The A4LD got a bad rap from the early turbo coupes, It really can be a good strong tranny, Ford use a version of it all the way up to 2010 in the GT mustangs and they held OK stock in a 4,000lb car,
What I did was about like O69 talked about, I got a bell from a later 2.3 ranger, the valve body from a early A4LD, a 4.0L explorer case and late model roller gear trane. Part of the reason they never caught on is no one really made a stall converter for them, not so any more, I'm having a 4K RPM stall made for mine right now....
As far as the OD and converter lockup controls, if you use and late 80's valve body it is shifter controlled (the shifter has positions for 1,2,drive and OD) and you can control lock up with a toggle switch, pretty easy.
The AOD is a pretty big cased tranny, they won't fit in the early Pinto's without tunnel work, not sure about the later Pinto's..
Walt