3.3 or 289?

Just thought I would throw my two cents in here. I have a 421W in my car with a beefed C4 and a Gearvendors OD along with a 2800 stall convertor. I went this route because I had already put a lot of money into the C4 and was able to get Gearvendors unit for a good price. I love the setup I have. Next year we are planning to put a 5.0 and an AOD into my sons 73 Comet. He is going this way because he found a good price on an engine and trans. combination. I think either way works well, it just depends on what you can find for your money and what you prefer.
By the way, my little sleeper has run a 12.71 @108. Love that torque.
Lee "THE MAV Richart

 

A AOD behind a 200 won't do anything to help you on the interstate.
Start saving your money and do a V8 swap, and forget the 289. Find yourself a Mustang or Explorer motor, then go T5 or AOD.

 

oh I'm sorry. I did mention fuel economy in my first post, but I was only using that as the deciding factor between the two engines, but as I said the v8 is no longer an option so that's no longer my concern.

 

how is that possible? if im at a high rpm, why wouldn't one more lower gear help? i still have plenty of engine left, i can feel it has more, just no more gear,

 

Then work with what you've got. Tune it up, make it rock solid.

 

at 70 mph on the highway im only pushing my pedal in about an inch, and if i push it in more it still speeds up, its not a strugle

 

ok.. i did assume incorrectly then. I would caution you on that venture though as most would only consider doing that much fab work if they had the knowledge to do so(it'll take more than just an adapter plate as the torque converter will need to be spaced for depth and bolt pattern correctly as well).. and need for an OD with major mileage intentions.

Also consider that what seems ample now for steady state cruising.. may not be even close to what you thought when you lop that much final drive ratio out of the equation. Because I can tell you with the utmost certainty.. that the OD trans will be hunting for proper gear when you hit the hills with it. Which of course negates some of the benefit you were after in the first place. That engine just doesn't have the low end grunt to pull hills in 4th unless you move to a shorter rear gear. Which again.. will negate the gains somewhat.

With that being said.. and as already mentioned.. an OD trans sure does make for a nice comfortable cruiser when it's all sorted out. BUT.. I seriously think you'll find that the swap will run you much closer to that $1,000 mark than you ever imagined. "Custom this".. mated to "custom that".. gets out of pocket and hand in a hurry.

PS. Don't think for one second that I'm trying to disuade you from doing it.. because I'm not. I just look at the many angles involved such as your apparent budget, skill level, tool availability and call it like I see it. What might be better is to make running list here and have members add to it so that you may tally it up and make better plans for where you really want to end up here.

 

ok, so by my math, I have a friend that will sell his good one for 250. I can fab the adaptor and mount out of some steel laying around the shop. My fabrication friend can help me with those and cutting my driveshaft. I'd have to buy some bolts for the new trans, I'll round up and say 30$. It comes with the tv, and kick down and tq and shift cables. All I need, if I'm correct(and I could very well be wrong) is something to make up for the output shaft because of the adapter plate...i have no clue what that would cost...is that all? I'd slip my friend 100$ bringing me to somewhere around 400$ plus the output extension? What else do I need (again in not trying to be a smart ass but that's all I can think of)

and I figured I'd probably have to down shift for hills, but the interstates here aren't to terrible, I should be able to do the flat and down hills in OD no?

 

I found this on Google:

A Ford AOD has an "average" of 40-45 hp parasitic loss.

The 1965 Mustang used this engine as standard with 120 hp (89 kW). The Mustang continued to use the 200 as its base engine until it was dropped in 1971.

So, to put a 200 up to a AOD would appear to be a waste of time and money (and HP), and that is why there is no information to be found about this swap, any where on the internet.

 

to make the adapter plate work, you will need to compensate for that thickness on the space between the torque converter and the flex plate. i dont remember if the aod torque converter has studs like the c4 one does but anyways you will need to come up with some sort of spacer. also the center of the torque convert usually slips into the back of the crank shaft. this is to help insure that its properly centered.

the bulge of the bell housing will be pushed back and most likely now hit the trans mission tunnel or fire wall.

the one thing that has not been touched on in this thread is that carbureted cars are not able to efficiently run at low rpms when compared to fuel injected cars. this is because depending on the size of the carb and the size of the motor, their different circuits in the carb that work more efficiently. when the engine is running at lower rpms, usually below 2000 its operating on the idle circuit. the throttle blades need to open pretty far for the carb to be fully running on its venturis. that is when a carbed engine can start to run efficiently.

so now with some carb operation knowledge you think of what will happen when you put an over drive on a carbed motor.

when the over drive kicks in and the rpms drop below the efficiency zone of the carb, it will use more gas than when the motor is operating in the carbs efficiency zone.

also the cam shaft plays a very similar roll in all of this. a cam has a window of maximum efficiency. if your motor is running below or above this window then it will use more fuel to create the same amount of power.

the key to gas mileage is to determine the optimum operating rpm of the motor. the easiest way to do this is with a vacuum gauge. drive around in 2nd gear at 40 mph and see what your vac. reading is. then drive in 3rd gear and see what your vac. reading is. chances are it will be higher in second gear.
now think about if you were going 65 in 3rd gear, then shifted to overdrive at 65. what happens to the vacuum.

only testing or trial and error will tell you what will work best.

 

I would be more concerned about the brakes if you plan on driving a 40+ year old car like that. Disc brakes are a must in my opinion.

 

That is an extremely valid point. My godfathers stupid truck has too tall of gearing in it for the engine, he gets nice low rpms, 9mpg everywhere, and you have to manually shift it up and down or it completely bogs down to a powerless turd. It only works with the camper on and fully loaded while hauling a trailer. He made me drive it to the dump for him a few times over the summer, and I kept having to drop into first every time I needed to go up a hill, and on the freeway it kept going in and out of the OD and I'd have to constantly be fiddling with throttle positioning to maintain speed or just jam it into a gear and ignore the tach.

 

so it sounds like I'll be running into the same issue with a 5speed as well then, right?

 

I don't have that issue with my AOD and my Holley 600, I get awesome mileage.

 

I wud think w/ 5sp manual the issue wud'nt be the same, cuz the driver has a lot of flexibility on controling engine rpms. Most low power engines are more effecient w/ manual transmissisons IMO.