I tried out my little 76 Maverick for the first time since I got the the engine running, and fixed the brakes. My maiden voyage around the block didn't go as planned. The transmission wouldn't shift by itself, so I tried manually shifting through the gears. 1st, and 2nd seemed to go ok, but when I got to 3rd I got nothing but a strange noise. A friend of mine suggested I check the vacuum to the modulator valve. While I didn't think vacuum would have any thing to do with not having a third gear, I gave it a shot anyway. He was right about one thing, there was no vacuum at the nipple on the carb where the trans line connected, so I moved it to an unused nipple on the intake manifold. On my next trip the trans actually shifted on its own, but 1st, and 2nd only. It would never even try to go to 3rd. I only got about 40 mph out of the old girl. What do you guys think? Is it time for a new tranny? I checked around at all the local salvage yards, and nobody has a C4. I was able to find a nice old man in a neighboring town who has a C6 out of an old truck, and an AOD out of a later model ford. Will either of these bolt up, and work with my 250 Inline 6?
I would hunt around for another c4. I don't think the c6 will fit without an adapter and the AOD will probably be a real dog with the stock gears in your rear end.
The modulator valve could be stuck or leaking. As for junkyard transmissions, you've already got one of those now. Get it rebuilt and save yourself the hassles of a transmission swap. Get someone (like PaulS) who knows their way around C-4's to look at it.
Your symptoms are addressed at the bottom of this post..... http://www.mmb.maverick.to/showpost.php?p=479198&postcount=2
I think an AOD with a lower set of gears in the rear might be a nice combo with an I-6. Still not as simple, or as cheap as the C-4. C-6 would be overkill and make no sense at all. I think the trans tunnel and rear mount would have to be modified for that to fit. Hardly makes sense unless a c-4 cant hold the power. I dont recall if anyone on here has a AOD equiped I-6. Sounds like a good idea to me.
Unless you plan on running very low gears stick with a C4. They have lower parasitic losses (better mileage) and in stock form lasted 20 years and more from the factory. If you want crisper shifts and longer life from the C4 all you need is a TransGo 40-2 reprogramming kit and a cooler.
Yes, there is a big difference between the TransGo and B&M. TransGo has the best engineered kit on the market for the C4. You never have problems with flare, too firm a shift (it is throttle controlled) and you have complete manual control over 1st and 2nd upshift and downshift. Pressures are raised SLIGHTLY but not to an extreme and shift events are better timed and just as quick. Unless you want to go through the effort to trace the oil flow and calculate flow and restrictions to size orfices then TransGo is as good as it gets.
