Mod auto transmission into auto-manual style

Mikael88fedon said:

Good afternoon folks

I have a 1989 mustang with the AOD transmission and was wondering if there are any mods or kits that let the automatic transmission act more like a manual and let you select the gears similar to modern cars with paddle shifters or the + and - on modern cars auto transmission

Im not crazy enough for a manual swap and looking for a good in between where i can control the gear the car is in

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I run a Lentech AOD which lets me do what you describe. You could get a valvebody instead of an entire transmission. About 20 years ago, Lentech was the only company that offered an AOD to be setup this way. By now im sure there are other companies that can offer 1-2-3 shift valvebody

There's a valve body modification kit made by transgo. It allows full manual control of 123 plus 4th( OD) and converter lock up, which are controlled by seperate buttons. I have it installed in my 4R70w, and to me it's almost like having 5 gears. The converter lock up drops the rpm significantly, ( like 500 rpm) and directly couples the transmission to the engine.

It's called an AODe3 I believe, and costs about 220.00. Installing it is pretty straight forward, but not for the faint of heart...( you've gotta drill and tap a hole into the transmission case to allow an old school vacuum modulator to control the shift.

The only complaint I have is that it's easy to forget that you've locked up the converter...and coming off of an interstate ramp with the converter locked up has the same effect of leaving a manual transmission in 5th gear.
All of that could be fixed with indicator lights, and that is something I'll do.

Mikael88fedon said:

Thanks for the information. I was hoping for something that let me do 1-2-3-4

The dream would be software that tricked the transmission to shift when i tol it to up and down

I will look into the valve body so see if i find one that does 1-2-3-4. I did find one that does 1-2 by using drive as 2nd gear then overdrive as normal overdrive

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I can only speak for the AOD, because thats what i have, but if you're going to drive the car hard or race it you will want to remain out of 4th. You will break something, i speak from experience.

I dont know much about the electronic controlled trans or new stuff, im sure they are made stronger.

I've got a full manual valve body in mine, with OD/lockup on a switch. I had it installed with a fully built transmission though, so I have no input on installing the VB itself. I did however install it along w/the modulator as mentioned above, and whatever else it came with (I can't remember after almost 12 years).

Being full manual I decided to forego the option to let it shift itself, and I have to shift up/down. I didn't want to bother with it being both ways, I wanted to shift everything. I've been happy with it ever since I put it in, and it surprises a lot of people.

Ozz said:

I've got a full manual valve body in mine, with OD/lockup on a switch. I had it installed with a fully built transmission though, so I have no input on installing the VB itself. I did however install it along w/the modulator as mentioned above, and whatever else it came with (I can't remember after almost 12 years).

Being full manual I decided to forego the option to let it shift itself, and I have to up/down. I didn't want to bother with it being both ways, I wanted to shift everything. I've been happy with it ever since I put it in, and it surprises a lot of people.

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Well hell,..who knew?

I thought I was the only one here that has to manually shift their street driven 4r70. I agree, it's not a problem,...and as opposed to just yanking the thing into D and stabbing the pedal, I prefer to shift the thing to keep it fun...but there is still that " oh sht!" Forgot to disengage OD/LU that I occasionally have to deal with.