96+ swap

scxr7

Registered User
hey, I've got a 96 tranny that I'm going to replace the stock P.o.S. aod trans with. while I'm at it, I was considering taking the wiring harness from my 96 cougar and replacing the 93 tbird wiring harness with it, so I can swap everything from my cougar onto the tbird. the only problem I can see would be the instrument panel not working, and the driveshaft might be an incorrect length due to the transmission swap. I could take the driveshaft from my cougar, thats no problem its already out. but has anyone else swapped in a 96+ harness into the 89-95 tbirds? I really hate the aod transmission, and I've already spent retarded amounts of money on my cougar plus another 1200 on the TUNE alone.

any tips or info would be helpful. Like I said, it should be straight forward minus the dash and driveshaft. Thanks!
 
You are going to have more issues than you think with wiring. For the 96 wiring you work, you are going to need to use the computer harness and the engine harness. You will also have to repin/rewire the body harness to work with the computer harness, repin/rewire the dash connections to work with the cluster (i.e. tach, CEL, etc.), and then manually add wiring to reach the harness for the transmission that goes through the trans tunnel. Then you will need to have a tune to have the 96 computer run the engine and turn off the OBDII stuff you won't be using, like the rear oxygen sensors and the EVAP monitor. Plus you'll probably want to add the OBDII connector, but that'll probably be the simplest thing of all!
 
The wiring is no big deal. Got everything I could possibly need still sitting in my 96 cougar with a sc motor. Sensors are no big deal either still got those on the cougar too. I'll swap the dash and cluster from the cougar into the third. Are the driveshafts the same lenghth for sod and 4r70w trannies? Thanks.
 
i believe the aod trans is about and 1 or 1.5 inches longer than the 4r70w trans, dont hold me to it but im thinking thats what it was. so there for your driveshaft is gonna be different length, cant you just measure each shaft and see if they match?
 
By the time you've gone through that whole headache of swapping and retuning etc.... just get yourself a built up AOD and a good valvebody to match your setup and off you go.

The AOD's are now starting to find their stride in the market and people are dumping C4's etc for them because they are getting built up so good. Aftermarket parts etc are coming out for them that help strengthen them.

Go over to www.clickclickracing.com and ask around. There is ALOT of info over there on the AOD etc.

Fraser
 
the thing is. I've GOTTA get rid of this cougar. Its been taking up space in my garage for 7-8 months since the engine blew. I've got the cougar tuned already, it has a tune for 13lbs of boost with 36lb injectors and all the emissions crap has been turned off. I have had my transmission at the tranny shop for almost 3 months now. I didn't know I was going to buy a s/c 3 months ago. Now that I have the s/c I gotta get rid of the cougar. and my tranny is STILL at the shop! I don't want to waste 2500 bucks on this transmission if I can't put it into something.

So that is why I am so determined to do the 96+ swap. I'm not worried about the instrument cluster anymore. That I can take care of with some simple wiring. Its not like I'm new to working on cars. I'm still "new" but I'm a certified mechanic of 3 years(not bragging, just saying). Since I have access to a lift and an abundance of tools, I THINK this should be pretty easy. but I was wondering if anyone has already done this and can let me know of any issues or problems they ran into.

Spare me the comments of "its too much of a hassle" please. I'm 100% going to do this swap. Its just a matter of planning ahead and getting 90% of the bugs worked out on paper before going head first into this. Of course I'll be losing a few sensors while doing the obd2 swap, such as the knock and map sensor.

I'll be doing a cam upgrade and swapping and swapping the mpx over to the tbird also. with the bolt ons and crap, along with the 60lb injectors, I'll HAVE to go get a tune anyways. My tuner owes me a couple hours on the dyno anyways. ...sorry for writing a book, but if someone has any tips about any issues I might run into feel free to lemme know.

thanks! :)
 
Sorry if I came off the wrong way. Maybe it was stress from last week, but thanks for the advice
 
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