AOD improvement????

jaymac said:

you sure it wasn't 1500??? or $500 for labor???
If all those parts together cost $500 w/ labor, something is definitely amiss.
See my sig. W/ parts and labor, my tranny cost about $1700, and that doesn't include the Kevlar band, which is another 2-300$, I believe...

EDIT: Are you talking about the Kevlar OD band, or Kevlar clutches ( do the make those?)?

Click to expand...

Thats gotta be for just labor,unless a high school automotive class will be doing the work

they must be using some p.o.s converter. A decent one will run close to that price just by itself.

I have actually been working with a friend on building up my AOD. Its been a spare time thing for us so we've been working on it for two weeks. Just for reference this is what we're putting into it-

Level 10 1 piece input shaft
Art Carr full manual valve body w/brake
A+ overdrive servo
Kevlar overdrive band
Alto red clutches
Upgraded mechanical diode and drum assembly
Edge racing converter 3200 stall non-lockup + Edge Racing T-shirt

(Andre told me on the phone that if I wear the T-shirt and point to it in front of large crowds before a pass down the track I'll go faster)

best upgrade for an aod is a "c4" or "t5"

Bah...too much "aod's suxxorz dude" floating around out there. The c4 has no overdrive. It's no good for long distance driving when a decent performance gear is involved. Even 3.73's on a 1:1 is a lot of rev.

The aod has 2 weaknesses:
1. The direct drive shaft design
2. Terrible stall speed on the stock torque converter. (1500?)

Forget 2500. The minumum you should even bother with is a 3k stall. That is what will actually give you a seat of the pants feeling. 2.5K is ok enough but not worth actually doing a swap to put in. I put in a 2000 stall and it made no difference at all. Even the 3K was a "moderate" difference. Choose a 3K stall with lockup so you can still roll normally on the highway. I chose the TCI streetfighter. About 3K stall, cheap ($300), but fully adequate for street driving.

Hardened lockup shaft. Will run you about $150 but it slides right in.

Drop the valvebody and put a nice shift kit in. The kits are only $75 and come with a video. I chose a transgo kit and it's good enough but does strange things in OD (like dumps you into OD at full throttle in the middle of a race if the selector is in OD and not D). Otherwise, with that in mind, it does everything else stellar and went in in 1 afternoon.

A+ servo. $125 .Holds the OD drum harder. Your stock A or B servo lets it slip a bit.

Kevlar bands. Self explanatory. Holds the drums harder. $25

Rebuild kit. Cheap. $75-90 and basically stacking things up.

A nice cooler. You'll need this for your 3k stall.

If someone offers to do this with parts included for $500, he is ripping you off and plans to not do half of it....will run off with your money or is otherwise shady as heck. Have you ever dropped an AOD? The labor alone is $500 easy to drop, replace a converter and replace that 225 pound monster.

I agree with the others $500 must be for their labor.. That must be for them bench building it??. You take it out and take them all the parts and they build it. And you re-install it.


If your trans is in working order, I would add a good vavle body for now. Get a Lentech, Art Carr etc... One with OD on a switch. That will run you about $400 with shipping and all. You should be able to install it yourself. MM&FF had and write up about it, when they did it to one of their project cars. You can get it with full manual option or the manual/auto option. With the M/A option, you can either put that joker in "D" and go(normal drivin) or use it as a manual(spirited drivin).That way you can hold the gears, as long as you like and OD will only come on when you want it to(on the highway). You won't have to do the 1D1 shuffle anymore also. Down side to this, is you still have the weak input shaft and stock converter.
Then get you a converter and input shaft and all good rebuild kit ready for when the tranny does need a rebuild.


Or get a shift kit but OD can't be locked out. Plus side to this, it won't cost as near as much as the VB. Then you could get the input shaft or converter. There are 2 types of input shafts, the one piece & the one crazypete mentioned, harden stock replacement. Down fall to the 1 piece is you will need some one to press it in and loose lock up(direct drive). And the down fall to the harden stock replacement is, I don't think it is as strong as the 1 piece, but you get to keep lock up and it super easy to install.

