Is there any auto tranny better than a c4?

Man, that bites a big one!

 

yep, but that's all a part of hot rodding....at least now I can do the tranny stuff myself. I've got one of the REAL good service manuals and the guys at JPT are more then happy to talk you through anything over the phone!! I'll have it freshened up before the roundup!!

 

good deal. I knew you wasn't going to miss the round-up!
Cause that is gonna be REAL play time.

 

C-4 vs AOD ?

The C-4's a Great little gearbox

I had run them for years in different cars I built and owned

They are simple , well designed , reliable , and very ecomonical to build up

There are people in the drag race world who will testify to putting over 1000 hp through these little units , and I've seen it myself

during the mid 80's , and early 90's when the 5.0's really started to hit the scene , it became a very economical swap for built mustangs that began to enter the 11 and 10 second zone

It was a great solution to T-5s and pathedicly weak and inefficent AOD's of the time

Just about everybody in this performance range was jumping on the C-4 bandwagon

But as the evolution of Hp took hold , and power levels over 500 flwheel hp became more common , changes in the high horsepower Ford drag Scene started to develop

Racers , particularly in the 700+ hp range were having to rebuild thier C-4's
not just once a year anymore , but every couple of races , even though they had the best parts available

It wasn't uncommon , 6 years ago , to see a Pro 5.0 Team running in the mid / high 8's bring 2 or 3 units to the track with them for the weekend

what they learned was in this power range the C-4 fell short on reliability

This was due to the fact the C-4 just did not have enough clutch and band capacity to deal with big power , but not just in reliability , but in efficency as well

With good internal components , the problem wasn't so much hard part breakage , but high clutch burn-up

Burning a set of direct clutches in 8-10 passes ment the power was not getting through the trans efficently at all [ Heat is power right !!!!!]

Since that time the AOD technoligy has come a long way

It is more expensive , more complicated , but has increadable potential to be brutally strong and more efficent than the C-4 in high HP levels

It can also provide early model vehicles [ like the Maverick ] with alot more versitiliy

The AOD is never going to , nor does it need to , replace the little C-4 in all applications

Under some circumstances it's just not necessary

But the AOD , particularly in the last 5 years ,has allready proven it's worth , in racing , and on the street

Essentually , even though it's gone through some changes , After 25 years , it's still in production

Who ever thought the FMX , which the AOD is bassed on , was good for anything

We have " Borg Warner " to thank for that !!

Sincerly:

Len , Lentech Automatics

 

C4 Trans

The C4 trans can still take quite a lot of punishment though Len as seen in my application ! With wheels a foot in the air launchs and the right preparation it has a long lifespan, 10 years of racing and low 12 second passes and no failure !
The Lentech Automatics C4 lives on !!

Richard Miller

 

There should be a torque convertor drain plug, you may have to remove a dust cover from your tranny (to expose the flywheel / convertor, ) ... the plug will be next to a flywheel retainer nut.

 

Thanks guys, I am going to try to find the fluid this weekend, and change it out. Take care,

 

For those interested, I got my C4 apart and looks like the high gear clutches are needing to be changed....called JPT and he hooked me up with a freshen up kit.....he said cleanliness is the biggest part of dealing with a c4. My first tranny rebuild where I am doing ALL the work myself and i'm loving it!! It's amazing to me how these things work!!!!

 

You are my HERO!
looking forward to seeing that beast run come July!

 

Here is a link to some interesting reading on the C4 transmission........


http://www.fordmuscle.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?topic=9911&forum=13&start=0

 

I know this isn't my thread and I'm not trying to hi-jack it, but I didn't want to start another C4 thread......

But anyway, I got the C4 torn apart and the high gear clutches looked like they definitely needed to be replaced....My setup is currently a 5 clutch setup in each drum....

I called JPT and he suggested that since i'm spraying 250+ nitrous on some ocassions that I should send him the drums so they could be machined for a 6 clutch setup......he said that it would shift a little quicker from 2 to 3 and that it would pull harder in high gear.....they're in the mail so we'll see how it works when I get them back.....

 

Jpt?

Jim at JPT is one of the most knowledgable of people I know on C-4's

Over the past 10 years , that I have delt with Jim , we have exchanged many technical theory's and experiance's

In our relationship , I developed a deep amount of respect for Jim , as many times we discused and shared the same social views

You are dealing with a " Top Notch " group of people at JPT

Len , Lentech Automatics

PS , Ask him how the valvebody Dyno is Working ? Just Curious

 

Len, I agree!! In the short amount of time that i've dealt with JPT I have learned so much about my tranny......they are very helpful and will talk you through stuff over the phone!! When I call them this week I"ll ask Jim about the valvebody dyno!!

 

Cool

That is one great video!!!

Richard

 

Thanks Richard, that video was put together by a friend of mine....he had very little footage to work with.....i'm currently working on another video and let me tell you, the launches are much better in the new video!!!!!