4r70w Convesion with Hurst Quarter Stick

millhouse · Jul 4, 2009

Here are the beginning pics of the conversion.

Before I started, I realized that not only was I missing the shifter cable bracket that mounts on the tranny...but one of the mounting pads had been cut off on an angle...WTF! I won't complain too much as I got a killer deal on the entire setup. After contacting the Ford stealership I found a new bracket for $20...the only problem is I wouldn't be able to get it until Monday after the holiday. I then contacted the local salvage yard....and they wanted $25!!! :eeek: I gave them a heads up on what the stealership wanted for it...and the wouldn't budge a single dime!!! I honestly hate this place is a passion....but unfortunately it's the only one within 25 miles. :curses:

Anywho, I decided to fabricate my own with the brackets that came with the Hurst shifter kit. Most of you doing this shouldn't have to worry...especially those just interested in doing the quarter stick shifter mod.

Here is the fabricated bracket. You can clearly see the mounting pad is hacked off, and I re-drilled the hole and added a heli-coil and some washers.

Next issue is the quarter stick shift cable. The end that mounts up to the tranny is a little ferrule that is supposed to go into the little shift arm.
The problem is, the stock 4r70w configuration has a shaft with a nut.

What I ended up doing was cutting the plastic bushing in the shift arm allowing me to tap out the shaft & nut. I then slid what was left of the bushing over the ferrule and slid the whole thing into the shift arm.

Here is what was left...

Here is the ferrule with the bushing...

And here is the end result...

The detents on the Hurst c4 shifter seem to match up perfectly with the 4r70w.

millhouse · Jul 4, 2009

Next up, mounting of the quarter stick shifter.

Because this car is going to go the way of the do-do I decided to go ahead and mount the quarter stick where the ashtray resides.

All of the ashtray garbage has to get hacked out.

In order to get the shifter in the correct position, some trimming of the center console was necessary (all hidden when finished). You can see where here...

Here is the shifter bolted down. Be sure to trim all of the carpet/padding/insulation in order to get a tight fit against the body.

This pic is a bit hard to understand, but in order to get the cable to clear...I had to trim the bottom left mounting pad for the stock t-5 shifter boot in the frame.

A word to the wise...be careful when using the angle grinder with the guard repositioned and avoid contact with the fingers at all costs.

View attachment 252480

View attachment 252481

And here is the semi-finished result (I may trim the ashtray cover and fit it snug over top for a clean finish).

Park position...

Drive position...

And first gear position...

millhouse · Jul 13, 2009

Just a minor update. The tranny is now INSTALLED! What a major PITA!!!!!!! My previous T-5 and 3550 I had simply “benched” into place by myself and held it in position until I threw a bolt in the bell. No way in HELL was that happening with the auto…especially with my shoulder still recovering from artho surgery. After fighting with the tranny for a good 1 ½ hours trying to get it onto the jack stand….everything went in smoothly. I did have to remove my driveshaft safety loop…and may have to relocate seeing as the auto is a bit longer than the manual setups.

Next up is throwing the shortened driveshaft on (along with the safety loop), fabricating some trans cooler lines and hooking it up to the rad…and installing the used B&M supercooler. I believe the hole where the stock shifter resided will make an excellent spot for the Baumanator TCS to locate. I’ll likely make a drop-down well where the TCS can safely sit and allow easy access to the db9 connector. More pics will surely follow in the next few weeks.

millhouse · Jul 15, 2009

Well, I picked up my cheap trans cooler for $25 monday. It's not huge...but hopefully it will do (it's rated at 14,400 BTU/24,000 GVW).

Modular2v · Jul 15, 2009

so does the trans bolt straight up to the 5.0 without any bellhousing modifications? I like where you put the shifter, thats where i put my quarter stick when i put my c4 in my 88

millhouse · Jul 15, 2009

Modular2v said:
so does the trans bolt straight up to the 5.0 without any bellhousing modifications? I like where you put the shifter, thats where i put my quarter stick when i put my c4 in my 88

Yep, but only the 3.8 v6 and explorer versions (every bit as strong as the v8 mustang tranny's).

