I have a 72 4 door Comet and need more power! My friend has an '84 302/AOD package for me that will need going through, and has anybody out there done this? If the car codes are correct, I currently have a C4 tranny and a 8" 2.79:1 rear axle. Is this enough ratio? Apart from brake upgrades and peripheral issues like that, should I do this with the AOD or stick with the C4? Did comets come with any other automatic tranny? I like the idea of overdrive, and I will build the engine up mildly, headers, carb, heads....Any thoughts? Thanks. -Mack
Guess it depends on what kind of driving you do. If the car sees alot of highway driving, it may be worth it to put the AOD in. Otherwise I would just stick with the C4 for ease of installation. With a 2.79, the car will be bogging like crazy if it can even get into overdrive. You will definately have to swap out the rear gear.
I'm running a 3:1 rear, factory on the Crown Vic my AOD came from was 2.79:1. It'll work, but it won't be a monster, lemme tell ya. If possible, get at least a 2000 stall converter or 3.55 minimum rear before you do the swap. You will actually get better milage @ 55mph with 3.55 than with 2.79 or 3:1. At 70mph running 2000rpms, I never had to move the pedal. Under 2000rpms, I had to gas on it to pull hills and let off on the downside, made my milage worse. 24mpg @ 70mph. Roughly 20mpg @ 65. By the time you figure in aerodynamics, get the gears and get better milage overall.
So finally........ I get to talk to someone with an AOD.. ! Are any of the nightmare stories true about the AOD? I was just about to give up an stick with the C4. It appears, only from what I've read, that one must upgrade, with a pricey kit, several components of the AOD for it to be reliable. You are using the AOD , I assume and not the AOD-E or the later 4R70W? and they are in your '74 Comet? was shortening the drive shaft required? I see that the AOD is 3/4" longer (I think) than the C4. before I do this I need to find out what the gears actually are in the C4. I wonder if the final C4 3rd gear with my 2:79 rear is similar to the AOD's overdrive 4th with your 3:55. I'd be nuts not to find this out first, right? Maybe it is the same or similar, but on gets the faster off the line gears? And OK.... I'm a dummy but I would be in your debt if you could tell me ....what is a stall converter????? I am a boat plumber electrician/ mechanic, and we just don't have those on boats... You obviously have reasearched your numbers regarding milage/speed/ rpm's.... Thanks for your info! -Mack
I too installed the 5.0/aod combo into my 73 mav and i did need to shorten the drive shaft one inch. had to make my own mount. but have yet to put it on the road. need new brakes and shifter installed
The C4 has gear ratios of 1st 2nd 3rd 2.46 1.46 1.00 while a 1984 aod from a mustang has: 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 2.40 1.47 1.00 0.67 with those gear ratios I would do what 74 merc said and add a nice stall converter and at least 3.55's
