I put a 351W into an 84 F-150 with an AOD. Within 5 miles of bolting it up and driving it down the road the tranny went south. Come to find out that when I bolt the engine to the AOD the torque converter is getting mashed into the back of the transmission. I tore up the first convertor and took out the pump. I checked just a little bit on saturday at a parts store and could not find in their book whether or not ford has ever had the 351W with the AOD. I sit now with a good motor and a good tranny but cannot put them together. Please help.

 

if you mashed the converter into the tranny, you probably broke the front pump.

AFAIK, ford made AODs or AODEs with 351w. call up your local salvage yard and ask if they have one.

 

I have the same setup. I used a c4 or c6 flexplate I can't remember which. 81-earlier 302 uses the same flexplate as 351w.

 

I tell you what, after about 4 years of on again off again working on this project, I finally got a 351W to work properly in an 84 F150 with an AOD. I only got to about 432 times that I have wished that I had just rebuilt the 302. Today I found someone that did have a flywheel for a 351W matched to an AOD, and they are different than the other 351W flywheels. This project has been a royal PITA, but the guy who rebuilt the trans, who by the way is a genius, said that as far as he is concerned the AOD is the most efficient trans out there. He said stock it isn't great, but it is really easy to modify them to make them great. I haven't got to drive it yet, but he called and said that it "goes like a guided missile." Apperently the 351W and AOD mated together is rare.
Later

 

What about your drive shaft? Did you have to lengthen or shorten it at all?

 

now that i remember, late 80s cop cars had 351w and AODs, and they were carburated, with kickdown cables.

doesn't help you now.

 

I just finished the same project in my 84 F150, it was a pita extreme. Here is the scoop. I also replaced the 302 with a 351w, I replaced the flywheel because the 302 has a 50 oz ballance and all 351w have a 28oz ballance. I reused my old aod that was in the truck. After three days it died. I figured it went due to 190k miles and the power of the warmed up 351w. I contacted Performance trans in Bossier city La. They sell hardened aod's that they call the AOD dominator jr. It has extra cluthes and kelvar overdive bands for 950 with no exchange. I installed this unit and it cratered in three days. Luckily I live only 100 mi from Bossier so i limped the truck there and left it for a couple of days.
Turned out that the flywheel was for a c-6 tranny instead of a AOD. Seems there is 1\4 inch differance in the depth of the flywheel. They pulled the tranny installed the correct flywheel, replaced the pump and burned bands, reinstalled tranny and rigged the cable that runs the shift modifier on the trans that I installed instead of the rod it had that would not fit the holley projection system I had installed(another pia) replaced converter all for 260.00. It works great now and runs like a bat out of you know where.Hope this helps. good luck with your project.

 

I've been running my 84 F150 with 351W and AOD for about a week now and have been very satisfied. I've got a little fine tuning with the 750 cfm edelbrock carb at low speed cruise mode, but under load the thing is impressive. I was able to get the stock kickdown rod to work with some modification. This has been one of those rare swaps that really taught me more than I wanted. To be so close to complete and then have all the tranny problems was almost too much. What I learned, and some of you unfortunately learned also, is that the 302 and 351W flywheels are identical up to '82 at which time the 302 went to the heavier weight, 28.something to 50 oz. with the exception of the AOD which like someone said has a 1/4 or 3/8 inch difference in step heighth. The flywheel which I finally found was at a transmission shop and is even stamped with "AOD". They were a rare setup. Hope anyone else on the same path as I, can use this info before they end up going through 2 trannys in 1 week.

 

Most Crown Victoria police cars from 1980 to 1991 used the carbureted 351W with the AOD transmission. After 1985, some police cars were equipped with the 5.0 EFI engine (and AOD), but the 351W was far more common.

The police car AOD is also unique. Instead of the normal O,D,1 gear selection, it has O,D,2. When you put the selector in 2, it locks out 1st gear and forces the transmission to start in 2nd instead. The purpose was to reduce wheelspin in low traction (e.g., icy road) conditions.

 

Soo...if you replace a C6 tranny with an AOD to mate with a 351w, you must change the torque converter too? I understand the rest but I'm not too clear on the T.C.

Thanks!!

 

The torque converter is definitely specific to the transmission, sometimes to the engine/trans combo.

 

10-4!!!

 

I have a '91 150 that had a 302 that went to crap. I replaced it with the 351 and put the AOD back in it. I used the 302 fly wheel instead of the 351's. Now I still can't shift into 3rd gear. Think it's a pressure problem but will hopefully figure it out soon. Have a spare transmission just in case. I'm open to ideas as well!

 

Sky welcome to the forum.


Did you read thru all the posts here?
From what I got was the 302 flywheel when used with the AOD trany may pull the converter out of the pump too far. Because of this the pump does not pump enough fluid and the trany burns up. So I would check that out ASAP!


As for not shifting into 3rd I would look into the kick down rod adjustment. how is the shift 1st to 2nd?
Dave ----

 

There's no such thing as a specific 351W/AOD flexplate for 1981/89 F150/350, Bronco & Econoline. AOD introduced in 1981 in these vehicles

1980/89 LTD/Crown Vic/Town Car use a specific 351W/AOD flexplate as does the 302 in all these vehicles. AOD introduced in 1980 Passenger Cars.