Hello, I'm new to this forum so any helpful insight, tips and info are greatly welcomed. I'm looking to swap out a c4 for an aod out of an 84 lincoln towncar. Going in my 75 grabber. I was told on fordmaverick.com forum that Frank Cooper(aka;71 gold) could help with the crossmember. I guess it needs to move back a little. I'm also going to need to shorten the driveshaft. Anyone know how much and what to do about the kickdown rod. Just to make it interesting, my Grabber is floor shift not column. Like I said, any suggestions or advice greatly welcomed. Thanks, Lonnie
Why do you want to make the switch? '84 is not a good choice - later you get the better it is but the 84 version is one of the worse (most problematic) of all the AODs. I would not recommend anything earlier than the 85 and the best is 92. If you are making the swap for the sake of mileage you are going to spend a great deal of money and unless you make changes to the rear end ratio your mileage may get worse. The best ratio for the rear end in a carbureted application is 4.11:1 due to the way a carb meters fuel.
KEEP THE C4!!!!!!!!!!! Based on my own experience, I would rather have the c4 than the aod. I rarely ever let the aod shift into OD as it doesnt get driven on the hiway much. Around town it stays in 3rd gear. Not to mention the BIG PITA it is to get that huge tranny in the car. I think I had mine in-and-out 9 times for different problems, BEFORE it ever got driven...biggest mistake yet for my mav. I am sure there are guys on here that love the aod, but for me, I would rather have the c4
Here is my experience doing the swap. I also used a factory floor shifter. Had to bend the shift rod a little and rotate the shift selector shaft on the transmission 180 degrees. You have to drop the valve body to do this but is neccessary to get the right push/pull from the floor shifter. http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=27292&highlight=aod+swap&page=3
I have an AOD (93 out of a E150), with 3:55 gears. I can run down the highway at 65 miles an hour, spinning right around 1900 rpm. I did the switch, because I had plans of driving this car long distances, like on the Power Tour, and maybe someday I will. Mines, column shifted, using the Lokar shifter kit, and a Lokar TV cable. I used Franks cross member, and had the drive shaft cut 1&1/4 inches. I'm considering using another AOD in my current project, unless I can find the right 5 speed....
Want to do the swap for improved mileage. The 84 Lincoln was given to me a few years ago. So the transmission itself is no cost. Just the rebuild. Considered a performance AOD from PATC.com but not sure about $1900.00. Maybe if I were going full out motor and all. Currently have a 302 2bbl. that is stock as far as I know. 8 inch rear with 3.00 gearing.
+1 frank does good work i have one of his also I used lokar TV cable and throttle cable on mine also.
did my swap back in 05, made my own cross member (not the best looking but works) getting ready to make a new one, i did not have to modify drive line (yay), if you doing alot of freeway driving your cruzin, not so great in town, for some reason mine loves to eat starers, dont know why, hooked up with lokar tv cable, to carb, and using b&M quick silver shifter (love it), and yes it is way bigger than c4...
One thing I have noticed is there are allot of people that really like to talk down on the AOD swap, and a good portion of them have never tried it. But of all of the people that have done the swap very few complain about it and most of them talk really good about it.
Let me put this in a way that shows how I feel about the AOD. The AOD can be a great transmission - even better with the 4R70W internals and a constant pressure valve body BUT when using a carburetor in conjunction with the AOD you need to be sure that your highway cruising rpm is high enough to get and keep you out of the idle circuit of your carb. The idle circuit extends to just over 1800 rpm with a properly sized carb for your street engine - the two barrel is a good example of this. Running 3.0 gears you will never get out of the idle range of the carburetor. This sounds great from a first look but when you realize that the idle circuit runs as rich as the power circuit and the power valve will add more fuel to the mixture when you try to accelerate from 1800 rpm then you begin to realize that your are almost flooding the engine any time you are on the highway in OD. This burns through more gas causing worse fuel economy and washing the cylinders with gas that causes wear in the cylinders and rings. It also lets fuel get into the oil that causes more wear on the bearings and all moving parts. I like and recommend AOD and the entire AOD family of transmissions in the right application. That application is usually a racer who already uses the 4.11 rear gears or someone who has the 4.11 rear gears for street performance and is tired of turn in the engine at nearly 4000 rpm on the freeway. The strength level between the two transmissions is nearly identical except for OD but the AOD family has the advantage of the locking converter. That feature is also a weak point above a certain HP level and when it is done away with (a solid one-piece input shaft) the converters causes a tremendous amount of heat that requires more cooling than the C4 in a similar application. I have built both transmissions and like them both in the proper application but in most street applications the C4 is just better and a lot less expensive. The AOD build is typically 2-3 times the cost of a C4 for the same application. Then you add the cost of the swap and in mst cases the C4 comes out ahead.
Hmmm, my car gets pretty good gas mileage, and the oil is always nice and clean when I change it. It's not like these cars have cruise control, and your driving at a steady speed for very long. I drove a 100 mile round trip at the end of last summer, and I used @ 1/4 tank of gas...
