Aod rebuild at home.

[turbo2256b]

The small shaft that comes out the front should have a X ground into the end that seats into the tranny to help with oil flow were it seats.

[BerniniCaCO3]

I even found a photo of what you're talking about here: http://www.clickclickracing.com/tech%20mods1.pdf
Is the front end of the smallest/ direct drive shaft actually load-bearing/ thrust bearing in any way? I was confused by it.
Just take grinding wheel and carefully notch it, but no machinist precision or balancing necessary?

[turbo2256b]

Just mark it and grind dosent need to be deep just enough for some oil to slip in. That end then inserts into the tranny.

[BerniniCaCO3]

OK, so not the torque converter end. Thanks, will do!

[sly]

that AOD looks pretty good overall.

[zoomie]

Got a pic of the. New converter we built this morning, wil post when I get a chance.

[88grandmarq]

I am confused why the direct drum is so scored up...nothing rides against that drum to cause that sort of damage.

If you are going to replace the direct drum with the stamped steel style drum, I would highly recommend using the alto Direct clutch pack kit. This kit uses thinner fictions and steels, which allows you to stack more clutches into the stock drum, which creates more clamping force. depending on how thick your clutch piston is, you can get up to 8 clutches in there.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ALTO-DIRECT-CLUTCH-PACK-FORD-AOD-TRANSMISSION-MUSTANG-TRUCK-80-91-LINCOLN-MERCUR-/170772802580?hash=item27c2da2c14&item=170772802580&pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr#ht_920wt_905

[zoomie]

your new custom converter ready for assembly and paint., garunteed to please

[BerniniCaCO3]

Got everything yesterday evening from Zoomie/Alan at Dirty Dog
Tuesday during the day, I did all the lip seals with the hell of Bill Norris at my local very friendly trans shop. They are apparently the tricksty bit. There are plastic protectors, I can't imagine they're that expensive, and then I used plenty of assembly lube and trans fluid to grease the seals, and a feeler gauge to work the pistons in with the new seals.

I did not know until yesterday, basically, so I'm going to write as if anyone reading might not know,
but the way planetary gear sets work is to use the sun as input, and then either lock the ring with a band, or the planets with clutch rings.

The bands are straight forward: the servo pistons, in the valve body, press on them. They're just glorified band clamps and the servo is just an aluminum stick.

The clutch rings are a bunch of frictions and steels with teeth, and these are pressed together by a ring/donut-shaped piston. This piston is what has the "lip seals," just rubber o-rings that go around the inside and outside circumferences. Quite simple really, but I understand that it's vitally important not to nick, scar, or certainly not tear, one of these seals: or when that pressure is applied to lock that clutch pack, it will bleed past the damaged lip seal just like leaky caliper seals, and won't apply 100%. Slippage, and then heat buildup and premature failure of the clutch material, will result.
The seals are directional, sealing against the direction pressure is applied. Barbed, like an arrow, so the hydraulic pressure will make the seal stronger the more pressure is applied. Some seals are simple square cut... but not many. Most are directionally flared, especially in the pistons.
Unfortunately when you install it, you need to go against the barb, so it doesn't drop in willingly.
You can use plastic rings/domes to assist, by keeping the lip seal squished against the donut piston so it doesn't catch/bind/roll under. We also used a feeler gauge, going around and around to settle it into place. Another trick was to install the smaller, center seal, drop the piston in to completely seat that center seal, then pull it out again and do it with both seals, so you were only fighting the outer seal-- the inner seal was already evenly seated.
Finally, it was important to drop the piston in completely level, not cockeyed. Gripping the drum with the fingers and pulling outward on the piston with the thumbs while gently turning and very gently applying downward on the piston with the thumbs could get it to seat nicely.

Now to un-apply one of these pistons, there are return springs to push the piston back outwards again. Otherwise the clutch plates would slip and grate for a second or two after the hydraulic pressure had been released, while the piston just sat in a partially applied position. The return springs push it back all the way in an efficient, short amount of time.
The return springs are held with slight pressure at all times via a snap ring.
You do need a hydraulic press with appropriate adapters to push in the return springs, so you can pull out the snap ring, release the press, and remove the return spring to get to the piston and its lip seals.
So maybe, it will end up being cheaper/easier/ less stressful to just pay your transmission shop to use their press and their protectors and just do it for you, unless you crave the learning experience.

Pictures to follow; i'm working 46hrs/week, going to two night classes, and am doing this transmission project also... with social dates and side work also, so this project may last another week.

Tomorrow after work I'll have an hour, to do the reverse drum, which I hadn't got to yet, and start putting in clutches and reassembling all the drums in a mockup before installing them back in the case. Really, I'm pretty close.

Oh, I did also do the pump seals. Nothing too special there, but I'll write on it later.

[BerniniCaCO3]

One concern I have is that in going for the AODE: AOD swap, with the 2" OD band,
I had to remove the input shaft from the first drum of the AOD, press it out, and press it back in to the parallel drum from the AODE.
It seems that it might be sticking out further, as much as 3/16".
I'm not sure.
I'll get a clearer picture with my total mockup, and then I can compare where the input shaft compares to the direct drive center shaft height (length)-wise.
Maybe then someone can tell me if it seems OK. I don't actually know that I could safely press it very much further in though, if it isn't ok.
Or just try to install, and see that the torque converter has some spline length to slide on, and isn't pressed against the flex plate! But it would be nice to know before that point!

[BerniniCaCO3]

Figured I'd update here; there was some drama

My home rebuild did not go 100%.

After I rebuilt and installed it, first concern was that overdrive slipped, very very easily.
It also hung in 2nd gear and would bump down to 1st.
The latter was solved by reinstalling my E9 valve body, which apparently has a number of improvements over the earlier E4 valve body, including the 3-4 accumulator delete. The transmission core I bought may have been a police mustang transmission, and according to silverfox, they were actually designed to favor 2nd gear. Why, I have no idea. None at all.
The former issue was an aftermarket sonnax "A++" servo that even though calibrated exactly to spec and according to the directions --I reread and reread them and re-re-checked the measurement-- their directions had me grind the servo pin too short. Hence the slipping overdrive.

So I drove in 1st-3rd gear only for a week before I dropped the pan and took care of both concerns.

When I dropped the pan, I found metal, and some clutch material. Concerning.

So I drove another week with a working overdrive and no 2-1 funky, and dropped the pan again to check... more clutch material, a little more metal, and burnt fluid.

I pulled the transmission and found the direct clutches burned up.

Possibly, the original valve body did this.

I needed a car,
So a week and a half from today, or was it 2 and a half weeks ago, I reinstalled my old transmission parts but with the new converter, and, the "new" 2-3 accumulator from my failed rebuild.
It's not failing. No burnt fluid.
So... it had to be the valve body? We did go back over every check ball, sealing ring, and gasket, that would be relevant; oiling holes... everything we could think of. None of it looked bad.
*sigh*.

I'm tired of removing and replacing transmissions at this point, and of spending money on trans fluid, so I've been taking a break. In a week, or two, I will drop the transmission again and reinstall my upgraded parts, with a fresh direct drum, fresh direct drum seal, and also all new bearings (just in case, while I'm in there) and a new OD band since that was damaged a little bit from the 20 miles of slipping.
That's where it rests now!

Mostly I appreciate the learning experience!
And have a greater respect for transmission shops (if they're doing it right). You'd like it to be cut and dry, but man, not I, not the shop owner helping me, not anyone over the internets, has a specific cause for the direct clutch failure. Must've been either a slightly off drum that caused the clutches to bind, or something in the valve body... nothing else....