Exactly, nothing official has been said. It's all rumor and speculation at this point.

 

You have to lash the valves on a mechanical lifter Rat also.

 

The 200R4 was actually a pretty good trans. Ask around to transmission shops, and they will all tell you that the 700R4, in stock form, was a POS. Note that I was talking about them in trucks............ not in 3400lb cars.

Another good friend of mine was a GM truck engineer at the AZ proving grounds for 18 years (just had to retire due to MS............ and has been fighting GM for 2 years to try to get the money that they owe him. GM is refusing to pay him because he does not have a letter from SS stating that he will not get SS. The problem is that SS no longer issues the letter, you get a phone call only. How dare SS change a policy without checking with GM first. anyway.......... another story........... another day). We had extensive conversations with him about transmissions, and he told us the story of the 700R4. It seems that GM received alot of letters from transmission shop owners, thanking GM for making such a POS trans.......... as it made them alot of money.

At this time, I lived about 5 miles from the AZ Proving grounds (the one by Williams AFB (now Williams Gateway Airport), which is now closed).

Nowhere did I state that the Ford transmissions were great. Quite to the contrary, as I said the 4R70W had no business being in a performance application, and the AOD had its own set of problems due to the 2-piece main shaft. PS diesels had problems with the TC on the 4R100.......... and when you blow the lock-up converter, it takes out the whole trans. I personally have very little experience with Fords FWD transmissions. You have to understand what drove down Highway 95 in Nevada. The majority of it was 3/4-1-ton trucks towing something (typically 5th wheels). Thus, that is where the majority of our tows came from. There are some very hard pulls close to where our shop was, which caused extreme temperatures in these transmissions, and the problems we saw.

That said, GM is still living on the greatness of the TH350 and TH400's reputation. It is well known in the industry that modern GM transmissions are no better, nor no worse than anyone elses. Just like recent Chrysler transmissions are not problematic like their older ones used to be (excluding the 727 which was a very good trans). In this modern era, economies of scale mean that GM transmissions are going to be relatively cheap to purchase, thus it makes them a very smart deal for a smaller manufacturer to buy (rather than spending the enormous R&D needed to develop their own).

BTW, the 4L80E could in no way handle the torque that the proposed Lightning engine was going to put out............ as we are probably talking around 550lb ft. The only transmissions out there that can are the Ford 5R110 and the Allison 1000 (very similar to each other). The problem I can see is that these type of transmissions are not built for high rpm use. Thus, upgrading........... potentially expensive upgrading, may be necessary.

Of course, this is just my experience and opinion.......... I may be wrong.

 

http://lubbockonline.com/special/01/...de/yukon.shtml

The 4l80/5E isn't as far off as you think. It shares a lot with the TH-400, which has been proven behind MUCH more than 550 ft*lbs of torque.

Also, maybe Ford needs to take some notes from Mercedes, and the auto that they put behind their TT V12. That engine makes 738 ft*lbs of torque!

 

Adapters for a Ford tranny and GM engine:

http://www.advanceadapters.com/acrobat/ford.pdf

#56 here:

http://www.transmissioncenter.net/AOD.htm

 

Bentley uses GM's 4L80E as well. Their 6.75L TT V8 makes something like 450hp+ plus they weigh more than some full size trucks.

 

Ummm... maybe I'm a little slow on the uptake, but of the 5 transmission conversions on the first link, 3 adapt a GM tranny to a Ford engine, 1 goes Dodge tranny to Ford engine, and the last one goes Ford Tranny to GM engine.

The second link shows how to get rid of an AOD and replace it with a 700R4 in about 6 different applications, and then comes up with this gem:

"GM Automatic transmission to Ford small blocks: We offer an adapter plate and flywheel adapter to couple the GM automatics (TH350, TH400 & 700R4) to the stock Ford engine. This kit is 3/8" thick and provides an excellent way of combining the GM transmission into your Bronco. This kit has become very popular for the rock crawling enthusiast. It provides the ability to install the popular 700R transmission, which has a good reliable reputation and a great low 1st gear for an automatic."



So I was wrong... there actually ARE adaptors for mounting a GM engine to a Ford transmission... and they apparently sell at something like a rate of 1/3 to 1/6 the rate of the GM tranny to Ford engine conversions...

I wonder why that is...



PS - The 700R4 is a TH-350 with an extra gear slapped on and some electronic controls. The 4L60/65E series is an improved 700R4.

 

You obviously missed the one I was referencing:

"#56AOD. Adapter to install a Ford AOD transmission on a Chevy Small Block motor. Cost $545.00"

They have this adapter because an upgraded AOD tranny is very strong. Lentech had AOD trannies capable of over 1200 hp and rock solid reliability. There is a low 9 second Camaro running a Lentech AOD tranny. My stock AOD lasted almost 200,000 miles and was still going strong when I rebuilt it with heavy duty Lentech components. Most AOD failures are due to line pressure issues due to a $.50 TV grommet which people fail to check (in stock applications). Higher HP levels tend to break the 2 piece input shaft, a piece very easily replaced with a 1 piece unit. The AOD can be very reliable in race applications, it just needs a few changes like any other tranny. And I will not get into the popularity of the C-4 in drag racing, or it's proven reliability in such applications.

 

No, I saw it. It was buried in between a half dozen GM tranny to Ford engine adapters. That's where I got the 1/6 ratio.

Look... face the music. The AOD was/is a garbage slushbox, just like the 10-bolt is a terrible rear end. You can spend lots of money trying to polish it into something it's not... or you can buy a TH-400 adapter and call it even.

For every Chevrolet converted to run an AOD, there are zillions more Fords converted to run a TH-350 or TH-400 or Powerglide or 700R4 or 4L60/65 or 4L80E.

Just admit it and let's move on.

 

I spent $1100 building an AOD that can handle 600 hp (flywheel), more than the stock block can take. Now please tell me that I'm "polishing it into something it's not". I am guessing that there are so many GM conversions because the trannies are generally cheaper used and there are more of them out there (you said this very thing yourself earlier in this post). I suggest that you post this same line in the tech section of the Corral and see some of the responses that you get. And by the way, there were 3 references for GM trannies to Ford blocks, not 6, and 2 for Ford trannies to GM blocks in the second link. One of the conversions was just an expansion of parts from the first, so it's not really separate, just to split hairs.

http://www.baumannengineering.com/aodecat.htm

http://www.lentechautomatics.com/

"In case you should have any doubt about the basic strength of the AOD, here’s a comparison of the FMX-based overdrive’s internals (on the right), with those of little-brother C4. This is not to knock the C4, which certainly has its place, but Bertrand feels the AOD has a much higher ultimate power-handling capability—mathematically as much as 2,000 hp—while offering the undeniable street benefit of a 0.67:1 Overdrive."
http://www.mustang50magazine.com/techarticles/81358/

Lentech also makes adapters to bolt an AOD to a GM or Chrysler engine:

http://www.lentechautomatics.com/aodhome.html



I can keep going on and on, but I will leave it at this.