tranny

[chris_russell11_13]

im wanting to make my car fairly fast. i know what i want to do for the motot now.. but should i stay with the aod or should i switch to a different tranny?

[chris_russell11_13]

im also wanting to stick with an automatic

[mrltd]

AOD is great if it's built properly.

[chris_russell11_13]

i was thinking about staying with the aod. just putting on a shift kit and an aftermarked floor shifter. but not rebuilding it. you think that that should be good for what im using it for?

[mrltd]

Depends on the current shape of the trans. I'd have it gone though and checked out at least.

[gadget73]

also depends what you're putting in front of it. In stock form, they're not really good for much beyond stock horsepower. A shift kit may help somewhat with durability, but if you try putting too much motor to it, its gonna blow up. Another thing to consider is what you are planning to do with the car. If this is going to go 1/4 mile at a time, a race built C4 might be a better option. They're lighter and usually a bit cheaper to have built. Stock C4 behind a lot of motor is not going to do it though, they'll blow up too. If you plan to drive the car any real amount, the AOD is probably a better bet since they have a lock up converter and overdrive. Less heat production and the overdrive gearing will help with fuel economy.

[chris_russell11_13]

i might go to a quarter mile track once a year, but definately not very often. i just want a car that noone will see coming. im probably going to drive it fairly often. i was just wondering if the aod will hold up to being put through quite a bit of abuse.

[mrltd]

Not without a decent rebuild, good shift kit, and large cooler. You will want to swap the converter too. Stock converters and performance don't go together.

[gadget73]

very true. a balooned converter will do a fine job at taking out the thrust bearing in the motor.

[chris_russell11_13]

is there anything else i should wory about?

[chris_russell11_13]

roughly how much would a tranny rebuild cost?

[P72Ford]

I think Scott's (Lincolnmania) connection does them for like 1500 installed, for a WR.

[gadget73]

depends who you have do the trans, but 1000-2000 is a fairly average range, depending what you have done exactly.

[chris_russell11_13]

what if i were to do it myself?

[gadget73]

Do you have all the special tools to do an AOD rebuild properly? If not, I wouldn't suggest it. You can buy the tools, but I'd be willing to bet by the time you bought the tools and parts to do the job it would likely cost as much as paying someone to do it. On the up side, once you had the tools you could do one fairly cheaply going forward, provided you're good at it. I know of a guy who built 4 of his own in a fairly short time, blew up all of them before finally paying someone to do the job.

I'd like to learn to do transmissions, but I can't justify the money spent on the tooling for how often I'd probably do one. On the other hand, if I could talk someone who has the tools into showing me how its done, I'd be perfectly fine with that, since most likely I'd build one for myself and be done with it.