'93 GT...going from C4 to AOD, questions about swap, TV cable, etc..

[Gen414]

OK guys...

93 GT, had C4 in it, 3rd gear gave up the ghost, and customer decides wants AOD...he has been missing OD. So, finds a company in Florida that rebuilds AOD's with no core charge.

So, customer brings in '93 and his new AOD and converter. I get C4 yanked, AOD in, and I notice couple things:

No TV cable. So, where can I get one? Does Ford still offer it? Or is it junkyard time?
How do I go about adjusting it?

Case length...I was reading in another thread that some AOD's, like those found in G. Marquis/Crown Vics, etc..are longer than Fox Body AOD.

Well, I have car up on my 2 post lift, rear suspension just dangling, and go to put in driveshaft, and it won't go. Too long. So, I shove driveshaft as far as it will go into the tranny, bottomed out and I am JUST able to get it to slide over pinion flange. So, is it possible that customer brought me a G. Marquis/Crown Vic AOD?
Does anyone have the overall length on Fox AOD? G. MArquis AOD?

and last but not least...anyone have a pic on which ports I use for trans cooler?
As you can tell, never dealt with an AOD before...

Thanks for your help.

 

[wht87gt]

Ok I'll take a stab at this. first off the TV cable can be had new from latemodel restoration here...1987-93 Mustang 5.0L Aod Throttle Valve "Tv" Kickdown Cable by Performance Automatic at LRS - Same Day Shipping! Or you can hunt the junkyards to see if you can find one used. Be aware that a used cable can be stretched and may not allow the trans to shift properly or have the proper TV pressure, which can be detrimental to the life of the trans.

As far as the length of the Foxbody AOD's i believe they are about 32 inches long. One of the other guys here can correct me if i'm wrong.

Here's a picture of the ports you need to use for the trans cooler. The upper port is out to the cooler and the lower is the return.

 

[Gen414]

Ok I'll take a stab at this. first off the TV cable can be had new from latemodel restoration here...1987-93 Mustang 5.0L Aod Throttle Valve "Tv" Kickdown Cable by Performance Automatic at LRS - Same Day Shipping! Or you can hunt the junkyards to see if you can find one used. Be aware that a used cable can be stretched and may not allow the trans to shift properly or have the proper TV pressure, which can be detrimental to the life of the trans.

As far as the length of the Foxbody AOD's i believe they are about 32 inches long. One of the other guys here can correct me if i'm wrong.

Here's a picture of the ports you need to use for the trans cooler. The upper port is out to the cooler and the lower is the return.

Thank you sir for info...guessing your photo got deleted for some reason though???

I do appreciate link, and reply. Will take a gander at it...would like to stick with new TV, for reasons jsut like you mentioned. Thanks again.

 

[wht87gt]

Picture fixed, sorry bout that. hope it helps.

 

[Gen414]

Picture fixed, sorry bout that. hope it helps.

Fantastic..thanks!

 

[Gen414]

OK, we got TV cable ordered. Did ahve another question...

Is the AOD an electronically controlled tranny? Or at teh mininum, is 4th gear (OD) electronic? As going through the "clicks" on gear selector shaft, I have found only detents for, Park, Reverse, Neutral, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st.
That's it. Basically just like any other 3 speed tranny (just like the C4 that came out of it). So, was thinking that 4th (OD) was electronically controlled. If so, by what? As there is no harness for anything to plug into.

Again, obvious this is my first go round with an AOD...

 

[wht87gt]

It's not an electronically controlled trans. The clicks in the selector go as follows...Park, Reverse, Neutral, OD, Drive, 1st. There is no 2nd gear position on the selector.

 

[Gen414]

It's not an electronically controlled trans. The clicks in the selector go as follows...Park, Reverse, Neutral, OD, Drive, 1st. There is no 2nd gear position on the selector.

Ahhh, awesome. Thanks a million. That answers that question, and I ran into another yesterday.

TV cable came in mail yesterday, put car back on lift, raised her up, and getting ready to install it, and decided to take a peak at teh trans cooling hookups frompic you gave me.

Guess what? Those holes on this tranny are BLIND! The ports are there, along with threads, but like I said, holes are blind. So,next question...what gives with THAT???

 

[wht87gt]

Ohhh, well thats a new one to me. That isn't something i've come across before. I know there are special quick connect fittings that are used to hook up the stock cooler lines, but if the holes are blind these won't help you at all. At this point i might suggest that you call the shop that built trans and see what they have to say because I can see no reason for those holes to be blind. Sorry I couldn't help you, I'll keep tabs on the thread if you have any other questions.

 

[Gen414]

Ohhh, well thats a new one to me. That isn't something i've come across before. I know there are special quick connect fittings that are used to hook up the stock cooler lines, but if the holes are blind these won't help you at all. At this point i might suggest that you call the shop that built trans and see what they have to say because I can see no reason for those holes to be blind. Sorry I couldn't help you, I'll keep tabs on the thread if you have any other questions.

OK, will do. And listen no worries...you have been a GREAT help. I will keep you updated...thanks a million

 

[Gen414]

Update:

Found the "problem".

Basically after determining that every single AOD ever, those cooling ports are present, that if mine were "blind" would have been a "lottery" type of situation, I examined the ports more closely.
Problem? Well, the shop that rebuilt it, had placed plastic plugs in the ports, and then painted it.
I'll be the first to admit that it would have been alot easier trying to find that out with tranny on the table, but I had put tranny in car before I had determined the above. So, trying to get a good line of site on the ports was difficult, even with car on a lift.
So, we got that sorted out, the TV cable came in, and found out that the motor had been setback in chassis, is why I had a problem with overall length of tranny/drivehsaft fitting.
I was able to determine that by finding out the overall length of Fox AOD, and then measuring one in the car, and saying, OK, this IS a Fox AOD, so that 's not my problem. Then measured driveshaft, and that checked out, etc...
Then looked at motormounts, and saw that they had been slotted (@ Kmember, material had been added on back end of it, holes redrilled, and motor was setback @ 1 1/2"), and back of block was basically touching firewall. Sooooooo, got THAT figured out.
Whew!
So much for an "easy" swap, HA!

 

[wht87gt]

Ahh that makes sense. Come to think of it when i got my AOD from TCI there where plugs in those holes, but they were red so they didn't blend in with the rest of the tranny. I didn't even think of that until i saw your update. I guess it's another one of those "i should have thought to tell you that" situations. Sorry bout that.

With these cars you never know what people before you have done to them. So what are your plans from here? Are you going to leave everything as is and shorten the driveshaft or will you move the motor back to the stock position? Either way I'm glad your making progress and thanks for the update. If you get stuck on anything else feel free to ask and I'll do my best to help you out.