As for the shifter location....it's damn comfortable! It's not too far off from where the stock shifter should have been located in the first place.

1991notchbackLX · Jul 15, 2009

Nice resourceful fab work! It always feels better to make something for the price of some time rather than buying it for hard earned cash. I was completely unaware that those transmissions didn't require a special bellhousing to be bolted up to a 5.0. Are you worried about it grenading under your power level? What are those trannys rated at? Aren't you running a twin setup? Haha, too many questions. Nice project!

Chris

93 LX · Jul 15, 2009

I read in those Mustang Rags that the 4R70W is a strong tranny, much stronget than the AOD and AODE but I want to see how this going with the electronic hardware... lol

millhouse · Jul 16, 2009

Thanks!

Believe it or not, those trannies are capable of holding a good 500hp+ in stock form and upwards of 800hp+ with some minor upgrades. Most don’t realize this…but they are VERY underrated. The reason why many don’t use them is typically because they require either a full manual VB (expensive) or a electric controller of some sort (expensive). Add the costs associated with an upgraded TC (expensive) and most just swap to a C4. Having the ability to lock-up the converter in 2nd and 3rd in a turbo setup can be GREATLY beneficial with ¼ times. Likewise, locking it in OD gives you the ability to sip fuel rather than gulp it….as there is no loss through the TC at that point.

Here is some good info on the ins and outs of the 4r70w here…. AODE and 4R70W Transmission FAQs - Baumann Electronic Controls, LLC

And here is an old (but good) write-up on the Baumannator TCS here… Baumann Engineering's Baumannator TCS (Transmission Control System)

millhouse · Aug 12, 2009

Ok, worked on it a little more today. I had to drop the back end of the tranny back down a bit to get all of the wiring harness connected. While I was at it, I hooked up the shifter cable.

Here is another pic of the shifter hooked up before I attached the cover plate...

Here you can see the 22ga plate I fabbed up to cover the stock T-5 shifter hole. I had previously planned on recessing this area and mounting the baumann TCS...but I'm getting impatient and time is certainly not on my side. I'll likely end up spraying some expandable foam around shifter cable and Baumann harness. The rest simply has RTV silicone sealing everything up nicely.

Here you can see the difference between the 99 V6 driveshaft I had been using for years and the shortened stock driveshaft that came with the kit.

How much it has been shortened is beyond me, but here you can see the length difference between the 99 v6 unit. The drill bit laying on the square is at the ~ 1.5" marking.

Here you can clearly see why the driveshaft needs to be shortened. While there is some more room the driveshaft can engage, it's certainly not much.

Chrome_Rust · Aug 13, 2009

Looks good!

With that TCM does it offer paddle shift? I think i read somewhere that the GM versions have that feature.

On another note:
back a few years ago on the CrownVic forums that i frequented (had a P71 that i hopped up, ran dang good) people were saying that the gear set in a 4R70W were more matched to the torque curve of the push rod engine's instead of the high winding torqueless 4.6 that was installed in the cars. I think i might look into this for my 93. with the Sn95 interior and everything else i am doing, i think it would fit the theme...

millhouse · Aug 13, 2009

Chrome_Rust said:
Looks good!

With that TCM does it offer paddle shift? I think i read somewhere that the GM versions have that feature.

On another note:
back a few years ago on the CrownVic forums that i frequented (had a P71 that i hopped up, ran dang good) people were saying that the gear set in a 4R70W were more matched to the torque curve of the push rod engine's instead of the high winding torqueless 4.6 that was installed in the cars. I think i might look into this for my 93. with the Sn95 interior and everything else i am doing, i think it would fit the theme...

Yep, you can wire up the manumatic feature into the stock cruise control buttons or any paddle shifter you mount up. I'm not sure about matching up well...but they seem to be damn strong in stock form and offer countless options.

millhouse · Aug 13, 2009

Ok, another update (no more pics yet).

