AODE upgrades/opinions

outmama

New Member
Nov 25, 2004
17
0
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florida
I have the coveted AODE and will be needing a rebuild very soon. I was hoping that some of you AODE guys woud help me out with some opinions. I like an auto but hate the shift points and the stock converter. I am mostly stock (exaust & 3.73's) now but will probably be adding a SC or H/C/I fairly soon (within a year). Local shops want about 1400 to rebuild and R&R with shift kit no perf conv, but I can get a rebuilt online for about 1000 delivered. If I add a perf conv and shift kit for about 600. I should be in good shape. I am looking for sugestions for converters and shift kits and the benifits that you got from both. I have heard that it is bad to manually shift the AODE but I want to be able to in addition to turning on and off OD..

Thanks guys.
 
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thats what i did to my AODE:

1- special pressure solenoid (higher pressure than the stock solenoid)
2- heavy duty mechanical diode with Spiral "Plus" Ring Kit (replace The roller clutch)
3- Two extra clutches are added to the direct clutch drum for extra holding power
4- Raybestos Pro Series Kevlar band
5- 3000 stall GER custom torque converter with anti-balloon plates for nitrous use.

i also have Hard Intermediate Shaft coz i was using nitrous.

i paid about $1200 i think for the the rebuild + $500 for t/c.
 
94stang-lover said:
thats what i did to my AODE:

1- special pressure solenoid (higher pressure than the stock solenoid)
2- heavy duty mechanical diode with Spiral "Plus" Ring Kit (replace The roller clutch)
3- Two extra clutches are added to the direct clutch drum for extra holding power
4- Raybestos Pro Series Kevlar band
5- 3000 stall GER custom torque converter with anti-balloon plates for nitrous use.

i also have Hard Intermediate Shaft coz i was using nitrous.

i paid about $1200 i think for the the rebuild + $500 for t/c.


That all sounds good, Where did you buy it from?
 
Where in FL are you located?

If you call Mike at Art Carr, he can "hook you up"

You need:
SHift Kit
TC
Cooler.
(to get things woken up)

You need other things if youre gonna be puttin' power in it, but those things are a good start. A chip will help with rev limiter, shift points, and line pressures.

RC
 
another option you might want to look into is picking up a 99+ V6 4R70W, and swapping it over.. Much cheaper then your rebuild, and they are much stronger trans..

This is what i plan on doing.. I already bought the trans, just saving up for the convertor. Its basically a direct swap, with the addition of a tailhousing, epc, and ccs swap over.. real simple stuff!

Il have about $1200 in mine once its done.. But it shoudl be bulletproof.
 
94GTLaserRC said:
Where in FL are you located?

If you call Mike at Art Carr, he can "hook you up"

You need:
SHift Kit
TC
Cooler.
(to get things woken up)

You need other things if youre gonna be puttin' power in it, but those things are a good start. A chip will help with rev limiter, shift points, and line pressures.

RC
I live in Safety Harbor near clearwater. I really need to build it ONCE to hold a nice SC or H/C/I, then 300HP crate motor down the road. Target hp 350-400rwhp within 2 years so I would just like to build it once. What other things should I be looking into?
 
outmama said:
I live in Safety Harbor near clearwater. I really need to build it ONCE to hold a nice SC or H/C/I, then 300HP crate motor down the road. Target hp 350-400rwhp within 2 years so I would just like to build it once. What other things should I be looking into?
Adding a Torque Converter, Shift kit and cooler is not really "rebuilding" it..Therefore if you do those 3 now and the "other stuff" (see below) later, it is not really "rebuilding" it twice. I have the above, and have had the Vortech on almost 2 years, and my stock tranny parts are ok. The thing about the tranny is you "can" wait to something goes to drop it and redo it.

That's what Im doing now...just waiting until I " have to" rebuild it. The 3 things above are always done on an AODE rebuild, but will help you with performance, even now, before the internals are done.


Here is what needs to be done, (from Rich @ Art Carr)



#22251 Super Rebuild Kit $299.00

This kit contains all the friction plates & steel plates needed to overhaul the transmission. Contains a complete bushing kit, bearing kit, filter, gaskets and seals. The common complaint with the AOD is premature failure of third gear. To cure this we upgrade the direct clutch pack with Raybestos Blue Plate Frictions & Mean Treated Steels.



#21364 Mechanical diode kit $229.00

This kit comes with everything necessary to convert over to the updated mechanical diode one way clutch. The factory one way clutch was prone to failure even in stock applications.


#22500 Direct Input Shaft $149.00

This shaft has become a problem when increasing the power. It has been known to break on a wide open 2-3 shift. Our shaft is made of superior 300M


This is optional...our pans our deep enough:

#10501 Deep Aluminum Pan $169.00

Our pan will hold an additional 2 quarts of transmission fluid, also has a magnetic drain plug & cooling fins.
 
OinkAodeOink said:
another option you might want to look into is picking up a 99+ V6 4R70W, and swapping it over.. Much cheaper then your rebuild, and they are much stronger trans..

This is what i plan on doing.. I already bought the trans, just saving up for the convertor. Its basically a direct swap, with the addition of a tailhousing, epc, and ccs swap over.. real simple stuff!

Il have about $1200 in mine once its done.. But it shoudl be bulletproof.

This is a daily driver and I am just learning about my 5.0. So my confidence level is low in trying something like that. It is probably simple, but this is my daily driver for now, and I am trying to keep it as simple as possible for now. BTW. NICE RIDE!
 
94GTLaserRC said:
Adding a Torque Converter, Shift kit and cooler is not really "rebuilding" it..Therefore if you do those 3 now and the "other stuff" (see below) later, it is not really "rebuilding" it twice. I have the above, and have had the Vortech on almost 2 years, and my stock tranny parts are ok. The thing about the tranny is you "can" wait to something goes to drop it and redo it.

That's what Im doing now...just waiting until I " have to" rebuild it. The 3 things above are always done on an AODE rebuild, but will help you with performance, even now, before the internals are done.


Thank you. I just meant that as this is my DD, I would like to just drop the tranny once, and do everything right then, and hopefully have that be able to handle my goal power. I can do the Shift kit without dropping the tranny right?
 
outmama said:
Thank you. I just meant that as this is my DD, I would like to just drop the tranny once, and do everything right then, and hopefully have that be able to handle my goal power. I can do the Shift kit without dropping the tranny right?

Yes, a shift-kit can be installed without dropping your transmission. :nice:
 
94GTLaserRC said:
Where in FL are you located?

If you call Mike at Art Carr, he can "hook you up"

You need:
SHift Kit
TC
Cooler.
(to get things woken up)

You need other things if youre gonna be puttin' power in it, but those things are a good start. A chip will help with rev limiter, shift points, and line pressures.

RC

Is Mike at corprate or at the location in south florida? Rienhert automotive?
 
I'm in the same boat as you. I got a Edge 3000 high stall, Transgo shiftkit, and a tranny cooler to install. considering the tranny has to be removed, its a good time to go through it and beef it up. i plan on h/c/i next year and then a s-trim a year after.

i've been reading alot at the www.tccoa.com articles the jerry wrote. lots of good info there. basically you use stock stronger parts from the newer 4r70W in the trucks and they swap in. they even list part numbers that you can get at your local dealer. its pretty easy to figure out what you need because he lists what he recommends for your intended HP ratings.

definetly a good read

i almost got a complete list. just a few more things here and there.

good luck.
 
94GTLaserRC said:
#22251 Super Rebuild Kit $299.00

This kit contains all the friction plates & steel plates needed to overhaul the transmission. Contains a complete bushing kit, bearing kit, filter, gaskets and seals. The common complaint with the AOD is premature failure of third gear. To cure this we upgrade the direct clutch pack with Raybestos Blue Plate Frictions & Mean Treated Steels.



#21364 Mechanical diode kit $229.00

This kit comes with everything necessary to convert over to the updated mechanical diode one way clutch. The factory one way clutch was prone to failure even in stock applications.


They are over charging for the mech diode. They can be had for $100-120 and I think it's stock on the 98+ 4r70w trannys. And you don't want to use treated steals with the blue plate frictions. Raybestos tech guy told me they will wear them out and could cause slipping. He said just use thicker steel plates. And pretty much all of the rebuild kits are the same it is what frictions are coming in them. The kit listed only comes with the blue direct clutch pack frictions and I bet the rest are stock clutches. I got a complete kit with the blue plates for $120 on ebay and the retail was around $300. So don't be had by if it costs more then it is better. Places will bs you into thinking their stuff is better than the generic brand stuff most places just repackage stuff with their names on it anyway. Thats just my .02
 
Dan95-5.0 said:
I'm in the same boat as you. I got a Edge 3000 high stall, Transgo shiftkit, and a tranny cooler to install. considering the tranny has to be removed, its a good time to go through it and beef it up. i plan on h/c/i next year and then a s-trim a year after.

i've been reading alot at the www.tccoa.com articles the jerry wrote. lots of good info there. basically you use stock stronger parts from the newer 4r70W in the trucks and they swap in. they even list part numbers that you can get at your local dealer. its pretty easy to figure out what you need because he lists what he recommends for your intended HP ratings.

definetly a good read

i almost got a complete list. just a few more things here and there.

good luck.

your not kiding. I am not completely stupid (I can hear my wife arguing and she is 20 miles away right now) but his write was so detailed I went cross eyed...I have read it twice and still learning...