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Author Topic: Transmission Swap A4LD  (Read 8837 times)

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Offline Rebolting73

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Transmission Swap A4LD
« on: September 21, 2014, 07:54:38 PM »
Hi, am swapping from a C-4 to an A4LD in my 73 Pinto. If anyone runs this setup and has any words of wisdom or links I would appreciate the input. The transmission was a freebie out of a 92 Mustang 2.3. It is freshened up with a master kit, clutches, bands, servos, shift kit with o-ring plugs and sonnex boost valve. On tear down, the unit showed light bushing wear and a couple brunt frictions in the direct clutch.  This clutch pack fail is reportably a normal A4LD fail and attributed to correctable low piston pressure ( I hope). The valve body has been swapped to an early single solenoid. The torque converter lockup is set to run on a pressure switch modification that should make the transmission a stand alone. My plan is to to use the Pinto mount and stock cross member and move the cross member mounts back. I think the drive shaft needs to be about 4.5" shorter too.

Offline amc49

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Re: Transmission Swap A4LD
« Reply #1 on: September 22, 2014, 08:24:51 AM »
Luck with that, I'd love to do one myself.

 You do realize an A4LD is basically a C3 with OD right? May open up some other avenue of possible parts......... ........at least once past that front part of trans. Back 2/3 is almost all C3. Dunno if the front pump is like C3 in that you MUST center up pump to body with a special tool, it does not pilot on its' own and will tear up pump instantly if pump not concentric with body as well as converter snout. Why you don't disassemble C3 pump unless forced to. FYI, I've replicated the Ford special tool there by measuring the airspace there (with no seal in place) and picking three same sized drill bits to take up the bulk of the space and then fine tune with 3 feeler gauge blades to center it up within .002 or less before and worked fine. Same stunt works well on 2.3 front crank snout cover as well. You MUST do it on late model stuff with oil pump in that front cover, oil pump running out of concentric from crank by just bolting the cover down has torn up PLENTY of engines there.

Offline Rebolting73

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Re: Transmission Swap A4LD
« Reply #2 on: September 22, 2014, 08:12:27 PM »
Hi, on a 2.0 motor with a C-3 that would be pretty cool too :-)  On my 73, the stock 2.0 has already been swapped to a 2.3 turbo with a C-4 so the A4LD and torque converter should bolt right up. The puzzles are on the shift linkage, drive shaft and cross member.  My plan was to see if the stock shifter will work and just not have low. At the wrecker, the Areostar vans have a clean A4LF shifter that could be used (ok, it's way too tall).  The drive shaft needs shortened or I need info on a ready fit one from maybe a Mustang that had an A4LD ? The cross member and tunnel fit are an unknown to me.  I have a spare stock Pinto cross member and was thinking about welding on some tabs, or cut and move the stock ones. For weld location, will try and reverse the process of putting in a 2.3.  Drop the engine and transmission in, hook the front mounts and let that index the rear.

Offline 74 PintoWagon

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Re: Transmission Swap A4LD
« Reply #3 on: September 22, 2014, 09:39:44 PM »
Ok got a dumb question, will a C-4 bellhousing bolt on to an A4LD and are they the same depth??..
Art
65 Falcon 2DR 200 IL6 with C4.

Offline Rebolting73

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Re: Transmission Swap A4LD
« Reply #4 on: September 22, 2014, 10:03:08 PM »
Just looking out the door into the garage...way different...th e C4 has 7 screws and the A4LD has 8.  The C4 bolts into the bell housing and the A4LD bolts onto the bell housing.

Offline fozzy

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Re: Transmission Swap A4LD
« Reply #5 on: September 22, 2014, 11:38:34 PM »
Ok got a dumb question, will a C-4 bellhousing bolt on to an A4LD and are they the same depth??..
The A4LD bellhousing is also part of the pump assembly on the inside where the C4 bellhousing is just a bellhousing..

Offline 74 PintoWagon

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Re: Transmission Swap A4LD
« Reply #6 on: September 23, 2014, 07:56:32 AM »
Thanks guys!. Crap, so much for that idea guess there's no way of putting an A4LD behind a 200 IL6.. :(
Art
65 Falcon 2DR 200 IL6 with C4.

Offline amc49

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Re: Transmission Swap A4LD
« Reply #7 on: September 27, 2014, 11:22:34 AM »
The A4LD bellhousing IS the pump as said.......... .........

Offline pinto_one

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Re: Transmission Swap A4LD
« Reply #8 on: September 28, 2014, 08:10:07 PM »
Got a A4LD in my 76 pinto, has the V-6,  all I got to say it works great,  and yes you are right on the 4.5 inchs, you have the shorten the drive shaft , and the shifter rod too, on the shifter I am using the stock shifter , but for it to work you have to use the c-3 linkage on the a4ld , you do not have to remove the valve body, use the filler tube that came with the A4LD , it bent alittle diffrent because the bellhousing is one inch longer from having a lock up converter , send me you email so I can send you photos of my relocated trans mounts, great mod if you take the time to do it , it stops the high speed buzz when your on the highway,  best mod to this trans is the find a 4.0 A4LD and put the 2.3 belhousing on it, 1993 qnd after is stronger and will hold up to a turbo easy , later Blaine
76 Pinto sedan V6 , 79 pinto cruiser wagon V6 soon to be diesel or 4.0

Offline Rebolting73

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Re: Transmission Swap A4LD
« Reply #9 on: September 30, 2014, 09:47:18 PM »
Thanks for the info and tips, am looking forward to seeing your mount set-up. Are you running stock torque converter ? I keep seeing these fire brazed, torrington bearing, double balanced converters and wondering if there is much bang for the buck in daily driver.