I connected the baumannator TCS up complete with the wiring harness and fired up the laptop. I flashed a fresh tune into the TCS (I'd rather start from scratch as this is a used setup) and re adjusted some of the constants. All shifts with the quarter stick are completely aligned with the gears shown on the program. Likewise, all gears change the LED on the front of the TCS box.

I did have a small snafu with the reverse lights. To make a long story short, all was well...and I had a burned out light reverse. I did get some good info on the stock T-5 reverse and neutral safety wiring.

For those interested...here is how things workout.

The Purple/orange and Black/pink wires on the T-5 harness are the reverse wires. These tie into the sn95 harness which directly connect to the transmission range sensor which completes the connection for the shift position.

Likewise, the White/pink and Red/blue wires are the neutral safety wires that connect to the stock clutch. These also get tied into the transmission range sensor to complete the circuit while in park and neutral. On the opposite end is the clutch switch. With the clutch pedal depressed, the circuit operates properly with the shifter and range sensor. For now, I simply tucked the clutch pedal under the carpet until I get the proper pedal assembly. Later on all I'll end up doing is bridging the connection at the clutch switch connector.

millhouse · Aug 16, 2009

Well, it's finally completed.

I ran into a few road-blocks when it came to re-attaching the exhaust. My downpipes ended up hitting the trans range sensor shift lever on the drivers side...and the ball-flange ended up hitting the pan on the other. The fix? I simply hacked the downpipes off at a straight portion of the pipe and I'll weld a small piece to extend the pipes down about 3" to clear later.

Here is a pic of where I mounted the trans-cooler.

For the test run I just tooled around town for a good 30 minutes monitoring the tranny's vitals. I did have to bump the idle up a bit while in drive for whatever reason to get it to idle back where it was at before. I really only got on it hard once...and that was only while I was going ~ 30mph. I am actually really impressed with how responsive it was downshifting....and how it immediately broke the tires loose and took off like a bat out of hell! As for the trans temp, according to the Baumannator software it never got much over 160F*. Considering it was mid 90's F* outside today....I'd say the cooler is doing it's job quite well. More testing (and updates) will for sure be done later.

SilverFoxbody · Aug 17, 2009

you are everywhere man

millhouse · Aug 18, 2009

Lol…I’m just trying to help those out that want to do this conversion in the future. While I did find some documentation (mostly thanks to you and Click Click Racing), A vast majority of the details were left out. Again, hopefully this will help to answer many of those questions specific to the 4r70w foxbody swap.

On a side note, I am leaking fluid after every short drive around town. This is only noticeable when I park it an let it sit overnight. While idling and shortly after stopping…nothing is noticeable. I can’t seem to pinpoint where it’s coming from (no signs of drips or residue). My guess is that it’s originating from the VSS sensor hole (speedo). Being as excited as I was to get things going…I simply threw in the VSS sensor with the speedo gear from the manual setup. I don’t think it seated in quite all the way….so I’ll be picking up the appropriate gear sometime today or tomorrow (I’m assuming the auto vs. manual gears are a different height). Again, for those interested…(and more thanks to clickclickracing) I found that all 98-02 4r70w transmissions use a 8 tooth drive gear which means I’m looking for the D0OZ-1721-B Purple 21 tooth speedo gear. Here is a link with a list of the gears required…. 94-95 Mustangs Drivetrain Speedometer Gears - Mustang-Tech

SilverFoxbody · Aug 18, 2009

Please write a tech article for CCR

millhouse · Aug 18, 2009

SilverFoxbody said:
Please write a tech article for CCR

PM sent

millhouse · Aug 22, 2009

Ok, the shifter plate covering the manual shift hole is semi-completed. I'll end up taping a FORD blue oval on the back-side, shot-blast it to give it some texture and paint it black. As for the tranny leak, it ended up being the drain plug was a bit loose and slowly dripping after parking it. It never dripped while I was looking though...go figure!

Anyways, here are some pics of the new cover with the OD lockout and street/race tranny tune switch's.

4r70w Convesion with Hurst Quarter Stick

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