was fine at the lowest seting. I added a mustang governor because I started with a crown vic AOD I dont remember everything that was done to it because I had a friend at the local ford dealership do it. Labor was only 100 and it would have cost me 50 just for the seal tools so I let him do it since he knew what parts were needed.
As i said before, i'm no AOD guru, so take it for what it's worth, but: My understanding of the AODE OD band is that you only need the band, not the drum. I don't think any additional work is needed, and i don't think you need the drum. Switching to a non lockup converter would have its ups and downs--a lockup converter literally "locks" the engine to the transmission via the torque converter, whereas a non-lockup converter still has a certain amount of slip in it at all times. Hot Rod magazine or one of those did a lockup/OD swap a few years back and they actually picked up about 10rwhp just from the lockup. On the other hand, if you're making enough power then you just can't have a lockup converter on the AOD. I just re-read bluegrass' message and he says you need the drum to go with the band, so i wouldn't be too surprised if you did. Research it first though. So here's what i'd do: -A Servo -AODE band and drum (if necessary) -Good shift kit (transgo, etc., i don't like B&M) -Alto Reds frictions And if you've got the extra money, THEN think about the input shaft (as someone said above, the light weight of your car will probably make up for the weakness of the input shaft). Either way, if you put in a lot of research and buy most the stuff from http://www.bulkparts.com then you should get away rather cheaply with a strong transmission.
I had the same guy build me another AOD for a different project thats not finished yet. He used the same stuff as the first one, a servo, AODE band, drum, and mating drum, AODE 3rd drum and clutches. This will be a little hard to follow now because I dont know the correct names of the parts. I took a small shaft from the AODE so the converter would never lock up. I had to cut down part of the outer shaft so the new shorter shaft would fit in the drum. This eliminates the need for the small inner shaft that locks up 3rd and 4th gears. The converter will always slip alittle but it was going in an 85 rx7 with a 351w. My brother has it now but hasnt had time to finish it.
This is getting a little off topic - but has anyone used one of the www.bulkparts.com converters. I've looked at them before, but been heasitant about buying one. The price of them is 30% less than the "offshelf" name brands, like B&M for example and I've usually found that you get what you pay for in cases like this. Is there something lacking technically (cheap bearings or loose tolerances) that makes them cheaper or are they just passing on a savings because it is not a "brand name"?? Just wondered if anyone had any experience with them good or bad? Cleaver
