Things needed for AOD to be as fast as Manual?

What year GT? Can't tell you the type of tranny unless we know that. I'd say first thing should be a transmission cooler and a shift kit or electronic adjustment depending on year. They're not too expensive and much less than a full race trans.

Imho if you want a 5 speed then hold out and find what you really want so you don't kick yourself later. That's what I would do. But there are things you can do to make an auto less slugish and as fast or faster than a five speed. Do a search for the j-mod it seems to be pretty popular. Or you could go the more expensive route and do a trans cooler and shift kit. Gears are a must w/ an auto or 5-speed. If you like the feeling of banging gears (I know I do) I'd get a 5-speed though.

Transmission cooler - A must have for the automatic. Heat is the number 1 killer of automatic transmissions. Heat breaksdown the mercon in the transmission fluid which is the additive that protects the transmission from thermal breakdown. A transmission cooler will extend the life of the transmission by lowering temperatures and reduces wear by extending the life of the mercon in automatic transmission fluid. I have the Steeda transmission cooler which I bought from www.steeda.com for about 40 bucks plus shipping. However, many of the guys on here are using the B&M 24,000 GVW transmission cooler and I believe they now have a model with a fan on it for increased cooling power. If you can, I'de save up and buy that one instead. Typicall install for a transmission cooler isn't but about 1 hr. Its fairly easy and mounts on the radiator.

Torque converter - This is the unit that is found at the front of the automatic drivetrain. It works by increasing torque mulitplication. The higher the stall speed, the more increased the effects of the torque multiplication are. I have one from Precision Industries and they are about the best available today. Lentech transmissions is also pretty good as well. For a n/a application, anything less than a 2800 stall would be a waste. For a boosted application, anything less than 3500 stall is a waste. Just my .02 cents. I bought my torque converter from www.houstonperformance.com shipped to the door for 714 dollars. That was about a year ago but I doubt the price has changed much. You have to call them to talk to them about the torque converters as they are not listed on their homepage, at least they weren't last time I checked. Typical time for the install of a torque converter is 4-6hrs. so if you have it done professionally, figure that amount of time for labor into the total.

Shift kit - Jerry mod shift kit. All you do is enlarge the holes in the valve body and replace/remove some of the springs in the 1-2 and 2-3 accumulator pistons. For more information, go to www.tccoa.com and browse through their transmission articles on the 4r70w automatic transmission. If you're not mechanically minded, then I recommend having someone do this for you. If you don't want to mess with a shift kit, then you can buy a performance valve body from some place like Lentech transmissions or Performance Automatic. Typical time for the shift kit install is about 3-4hrs. For just a valve body swap, probably about 1.5-2.0 hrs.

Differentail Gears - Although not part of the transmission itself, its definately a needed mod for the automatic. Steeper gears help to put you up into your powerband faster and are great for the automatic. Anything less than 4.10 gears for the n/a automatic would be a waste IMHO. If you're going with a turbo or supercharger, you can go with 3.73's or go with 4.10's and a 28in slick for the rear. I bought my gears from Randy Stinchcomb at Liberty Ford out of Randallstown, MD. You can contact him at www.modulardepot.com under the Forums section in the "Ford parts" category. He's a great guy to work with. If you don't want to buy from him, you can buy gears for a decent price at places like www.stangstore.com and www.mustangtuning.com

Be aware that with the automatic it's a straight sensor design and the speedo gear has been eliminated in the 99+ models. Therefore, you will need a chip, dyno tune, or EEC flash to correct the speedometer and the shifts for the new gears. I recommend the dyno tune, however, you might want to wait on that if you're going to be getting other mods done. Superchips Tuning are the guys to talk to about tuning, EEC's and chips, especially for the automatics as Jerry Wroblewski works for them. In case you don't know, Jerry W. is the man who used to be a Ford engineer who helped design the 4r70w automatic and has been working on them for many years now. He is also the designer of the "Jerry mod" shift kit mentioned above.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

EDIT: One more thing. A automatic transmission is very dependable but only if you treat it good. Aside from the mods above, make a good maintenance schedule a must for your car. Frequent changing of the transmission fluid and transmission filter is a good idea. You're car must also use no less than a Mercon V rated fluid. For best results, change the transmision fluid and filter every 20-30k miles, especially if you're intending on racing it.

baller760 said:

Anybody? Is it a 4R70W?

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Yes, the 4.6ltr GT's use the 4r70w automatic transmission. The 99+GT's have the improved design of it so that puts you in luck. For more information, consult the information I wrote for you in the above post.

The gears and chip will cost around $750. For the torque converter and tranny cooler plus install will be over $1,000. Im thinking about selling my chip, its a superchip micro tuner. You can adjust the speedo for gears, speed limiter, rev limiter, shift pressure, and a couple other things. PM me if your interested.

96stanggt-vert said:

Imho if you want a 5 speed then hold out and find what you really want so you don't kick yourself later. That's what I would do. If you like the feeling of banging gears (I know I do) I'd get a 5-speed.

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Agreed 110% - Don't let the dealer talk you into something you really don't want!!!

Well, you can buy gears for around 150 dollars. You can buy the torque converter for about 714 dollars. The Jerry mod shift kit is pretty cheap. You only have to buy a new upper spring for the 1-2 accumulator piston and some new valve body gaskets. If you buy a peformance valve body, look to spend about 300 bucks. The transmission cooler will cost at least 40 dollars and a chip or EEC flash will cost about 300-400 dollars. A total of about 1200-1500 dollars. Then, you have to figure installation charges into that. It is expensive, however, all these mods together will make knock a good 1.0-1.5 off your 1/4 mile times so keep that in mind also. Not to mention an automatic transmission can take lots more abuse than a five speed.

Dark Knight pretty well covered everything. I went with Performance Automatics valve body and Precision Industries torque converter. Later, I upgraded to a Performance Automatics Super Comp race tranny. I like the PA stuff. Check out my times below...