The plan is to put a 2.3t out of an '88 T-bird into my '74 Pinto Runabout. I have a complete running donor car with an AOD trans. The Pinto has a C4.
The Debate: The AOD is supposedly cheaper and easier to rebuild to handle the higher ponies we plan to give the engine (roughly 300hp). But from what I've seen, most people doing similar swaps stick with the C4.
What trans should I use? Will the AOD fit?
Further debates include Roller Cam from Ranger or performance replacement and how difficult to switch to roller if we wish, and also rebuilt stock rear end to handle 400hp or swap to 8" rear. If you would like to help with these as well, I would really appreciate it.
Please keep in mind that money is an unfortunate factor, but most of the work will be done by me and crew so money goes towards parts.
Thank you for any help you care to provide.
Seems I made an error, the stock trans for an '88 T-bird Turbo is an A4LD.
But the question still stands, rebuild and use the trans from the 'Bird, or rebuild and use the C4 from the Pinto.
And I had forgotten about TurboFord.org... long hours at work can do that to you.
the a4ld is great for the open road and the smoothness of the shifts, the converter is smaller and it revs faster. we own a small transmission shop in sc. we proably build 10 a4ld's a month. do not believe what you hear about the units they are good. we have one in our explorer that we built and tow what we want to with it. thats what i will be putting in my pinchero. check out my pics in my albumn on here. let me know if i can be of any help.
patrick
You say the A4LD is great for the open road. And that's fine for driving the runabout to car shows. But there's another aspect to this. Will it stand up to me throwing 250-300 horsepower at it as quickly as I can at the Drag Strip up the road during the All-Ford Drags?
Though my full intention is to mostly take the car to shows and cruise nights, I would like to go down the track every so often. And while I was happy and intent on the 250HP figure, my auto-tech friend insists he can get 300HP out of the motor without boring it out and at minimal extra cost to me.
I do it every day with a mustang 2.3 with a a4ld , it will hold up if it is built right. im build one one right now for my pinchero and plan to have a 2.3 Â that will have plenty for all these tuners.
Cool. In that case, what would you suggest on the rebuild? What shift kit, etc?