It has been a long time since I made any updates on my stang, so here it goes... Last summer, after an unfortunate incident with a turbo and some the stock NA rings, I did a rebuild. Later that fall, I started getting some piston slap when I started it in the mornings. that continued to get worse, but this spring, it developed a terrible knocking until it got completly hot. Looks like it needed to be bored over, but I didn't have the tools to check it, and my machinist didn't check it for me. Fast forward to this summer. I bought a used engine from an 89 lx mustang so I could have a shortblock to build up and swap for convience. It had to be bored over, so I went .030 over with some diamond pistons. The crank was in spec, and I had everything balanced. I hope to have this engine in the car, and running by the end of the week. The only change from before will be the LIGHTER diamond pistons, and slightly more compression from boring it over, and having the rotating assembly balanced. It will be interesting to see what kind of difference I see when I get it running again. Here is my setup on the car: Naturally aspired dish pistons Milled the head for 9.8:1 compression with the turbo pistons long tube header mild cam (220int@.005, 220exh@.005, .454lift 112lsa) LB3 turbo computer with correct injectors and VAM rebuilt A4ld Before I pulled it appart, I was running mid 18's at 75mph. Obviously, the A4ld doesn't get me off the line very fast, and my 2.7X 60' times kill the quarter times. PLANS FOR THE FUTURE: Hopefully, I will be able to port one of my spare heads, hang a turbo off it, and bolt it on.
Sounds like a fun project, but I agree with 351wcoupe that you should seriously look into a 5spd. swap. Let us know when you get it up and running.
Yeah, I know the A4ld is killing me, but I have to put up with it for now. It still has a year of warrenty left, and after that, I will keep it around until I break it. By then, I will be out of college, and able to do a 5sp swap, and get a daily driver.
Has anyone thought about running a c4? Im new to the board, but not new to cars. The 4cyl pintos and mustangs of the mid '70s came with c4 auto's. Its alot better tranny then the a4ld and can be built to handle 900hp or more. I noticed that it seems alot of the people posting are into drag raceing- and the c4 will definatly cut down your track times. Plus it will last alot longer then a stick unless you've got a purpose built one, and those are quite expensive.
yeah, the C4 is a good strong transmission. The problem is that 2.3 bellhousings are somewhat rare and expensive. I almost went C4, but my parents said they would pay for a rebuilt A4ld, but not the cheaper C4. Also, the C4 doesn't have an overdrive or lock up torque converter, which really sucks for a street car. You need some steep gears to get off the line, but that makes highway driving even worse. There are many people on turboford with C4's. They are great for the quarter.
