Understanding my AOD and its potential

^^ thanks a lot notch back...so in your first post are you saying not to go with a manual valve body? and pleas explain the thing about the shuffle and the clutch in lamens terms bc i do not really know what shuffle is or understand what that actually means. Thanks a lot

the shuffle is a way of holding second gear longer. You start in 1st and shift up to D, wait for the shift and then pull the shifter back into 1st to hold 2nd. When you want 3rd you shift up to D again.

To get a valvebody, look at www.lentechautomatics.com. They have 2 styles. Full manual and auto/manual (street terminator) It will work like a manual but will shift itself like an auto if you want.

davs5.0 said:

the shuffle is a way of holding second gear longer. You start in 1st and shift up to D, wait for the shift and then pull the shifter back into 1st to hold 2nd. When you want 3rd you shift up to D again.

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And it is VERY bad for the tranny. DON'T DO IT. It's the fast way to ruin a perfectly good AOD.

I have an aod with gearset from a 4r70w. You can get a good used 4r70w for $250 to rob parts from. Used all the '98 up internal parts except case, output shaft input shaft and pump. Better clutches, stronger gears ect. Monster tranny cooler, TCI Streetfighter non lockup converter, 1 pc input shaft and frpp reboxed lentech stage2 street terminator vb round it off. Must use low rev governer with the wide ratio gears to acheive automatic 5200-5500 rpm 1-2 shift.

With the lentech vb you can shift automatically or manually. The manual shift pattern is 1-2-3/4 w/electric od lockout.

A high stall converter gains alot of launch power. More than dumping the clutch at 4000 rpm witout the parts breaking. Torque converters MULTIPLY torque. The non lockup kills a couple mph and gas mileage while adding durability and extra heat.

If I had to do this over I'd contact Baumann engineering and get a controller for a 4r70-w. That way I could have lockup. Same money by the time you beef up an aod.

Lyncher said:

^^ thanks a lot notch back...so in your first post are you saying not to go with a manual valve body? and pleas explain the thing about the shuffle and the clutch in lamens terms bc i do not really know what shuffle is or understand what that actually means. Thanks a lot

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no , i'm not saying no manual valve boby...that is a GOOD thing to get.

it's just beacuse the aod has 2nd and 3rd all in 1 spot aka "D" you have to do the "shuffle" to manually shift w/out a manual valvebody.

w/ a man VB your good to go, manually shifting any other tranny doesn't hurt it, just the aod cuz the gear selection setup.

ford should have made d/od the same spot cuz it won't shift to od unless wot anyways. but thats what did, so thats how you gotta fix it.

the "shuffle" was explained, and the clutches i was referring to(if that was to me)
are the clutch packs and clamping bands. when you do the shuffle (holding 2nd by pulling back into "d")

the trans is in 2nd gear...but you re-engage clutches that are for 1st gear, because the shifter is pulled back to "1" so thats where the damage occurs...once you contaminate the fluid in an aod, particularly the stock converter...you cause the problems to multiply. automatically the converter needs replacing ($500 for stocker even so get a high stall....3000+) and the od band is a weak link too..wears out and that material is where??? the fluid , causing more failure yet.

that kit i mentioned b4 (motorsport wide gear set) is the same kit 5.0 t-bird guy is referring to, sounds like he didn't buy the kit, just the internal parts...i think the kit was about $500 when i did it , but that was over 6 years ago.

building an aod is EXPENSIVE.....if it's not a daily driver consider a c4 swap if you want to keep auto...but then you have no od...

i really like t5's better , but i have had some bad experiences w/ aod's as money pits that never performed. like i said...my '90 gt had 3 of them, and the last was on it's way out when i sold it. these were all done by done by trany shops too, so it wasn't my dumb@ss mechanics that screwed them up

but lentech makes a good product from what i hear......do like your doing..reasearch EVERYTHING b4 you have to do the work...so you know for sure what you want to do.

webshot said:

While we are on this subject could someone explain what a stall converter does that a regular torque converter doesnt (or are they totally 2 diff parts of the tranny). I understand that all in all a stall is better, but I just want to understand the mechanics or theory behind it.

This is a awesome thread.....thanks guys for shedding light on some of this stuff.

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A stall and a torque converter are the same thing. Stall is short for the "stall speed" of the torque converter. Stock is in the 1500 range and not very close to where these motors make power. So you have to wait for the power to come in when you reach the 2600-3500 rpm range. A higher stall converter will let you brake torque the car closer to that sweet spot. Less waiting for the power and therefore quicker times.

Think of it in terms of a 5 speed. Do you want to launch the car at 1500 rpms or 3000 rpms? Higher rpm's means better 60' times. The torque converter also multiplys torque. So the more multiplication, the faster the car will accelerate. Make sure you ask your converter supplier what the multiplication is.

