Best AOD tranny & converter combo for street

kenewagner

Registered User
I have my winter projects well under way but am looking ahead to my tranny. It is the original AOD and has had nothing done other than a lentec valve body. It has 144,000 miles on it. It is inevidable that it will go out since I continue to build up the engine. What is everyone recommendation for a kick ~~~ street tranny, and converter? I am leaning toward a Lentec transmission. I am not sure if I want a nonlocking converter, or smaller converter or whatever. The car will see the track about twice a year and other than that it is a street driven car. Goal for the engine is high 300 hp. I have 3.73 gears. What is everyones recommendation?

Ken
 
DirtyDog would be the best to ask about a converter. It also seems to be the consensus that the Lentech's are the way to go with the AOD.
 
Best AOD

Get the best service

I have an aod trans built by Ron Randall of Interstate Transmissions his work is performance proven in 10 second and 9 second range. He builds nice street strip trans he can set you up with right converter

Contact info
Ron Randall
(209) 538-2831
(e-mail) interstatetrans@aol.com

Address
Interstate Transmission
3111 Mitchell Rd
Modesto, CA 95351
 
For street use I'd go for a locking converter, 2600rpm stall. Definitely use a hardened input shaft. If you go with the 2600 stall with the dual shaft locking setup you will get great launches and quick off the line accel but no slippage cruising around. Anthony Arnold and Rich Bruhn are two people I know of with this combination and it works well.

The only thing is you must let whoever does your VB know that you have the dual input shafts so that they don't make the 2-3 shift too firm. Too firm and it will break the input shaft on the 2-3 shift.
 
If you can build the trans yourself just use your original valvebody and get the following parts to upgrade it.
7 dynax frictions for direct with steels.
stamped direct drum.
4 plate intermediate pressure plate with 4 dynax frictions and matching steels.
aode sun shell.
late 4r70w diode type reverse drum with 3 or 4 frictions for it, reverse doesn't make much difference as long as works.
high carbon od band
good forward clutches, I'd keep the wave and stock friction setup for a moderate power street car.
Alan
 
Thanks dave that is helpful. I guess the nonlocking torque convertor is the best for the street? I am sold on lentec for the transmission but wasnt sure about the torque convertor. Guess Ill be talking to dirtyd0g when Im ready for the torque convertor. I fairly certain I dont want to tear into my existing tranny. Dont know much about the mechanics of it. Much more corfortable welding and fabricating. What is the stock stall of the AOD?

Ken
 
I purchased a lock up TCI trans from Jegs about 4 years ago. I like it, the only thing I don't like it does not have the manual valve body like the Lentech. It has a manual/auto valve body but I still have to shovel shift it to get 2nd, not just bump it up the thru the gears like the Lentech. I think I paid around $1600 for the trans, www.tciauto.com, no conveter . The only thing I regret is going with the stock stall converter which I believe is 1600-1800. But that's going to change this year with a converter from Dirty Dog somewhere in the 2200-2600 range.
 
Thanks dave that is helpful. I guess the nonlocking torque convertor is the best for the street? I am sold on lentec for the transmission but wasnt sure about the torque convertor. Guess Ill be talking to dirtyd0g when Im ready for the torque convertor. I fairly certain I dont want to tear into my existing tranny. Dont know much about the mechanics of it. Much more corfortable welding and fabricating. What is the stock stall of the AOD?

Ken

Ken,

I would go with a Lentech street terminator with solid input shaft and a Lentech non locking converter 9.5" or 10.0" diameter with 2800-3000 rpm stall.

David

PS stock stall is 1700-1900 rpms
 
Thanks dave that is helpful. I guess the nonlocking torque convertor is the best for the street?
You will have to decide what you think is best. A non locking converter will slip all the time. A locking converter is weaker but for street driving it is nice to have 3 &4th gear lock up. Like I said, Anthony Arnold and Rich Bruhn are 2 people with high HP cars running the locking converter. You might ask them what they think of it.
 
I drove around a number of years on a TCI 3500 stall lock-up, found it quite liveable...and I'm not just saying that because it's for sale, cheap. :p

A high stall is an odd feeling to drive around on, but it's pretty easy to get used to. As for strength, I beleive the car put down 250whp through the AOD (5.0 btw), though those are numbers from the previous owner. I never dyno'd it with the auto. Other numbers include a heap of low 13 sec timeslips that I found when cleaning the car. lol

As for the AOD....I realy don't have anything nice to say about it. My frustrations got me into a TKO, hell with that "clutch pack" crap. :)
 
I am under the impression that Lentech dynos there trans with torque convertor. When you buy the two at the same time. Then they
know and can set the stall to exactly fit the customers wants or needs.
 
I like the feel of the non locking transmission, especially in 3rd gear when you're only going 40-45 mph and hit a hill. Instead of bogging or lugging until you press the gas hard enough to get a downshift into 2nd, it just slips a little and goes. It does cost you some mph at the track (I lost 3.5 mph when running low 13s), but the reduced ET usually makes up for it.

I do miss chirping the tires on the 2-3 shift at part throttle, but now I don't have to worry as much about snapping the inner shaft.

David
 
Kene;

Read my big ~~~ thread here:
http://www.sccoa.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89805&highlight=lentech

Your in the same position I was in about a year ago. I went with a 12" 2200RPM Locking Torque converter. You have to decide now, is this a street car, or a track car? What is your primary focus for the car? :)

I am not focused on the strip. Like a lot of guys I want to see some nice numbers for the quarter mile and a better combination should give me a boost in that direction. It is likely that I will run it about 2 at the most 3 times a year, if that, in the quarter mile. Having said that I dont want to be reving the engine to drive in town or just crusing at lower RPMs. David makes good points about the nonlocking converter and dave suggestion makes sense about the locking converter. I am leaning toward the locking converter with the higher stall suggested by Dave. Sounds like you have a combo that works for you. Are you satisfied with the 2,200 stall? Would you, after driving it for a while, have gone higher? Another suggestion is to have my stock tranny rebuilt with better inners since I already have the Lentec valve body.

Ken
 
Its fine for the street. On the track it could be a little higher.

Kene, your a really smart guy. I'd grab a how-to book, a DVD to walk you through it, and some advice and rebuild the thing yourself. You'll be able to save a ~~~~ load of money and there is enough smart guys here to help you along the way (92bird, DirtyDog).
 
Ken,

Just a small bit of info on non locking converters and increased stall settings. A lot of people think a high stall converter means it just slips and nothing much happens until you reach the rated stall speed and you have to keep the motor revved higher than the stall setting to keep moving. That isn't how it works.

At cruising speeds, the non locking will only be running about 200 rpms higher than the direct drive/locking converter would. Even with a 2800 rpms stall, you will still have plenty of force to make the car move at idle in gear, or when accellerating with light to moderate throttle input. It doesn't really feel much differnt from the stock stall settings until you drop the hammer and it gets into the powerband quicker.

It is however a good idea if going non locking in OD to keep your stall speed within a couple hundred rpms of your cruising rpms. I'm using 3.73 gears and at 75 mph I'm running about 2700 rpms..2800 if going up a moderate grade. The transmission usually stays about 150 degrees in the summer and seldom exceeds 180 degrees. I could easily go another 200-300 rpms higher on the stall without having any transmission cooling problems. If doing again I would increase the stall to 3100 rpms.

David
 
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