I think 500 bucks is just for the labor. I spent about $1500 in parts for mine. Make sure you get a shift kit which doesnt go into OD. I fried my brand new OD band in less then a month even with an "A" servo. Im gonna toss my "TrashGo" and put in a manual valve body. make sure you get a good torque converter too. Do your research well.....

Stay away from B&M torque converters. They arent too great. Invest the 600-800 dollars for a good one, especially one with a 3000 stall. Kevlar bands are for race applications, upgrading to the AODE 2 inch band is more then enough. The 1.5 sucks, like I said, I blew mine out in less then a month. The one piece shaft is a good investment, make sure it matches up with your type of converter though. Good luck....

Not a huge fan of B&M parts here either. Transgo and Baumann shift kits are pretty much the choice for us AOD guys. You can tailor your shift points a bit better with these.

He must be talking a hardened input shaft for that price and you'd need a non lockup converter if you went 1 piece as mentioned above.

Not sure what he's thinking price wise for the B&M converter but I'd seriously give some thought to upgrading it. I kow its probably more money but definately worth it. For an AOD the converter is the heart of the trans. You can make some huge improvements with the right one. I've seen alot of us guys make big jumps with Edge converters. Decent price, excellent service and amazing bang for the buck.

This is what i know-

Guys with Trans-Go shift kits- word to & from the wise, When installing do not install that small box wihich stated WOT in OD addition-That is what is making your tranny go into OD while racing....
My firend installed my shift kit and purposely discarded that box-being its known to rip and kill our OD band in a matter of time. Trans go should eliminate that option, but it is most certainly upto you as the buyer as to what you want for your car. personally-i dont have that option-and happy as well with my choice.
I have never had that problem with the tranny shifting into OD at WOT or anything relse for that matter-Whithout dropping the tranny in OD to have OD when needed on the highway. i also have the B&M ratchet T handle shifetr in my car-No problems, ever.
i would not purchase any B&M converters-personally. but thats my opinion. i think besdies the shifter and the cooler, thats about it for B&M.... i also havse a 2800-3000 Edge racing 9.5 racing converter with a hardened input shaft.
Anthony

Monte.....which box is that? I HATEx1 million the way the transgo slams into OD unless shifted back?

Is that the tailshaft regulator? I have the AOD hp kit installed at maximum aggressive settings. I wouldnt mind dropping the VB to solve such an annoying problem.

Hey pete,

i will double check when i get home later on and post the answer. Becuase-I still have the box in my drawer. My buddie tossed it and stated-i remember clearly-He would never install that option on Trans Go'es.... they burn up the OD band and you dont wat OD on wide open throttle....

Anthony

Ok-Here it is............411

Hey Pete,

Ok-Here it is the 411 on the Trans-Go shift, OD @ WOT....
The name on the box is the "AOD HI-REV KIT" this is what makes the **** kit able to have OD @ WOT, this is what you do not want, and should not have installed when doing the Trans Go Shift kit-Unless you want issues with the band and going into OD wehen in Drive "D".... It actually states on the box itself-Increases max throttle upshifts to approximately 5000 rpms This is what was not installed on my shift kit-and I have NO prob's at all.

Hope this helps-Anthony

oooooooooooh, do the instructions say that it goes into the tailshaft? Thats the high speed governor. Yeah, I installed that. oops. Well....thats even easier to remove than the valve body. Thanks bro. I'll swap back and see what happens. It's my only complaint about the kit.

No prob!

Hey pete,

Im not really sure whereabout that part goes, Im not a big tranny guy-my buddy is... im still learning, right about now-I know somewhat everything there is to understand how the unit works, Just not how to fix it! hahahahaha
But i do recall, my friend stating-That is something you do not want, being it rips the AOD's OD band apart in no time. So knowing that-It was out of the question.
I hope the 411 helps and you save the OD band, not having it is horrible, especially with 4.10's on the highway! hahahahaha Better get some ear plugs, the hummmmmmmmm will drive you creazy!

Later Anthony

Bro, with 4.56's I "Huuuuuumm" nonstop! I know I have a drag gear but I say, damn the torpedoes and go 80 mph anyways. The car actually quiets down around 3k. All the pleasant musclecar burbling happens between 1800-2500