Fox T-Bird/Cougar Forums

I have a 1985 TBird, with an '88 302 and the AOD transmission with a rodded 5.0 floor shift change as well . The trany slips without smoking and there are no odd smells of burning, fluid is perfect. Trany slips mostly off the stoplight if heavy on throttle up into lower gear. Drinks fluid like crazy when driving and I am pretty sure it probably is worn out after so many years, so I want to replace the trany with another compatible and possibly newer year AOD. Does anyone know what years will be a straight swap and if any of the years were stronger then it's prior?

I also thought of going to a manual transmission , but was unsure if there would be a total drive train replacement for this. Including drive shaft, and or any factory transmission to engine adapter. I realize there would be pedal added and clutch cylinder to firewall but was curious if anyone has done this for good reason.


Thanks

I did my t-5 swap for $400 total using a junkyard sn-95 t5 i got off craigslist for $150. Reused the driveshaft, motor mount ect.

All the aod's are the same basic shell with a few differences as well as all the 4r70 used in the newer v-6 stangs and can all be swapped with few, if any modifications.

After about 1989 the aods got a bit stronger, th strongest being from a super coupe. After thst they all went behind v-6's with a computer controller called an aod-e basically.

I just picked up a used 4R70W for $150 that was still bolted to the 2001 Mustang V6. I am going to use it to replace the early 86 AOD in my Bird. That is not to say there is anything wrong with the AOD, I just wanted to start out with a better, stronger foundation before I started spending $$$ building up a tranny. The v6 4R70W v6 transmissions are not that plentiful around here. Most are for 4.6's.

Like Haystack, I paid $400 for a complete T5 WC setup, but decided to put it in my Maverick.

AND unless you swap to a later computer system or go stand alone trans controller, that 4R70W will never shift... Like AODE, 4R70W is totally electronic...

Supercoupe AOD were strongest, followed by ones used in 5.0 Stangs and T-Bird through '93... Manual levers do vary, may be necessary to swap from orig transmission, requires valve body removal...

OK,  well lets see.  I have a high performance 302 under the hood. Is it safe to say an AOD from 1985 to 1993 will interchange without any surprises?  Just a simple  request was what I was looking for. I'm not a hammer down driver, just want to replace the broken trany with maybe something newer year so I don't have 250,000 miles on the replacement. I like the overdrive for freeway since I do use the freeway quite often.

OK, well lets see. I have a high performance 302 under the hood. Is it safe to say an AOD from 1985 to 1993 will interchange without any surprises? Just a simple request was what I was looking for. I'm not a hammer down driver, just want to replace the broken trany with maybe something newer year so I don't have 250,000 miles on the replacement. I like the overdrive for freeway since I do use the freeway quite often.

Truck & Lincoln MK-VII AOD have a longer tailshaft, but all have same engine bolt pattern...

Yup. Include the Town Car AOD as one with a longer shaft as well.

At this point the newest AOD you're going to find is 20+ years old. I wouldn't drop a 20 year old transmission in without a rebuild. Might as well have your car's AOD rebuilt.

So you could drop in a 4R70W and a programmable shifter like this one:

http://www.usshift.com/usq4.shtml

Not cheap but you do not need a laptop to make it work and it will self learn.  I am going to use their controller on the 6R80 six speed auto behind the 5.0 Coyote in my '70 F100.  So for less than a T5 conversion and way less than a AOD rebuild you can have a newer automatic trans with the 4R70W that will hold about 500 rwhp stock.  I have seen them hold quite a bit more but not for years on end, more like a year.

One thing to be careful of, should you dive into it at all: DO NOT consider the pre-1989 and 1989-up valvebodies to be compatible.
I believe an 89-up VB can be used in an older trans, but if you do the opposite you'll be stuck in 2nd gear, it will "neutral out" when it should go to third.

As has already been said: watch tailshaft housing lengths and don't be afraid to ask away if a yard is unclear as to what they've got. But the SC AOD's are great, and technically the 1992-93 truck and van AOD's are the ultimate-strongest, they have the SC's goodies plus something else. Either some stamped steel (not cast) drums or maybe tougher planetaries. Search The Corral forums and elsewhere for posts by SilverFox, he has put a lot of good info out there if you're curious.

What's your motor making? I am at 450-500 crank right now and I am essentially running a stock AOD with a shift kit. I also don't beat on the car a ton, I do a lot of burnouts...no racing....and I let off the pedal very briefly between shifts so it doesn't complete the shift under full load. The bigger of the hard parts (drums, primary input shaft) are known to withstand a steady loading of over 500 lb-ft of torque.

What I'm saying is I love my AOD (though I'd prefer a stick and miss my stick car badly, which has been down over 2 years) and they aren't made of glass.

I'll second the recommendation to look up SilverFox. Check out the Clickclick Racing forum as well. He's on there and its a dedicated auto transmission forum.  I have a SilverFox valve body and overdrive servo and some other goodies to include a 2800 RPM converter and hardened input shaft.  I've yet to find another AOD that shifts as good....

I may give SilverFox's valve body a try. I have one with the epoxy-mod built by the guy who built my AOD (unfortunately he's now dead). It shifts firm and barks the 1-2, 2-3 upshifts and 4-3, 4-2 downshifts at heavy throttle. I'm pretty happy with it but I wonder if one of SilverFox's valve bodies would be a noticeable improvement, especially since I have a one piece input shaft and non-lockup converter in my car.

What improvement are you looking for?? :rollin: That sounds like everything and the kitchen sink!
If shift points are your concern, that's easily cured without the need for an entire new VB.

The valve body in the car has the epoxy mod. So I can set the shift light to a certain point and just shift the car manually. I just want to auto adjustable shift points, but that's probably not worth the $200-300 when I can do that manually as it is...