Im getting ready to purchase a new tranny and converter...Im planning on going with the 3000 stall...will the car always be running at 3000+rpm (in every gear) as long as its moving? If Im setting at a stop light and start to give it gas, I guess the car won't move until it get to 3000rpm? Thanks.

Just FYI here's some info that may
help you do what you want without
spending ~$2k

http://www.lincolnsonline.com/article80.html
http://www.lincolnsonline.com/article111.html

dbdragracing said:

Im getting ready to purchase a new tranny and converter...Im planning on going with the 3000 stall...will the car always be running at 3000+rpm (in every gear) as long as its moving? If Im setting at a stop light and start to give it gas, I guess the car won't move until it get to 3000rpm? Thanks.

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no, i believe, that the 3000 reffers to when you floor the car, and you feel that slight hesitation(the rpms building). thats the RPM its building to, and that should put you in your power band a lot fasters, and ultimately make you go that much faster.

as for the MVB(i had a hard time wrapping my head around the concept at first) it looks like a stock AT shifter set-up. if you want to drive like a normal stock AOD, just put the trans in Drive(which would be 3rd gear) and turn on the OD switch. and the car will drive normal. but when you want to unleash the power of the MVB, just turn off the OD switch, then shift downward into a lower gear. example would be 2nd gear or 1st. from what i've heard, a MVB shift, is equal to a powershift in a stick shift car. breakin the tires loose and such. i cant wait to get an MVB for my car.

it'll be classic, having the other guy look into my car see the AT, he'll most likely get an ego boost cuz he thinks all AT's are slow. we'll line up, and everytime i shift(which will be a lot faster than his) i break the tires loose, BAM......BAM.....BAM...hahahah


~Steve

i have a ger performance aod,look up g.e.r,with a 3000 stall and asemi manual valvebody.if kept in od it shifts normally except if your going full throttle it wont engage overdrive untill you let off the gas.or you can shift it manually holding each gear to whatever rpm you choose.let me tell you this transmiision rocks and is very consistant i would check into it if i were you.

mustangGT85 said:

as for the MVB(i had a hard time wrapping my head around the concept at first) it looks like a stock AT shifter set-up. if you want to drive like a normal stock AOD, just put the trans in Drive(which would be 3rd gear) and turn on the OD switch. and the car will drive normal. but when you want to unleash the power of the MVB, just turn off the OD switch, then shift downward into a lower gear. example would be 2nd gear or 1st. from what i've heard, a MVB shift, is equal to a powershift in a stick shift car. breakin the tires loose and such. i cant wait to get an MVB for my car.

~Steve

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Just a quick heads up here. You are describing a semi-manual valvebody. Lentech's street terminator and the GER mentioned above. A FULL manual valvebody means you have to use the shifter EVERY time you want to shift gears, UP and DOWN. Something to really consider when deciding what you want in your everyday driver.

Full manual means you do all the work. Need to downshift, you pull the shifter back. Semi-manual will work as auto doing all the shifting or you can change the gears if you feel like it.
The switch to engage OD is an add on that you wire (or your mechanic). Pretty easy to wire up, just like wiring an electric fan or fog lights.

davs5.0 said:

Make sure you ask your converter supplier what the multiplication is.

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Facorty torque multiplication is 1.93. Precision Industries makes a converter with 2.53. From http://www.converter.com/stallion.htm.....

"The standard performance gain reported is 2 tenths on 60 foot times and up to 3/4 of a second on overall elapsed times in the 1/4 mile. The torque multiplication on the 9.5-inch series is 2.53 to 1 compared to stock at 1.93 to 1. The torque multiplication of the converter will deliver an increase of up to 50 horsepower to the rear wheels."

So you get more power at the rear wheels with out changing anything on or in the engine.

curious on the full manul vs. semi-manual... if i go with the semi, can i downshift to 2nd on turns and stuff and not have it kit into 1st if the rpms drop too much? i made that mistake with my aod once when i first got it trying the shuffle and i left it in second (was going 20mph) and it kicked back to 1st. that's why i don't do the shuffle, heh. but i want to be able to downshift without it slamming into 1st. but the full manual sounds really nice.

thanks for this thread! i've been saving for a lentech street or strip and a 3000+ converter and i'm almost there and now i know this is what i want!

dbdragracing said:

Im getting ready to purchase a new tranny and converter...Im planning on going with the 3000 stall...will the car always be running at 3000+rpm (in every gear) as long as its moving? If Im setting at a stop light and start to give it gas, I guess the car won't move until it get to 3000rpm? Thanks.

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no, 3000 is a reference point point anyways. for XXX hp in a XXXX lb. car

the lighter the car and less hp it has to that reference poiont...the LOWER the stall speed will be.

usually about 4000 lbs is typical for weight and 300-350 HP (but thats a guess kinda, but figure the typical 60's era car)

and if you take off easy...it'll go off ez....not like a 3k dumping of the clutch