I have an 88 TC...do I have the AOD or A4LD?? Does anybody know off hand??
factory should have A4LD
by the way how strong are theses things??
That I cannot answer , I have only had one about 15 years ago
and The car only lasted me 6 months before I had catastrophic engine failure .
It'll be the A4LD, and they're not strong.
Not strong at all. That's why Ford de-tuned the automatic TC's: The A4LD couldn't hold up to the 190 horsepower
A4LD are weak and junk.... (I have gone thu about 6 or so)
You may want to consider the 5speed swap, and start gathering parts up for it.
I'm just getting into the Ford world so I am unfamiliar with what trannies are strong and which are not!! I really don't feel like swapping a 5speed...any more advice would be appreciated
Shift kit to start.
The A4LD can be built to withstand moderate HP($$$), parts must be swapped from a later Explorer tranny I believe...
Your only other automatic option is swap in a C4, but the bellhousing to mate to a 2.3 is near impossible to find, no AOD will match up to a 2.3... Using any other tranny including the 5 speed, will require a longer drive shaft and different crossmember...
well if your going after any sort of power and you want an auto... give up the OD and get a C4 case for a V8 and find a bell for the 2.3 to C4.... can be found on Ebay now and then for about 100-150 for the bell only
I have a C3 auto in my Turbo Ranger with appox 350K miles on it. those can be found cheap and are almost as good as the C4
How hard is it to swap to a manual? do you have to change computer?
You'll need a bellhousing from a TC, obviously, but the '87 and '88 cars were hydraulic instead of cable...I don't know how much of a pain in the ass swapping that setup would be, but '86 and older 2.3 T5 cars had a cable clutch.
You'll need a tranny, I'd recommend a T5 from an '87 or '88 as they were a little stronger than the older ones. You can NOT use a V8 T5 beind the half-motor...input shaft is too big in diameter.
I think you'll need the manual transmission's crossmember, seems I read once the A4LD uses a different one.
And all the little stuff, bolts, the T5 harness, shifter, and matching console plate (for said shifter, auto and manual use a different one).
..and I don't think you need to change the eec...fwiw, I have an LA3 eec for sale...from a manual trans '88 TC.
Just sayin' :D
Hope this helps!
the swap is not all that bad as long as you have all the parts, and can be done in a weekend with out stressing yourself out
you will need the peddle assembly from a 87/88 TC along with the steering colum gromet( it holds the clutch master cylinder. the bell housing, fork and block plate, the trans cross member, and the drive shaft, and the hydro lines, flywheel w/bolts
If you need, I have some of the parts you need.. block plate, cross member, peddles, grommet w/ CMC, the hydro lines, drive shaft flywheelw bolts ,I may even have a good slave cylinder too
As far as the ECU goes, you can use your AUTO ecu on a 5 speed, but you can not use a 5speed ecu on an auto car.
I have done this swap several times.