Offline Rebolting73

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Re: Transmission Swap A4LD
« Reply #10 on: January 18, 2015, 03:41:59 PM »
Hi, as a follow up, the A4LD is installed and working great so far. Having overdrive with a lock up torque converter is very nice for this daily driver.  It was more work than I thought, lol.  It's a pretty tight fit, and the custom build took me a while, but hey, it's a hobby right ?    Peace. 

Offline pinto_one

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Re: Transmission Swap A4LD
« Reply #11 on: January 19, 2015, 11:46:16 AM »
Hey, Glad you got it up and running , hope the photos I sent helped you , I know it was a tight fit and yours is even tighter, 71 to 73 had small trans tunnels and got larger around 75 up,  to me it is a great update if your on the highway all the time, bet you do not have that high speed buzz anymore, and I think all the a4ld have a higher stall speed , did you notice that on yours , mine with the V-6 the tires go up in smoke if I steep on it to hard ,  ;D
76 Pinto sedan V6 , 79 pinto cruiser wagon V6 soon to be diesel or 4.0

Offline OhSix9

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Re: Transmission Swap A4LD
« Reply #12 on: January 19, 2015, 07:31:11 PM »
You can intermix parts from the 4.0 a4ld and the 4r60  to build an essentially indestructible a4ld
Modest beginnings start with the single blow of a horn man..    Now when you get through with this thing every dickhead in the world is gonna wanna own it.   Do you know anything at all about the internal combustion engine?

Virgil to Sid

Offline Rebolting73

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Re: Transmission Swap A4LD
« Reply #13 on: January 19, 2015, 08:17:07 PM »
Thanks, I wanted to copy your cross member but the 73 tunnel was too tight.  Once I figured out I would not be able to tuck the exhaust up I went straight across, frame to frame.  I did stay with the stock shifter and so far I love it. I never manually select 1st gear anyway, lol.  The 4.0 transmission with the 6 pinion planet is much tougher and PATC will build one for a fair price. Also, over at the Ranger Forums, a guy builds one up too, called Frankentranny.  I would love one, but maybe later. My transmission guy said to just make sure to avoid towing and keep the engine under 300 HP and I should be ok with the Mustang box. Time will tell.  So far, it's pretty smooth and quiet on the highway.

Offline pinto_one

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Re: Transmission Swap A4LD
« Reply #14 on: January 20, 2015, 10:21:43 AM »
Did the same thing on mine, found out that the later 1993 up had the 6 pinions , just like my 4.0 ranger,  But you can tow with it, but NOT in overdrive, I have over 250K on my ranger towing and almost 400K on the bronco II before it took a dump, I learned about not towing in overdrive a long time ago, also when you are in high gear manually lock up the torque converter , they have more stall than the stock one and makes more heat, I tow a 16ft scamp camper with mine and when I lock it up the temp goes down below engine temp, nice cross member Bebolting 73 , simple but works , a real tight fit on yours , but worth it, do you have the two wire or the three wire A4LD ,
76 Pinto sedan V6 , 79 pinto cruiser wagon V6 soon to be diesel or 4.0

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Re: Transmission Swap A4LD
« Reply #15 on: January 20, 2015, 10:28:18 AM »
here is a photo of mine installed , 74 up pinto larger trans tunnels,  the is with a 2.8 V-6, with a 1994 A4LD out of a 4.0 ranger with a 2.9 converter
76 Pinto sedan V6 , 79 pinto cruiser wagon V6 soon to be diesel or 4.0

Offline Rebolting73

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Re: Transmission Swap A4LD
« Reply #16 on: January 20, 2015, 07:49:22 PM »
Those pipes 3x3 look cool like that. Good to hear you are getting lots of miles with the A4LD.  I get a lot of horror stories about the Pinto and now have the transmission to match.   I am running a 92 transmission with an 86 2-wire valve body.  The lock-up is controlled by a pressure switch instead of the EEC.  I did the TransGo shift kit, kevlar bands, Sonnax control valve and o-ring end plugs.

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Re: Transmission Swap A4LD
« Reply #17 on: January 21, 2015, 09:57:35 AM »
Yep those are good mods , did my first one back in late 80,s to a 80 wagon, same two wire with 2.3 bell, had a good trans guy down the street , back then they did not have any mods because it was still kind of new , but everyone thinking of doing this mod has better going out NOW to pick up on this stuff because it is going to be very hard to find like a pinto in a wrecking yard to get parts from, the A4LD production has ended almost 20 years ago to the computer controlled ones later on , if your thinking of do this to your pinto better grab a few now if you have a place to stash them, pinto parts too, and do not believe the bad stories on the pinto , I hear them all the time, my reply is they were fixed by the recall , on the trans change the fluid every 15K , do not pull in over drive , when pulling a trailer use drive gear only , then make sure you lock up the converter by a adjustment or a bypass switch , (got one on my ranger)  and next is the stall speed is higher , now I need a posa unit , bet Rebolting 73 does too when he power brakes and gets up on boost his tires goes up in smoke , I can see his smile from way down here in Mississippi when he does ,
76 Pinto sedan V6 , 79 pinto cruiser wagon V6 soon to be diesel or 4.0

Offline Rebolting73

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Re: Transmission Swap A4LD
« Reply #18 on: July 28, 2017, 11:13:29 PM »
Well, the Pinto got a ride home on a tow truck.  Transmission issue.  Everything was fine, kind of creeping along in slow and go traffic and then nothing.  Like it slipped into neutral. Coasted to the shoulder and there I sat.  Has reverse only.  Checked the shifter and it seems fine, plenty of fluid.  Guess I will start with the pan and see what's in it.