Were there ever any AOD's made with the Falcon Six bell housing pattern with the high mount starter? Is a $2900 Gearvendors over/under drive bolted to my Cruise-O-Matic C4 my only option? I want to use a newly rebuilt, upgraded 175 (170) my family has about $3000 invested in. I have an 8"rear end with a 2.7-something (not sure) rear gear. I plan on switching to a 3.55 or 3.73 rear gear, but I'm not sure what ratios are available for an 8". Any good junkyard swaps for this (ranger/explorer?)? or should I just rebuild mine and spend $300 in the one of the Jegs or Summitt catalogs on a ring and pinion set? I think I'm getting around 125-130 HP from a motor that originally made 105 when new from Ford. The 170 is a dog even with upgrades because of the 2.7x rear I have. I want to do a lot of highway driving- I am planning for 1 lap of America. I heard a rumor about a lockup torque converter for a C4 is this true? how much effect? would it feel like another gear? or sell the matched freshly rebuilt 175 and C4 and buy a $600 1990 crown vic and use the 302motor/AODtrans/3.50 rear from the Vic? Would that setup get me low to mid 20's mpg in a Maverick on the highway? (with 500-600 Holley 4 bbl, edelbrock intake, DUI ignition, with stock GT40 heads stock cam, and headers)
The AOD only have the small block pattern, which includes six bolt bell small blocks (289-351W/C) from 1965, the 240 & 300 I6 along with the 250, plus 3.8 and 4.2 V6... There are some low mount starter 200 built in the early '80s but I believe only four bolts match, no that doesn't help you... That Crown Vic 5.0 is the bottom of barrel 150Hp version but with EFI & 3.08 gear do get 25-26 mpg... Unless it's been swapped, no EFI Crown Vic ever had a 3.50 gear, most had 3.08 and ALL had a 8.8" rear.(I owned a '86).. The stock AOD aren't calibrated for high HP/RPM shifts, the one in my T-Bird from a Super Coupe(supposedly the best stock version there is) would struggle badly till I installed a Trans-Go shift kit...
Overdrive and lower rear gears with an upgraded Small Block Six can enable the torquey little anvil to easily handle modern Freeway speeds and provide extra grunt at stoplight or hi-way merge runs' ... I run a stock 170 Maverick block with worked cylinder head, 2Bbl and dual out headers at @ 10:1 SCR. The Overdrive ratio of 1:.63 (T5) and OEM 3.50:1 rear (1963) lets me easily cruise at 70 MPH at @ 2200RPM and winding up the upgraded 170 with 2.95:1 1st gear and the 3.50 rear gets it going pretty nice .... . In July drove it to Warwick RI from the Hudson Valley and averaged @ 25 MPG on interstate !. ( 93 Octane minimum ) ... seems there's no easy solution for overdrive automatics' for the 144/170/200 but the alternative Maverick 250 Small Block six is a different animal entirely with everything behind the crankshaft accepting SBF V8 parts like the AOD OD tranny.. I run a 77 Maverick small block 250 with a race-lightened Flywheel, Centerforce weighted clutch, T5-Z OD tranny into a 3.80 'posi' rear with traction devices. The 3.80:1 rear with .63 T5OD still lets me cruise on the Thruway at a reasonable RPM and the T5- Z's 3.35:1 1st gear survives many hard launches at the track. A few weeks ago I drove the 2 hours to the Dover Drags Reunion at Lebanon Valley raceway and drove home after @ dozen hard ass' I could launches at the tree. .. 'never did learn to drive an automatic' ... have fun
