Thread: '32 street rod Ford trans swap advice needed

Tweet

Originally Posted by rspears

Before you start worrying you need to look at your rear tire diameter, rear gears and the final drive ratios of the tranny's you're considering. The AOD OD ratio is 0.67, so with a 31" tall and 3.55's you'll be turning 1805 at 70mph which should be good. What's your rear tire diameter and gear ratio?

my tires are about 30" tall and gear is 3.73, I got the AOD trans mocked up in the car now. The trans is longer, so the mount is past cross member by about 1 1/2". The drive shaft is too long now. Typical street rod stuff. I'm pricing out the driveshaft work now. Heidts is about 35 miles from me, waiting to hear back from them $$.

lots of drive shaft places without going to Heidts-I'd suggest a drive shaft place, not a suspension place-------


what type of crossmember arrangement is in your chassis????????can you just move the crossmember back the amount you need?? Rember to pay attention to the u joint angles---------

Around here Inland Trucks is a good place for driveline stuff, including having custom drive shafts made, or having one shortened. I agree, find a driveline place to modify your drive shaft. Googling Belvidere Il Driveline got a link to Rockford Driveline - http://rockforddriveline.com/ You might call them, or do a little more looking....

With the specs you gave you'll be at "about" 1960rpm at 70mph in OD on the AOD. If your rear tires are a little bigger than 30" your rpms will drop a bit more.

Hey Don, You know the group. It is amazing how well those 32 bricks will travel at speed. Like a properly built engine that loves to sing, a well built suspension with the right part combination and set up married to the rest of the car variables will chase the wind with class.
Dan, on the AOD trans, just do an add on to the crossmember or pretend it wasn't there in the first place and scoot or modify it like Jerry suggested. Not a big deal. For sure I would find a driveshaft place. likely Heidts is sending it out to one themselves. A good driveshaft shop will shorten and balance it cheaper than having one built. Don't fall into the trap of someone selling you a new one.

I'll call Rockford driveline, my email came back undeliverable. Anyway I got clearance issues on the passenger side with this AOD, too fat at the pan and hits the tubing structure under the floor on passenger side. This tubing also supports the trans crossmember and the pedals and master on the drivers side.. Trans won't move over side to side enough for a straight shot back to the rear end. Off by about 1 1/2". tried to send photo but site wants URL? for a personal photo.

Here's a link to a thread on posting photo's - http://www.clubhotrod.com/shop-talk/...es-thread.html For five or less on a post you can select and upload direct from your hard drive, provided they're not too big.

Small overdrive transmission with narrow oil pan = 2004R,there are adapter kits to bolt them up to an SBF. Or you could sell the AOD to someone that has a C4 which is smaller the late 60's C4 is the smallest.

The only thing that has not been mentioned is that you need to choose the stall speed of the converter of the AOD. I have a 1500 rpm stall converter on a 700R4 with a 3.55 rear ratio and a mild SBC 350 and when I come to a steep hill on a surburban road I have to down shift to 3rd gear or the engine is close to 1700 rpm with 7.10 R15 rear tires. Even so I still only get 17 mpg on a good day. If the stall speed of the converter is higher than about 1500 rpm you will have to rev the engine to keep going or if the stall converter rpm is too low the engine will lug in OD on a hill without a down shift. Factory engineers can try out many combinations on a test track but building a "personal car" means you have to carefully match rear ratio, cam, tire size and gear ratios to the engine torque curve. The folks above all gave good advice but left out the choice of converter stall speed since at present you have a flywheel and clutch plate. I tried to calculate all this but even so I need to ocassionally downshift manually. Why not let the folks on this forum know your plans and get some feedback, I have learned a lot from the experts here. By the way you are a lucky dog to have a '32 Vicky!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder