Things are moving along and I hope to have this mostly together by the end of the day.

I did get a good used pump and went through it. Knowing that Ford had an oil delivery issue, I elected to open up the intake ports on the F5 casting and smoothed out the path before the pump gears take over.




Then I replaced the pump/converter bushing and buttoned things up.



At this point, I got the low/reverse piston in, clutches, and rear 6 planet iron gearset in. I did weld the 4R100 steel basket a little. Pretty simple, just a bunch of small welds. Looking at other sites, I guess this helps prevent the basket from breaking away from the sprag holder. One of the benefits of using the 4R100 parts is that you get one more roller so I would assume, a little more holding power.

I was able to tig weld the two plates on the coast clutch and did a final check. Should be fine. If I had the right lathe, I would have used the stock plate and just cut the teeth down to accept the snap ring. Oh well, I cannot see me buying a larger lathe.

I installed the Tugger kit along with the Zip Kit. Some of the modifications overlap and that is a fear of mine. Both work fine, but do they play together nicely? I drilled .093 holes [2 & 4] and a .073 [3] in the Tugger calibration plate. Shift firmness is a big concern with me. I'm towing, so a firm shift is ok, but harsh is not. I believe with the extra clutches, I can get a strong shift without being harsh. I know I will have to tune these shifts to get it to my liking and I am not looking forward to that. Something about draining the fluid, having transmission fluid dripping on you while dropping the valve body does not sound appealing.

 

I'd have to look at my notes to see where I ended up with my Tugger kit but is shifts great under all conditions. The shift quality is the same as with my original C6 that had a Transgo shift kit installed. Quick firm shifts that are not harsh. On my E4OD I did some fine tuning to the shifts and since I'm using an aftermarket controller this was easy to do. I ended up backing off on the 1-2 shift at light throttle and I left the rest pretty much alone. You would only have to drop the accumulator valve body to mess with the plate which wouldn't be too bad. No ***** or anything like that to have fall out. Are you using a 4R100 pan with the reusable gasket and more importantly, a drain plug?

 

What are you planning to use for fluid in your transmission? I've used two different fluids in my E4OD. When I first built it I used a synthetic ATF from Driven and it worked fine. Later I switched to Mercon V from Oreilley Auto Parts. It is also a synthetic and I like it a lot. I think that the shift quality is superior to the other (more expensive) fluid.

 

I have the stock EEC-IV computer, but I do have the Tweecer to mess around with the electronics. I recently got the Tweecer and I have not messed around with it too much. Just the basics to see if I am doing something [raising the idle speed, Air Injection, etc]. I know it's capable of changing the shifts and the quality of shift.

Not a lot of progress with the transmission this weekend. Not because I did not put time into it, it's just there was a lot of messing around with stuff.

I have found that you cannot put in 6 clutches in the Forward drum. Well, actually it can, but the ring gear in the forward planet does not have long enough cutouts to accept 6 discs. The top clutch disc will not allow the ring gear to fit all the way down. I tried every possible combination and the stack is too thick. I believe I could have trimmed the bevel plate a bit thinner and it would have fit, but my lathe is too small. I ended up with only 5 discs. Still, better than what I had and now you know why it will not hold 6. If you pressure check the clutch, with 6 discs, the ring gear moved. Maybe a mm or two, but anything is not good.

Teeth too short to accept 6 discs.


The transmission that is in my truck now, has a large aluminum pan and I would not buy one without a drain plug, so it has one of those too. Like all of them, it holds more fluid and does use the newer pan gasket. I absolutely hate the way Ford routed the transmission dipstick, so one of the mods is to install one from a van. I hope it works and put the stick in a place that I can use it. The other thing in my truck is a larger cooler. I don't see me putting a larger one in it. The fluid temp is ok [I got a temp gauge]. I do plan on getting larger cooler lines. Just not this time around.

As for fluid, as a shop owner, I can get stuff wholesale. I have not looked at fluid, but I am a synthetic believer. There are a few places I would not shop at, O'Really's is one of them. I am not a fan of house brand products. I know, they can be as good as the name brand stuff, but like a totaled/rebuilt title, it's not for me. I'm at the time in my life where I have money, but too damn cheap for having others do work that I can do myself. If I could make oil, I probably would. I will talk to my supplier and he will give me his best advice, at a good price too.

The converter I have, was built by a shop I deal with. Mercedes converters shudder a lot so they rebuild the ones I give them. Not bad, a 6-8 hour turn over. The one they built for me is suppose to be good, not $2k good, but good enough for what I want. One thing I have found, when you have a good relationship with your suppliers/vendors, they usually do a bit better job for you and save you a few dollars too. I forgot to ask for a drain plug in the converter. Still debating on doing that myself. I like drain plugs. Especially with transmissions.

 

I don't think that you can get a converter that's made with a billet cover that also has a drain plug. At least that's what I found. As long as the fluid is listed as a Mercon V is should all be the same as far as the performance. You can spend more or you can spend less but it really won't matter.

 

Not certain why Americans do not like drain plugs. I was surprised to find that Ford did put one in their factory one back then [Not certain if they still do]. When I did have the converter built, I could have at least put one in, before they built it. Obviously, that did not happen. I'm not too concerned about drilling holes, I just would like to know what is on the other end. I easily could pressurize the converter so any chips would blow out the hole I am drilling. Same with cutting threads.

When it comes to fluid, yes, I agree. If the specs say Mercon V, then it's all pretty much the same. There is something in the back of my mind, having a name brand makes me feel better.

 

I don't understand the whole lack of a drain plug thing either. Especially when it comes to automatic transmissions. Ford did them on a lot of torque converters but very few transmission pans. Last week I picked up a free push mower that a neighbor gave to me. After I got it running again I was going to change the oil in the engine and there's no drain plug. So I'll have to turn the engine upside down and dump out the oil. That makes no sense. I had one with what looked like exactly the same engine that I bought new for $120, used for 10 years and never had to add any oil. I just changed it every year. It had a drain plug.

I get what you're saying about the name brand thing. About 20 years ago a friend of mine owned a Napa store. He had an S10 truck that he drag raced. It ran 7.90's at 3200lbs with a blown small block Chevy that he abused and turned over 10,000 rpm. He used the Napa oil. I think their oil is Valvoline.

 

I mistakenly had it in 4th while towing up a slight grade. As it bogged down I selected D from OD. When it shifted there was a huge bang and now if OD is selected it will slip. So I destroyed my 4th gear- does this sound like a huge rebuild? Luckily when D is selected everything works fine.

 

I'm not sure how it could have failed with a bang yet still have any of the other gears. Power enters the transmission through the overdrive planetary set. It drives using the OD roller clutch and holds back using the coast clutch. When it is in overdrive the overdrive clutch holds the sun gear and the OD planetary gears rotate around it and push the ring gear faster than the input shaft rotates.

I guess it could have stripped the teeth off of the coast clutch drum OD and or burned up the overdrive clutch. The problem should be obvious when you take out the front pump.

 

Well, the older transmissions were not known to be reliable. Things broke.

When mine failed the first time, I recall the shop saying the front pump failed. I would agree with that since I heard a loud whining before it just stopped moving.

 

I was confused- my tranny is an AOD. Any way now when OD is selected it goes from 1 to 2 and then neutral. If in D all works normally just no 4th gear. One shop told me it sounds like a worn out input shaft and needs $4500 overhaul.

 

I think you should start a new thread since this one is about doing oddball modifications with an E4OD. Nothing related to your problem with a different transmission.

BTW, welcome new member.

 

Not much to report, but I hope to have this assembled today and installed/running tomorrow.

What new problems have I run into? The intermediate clutch has 4 discs. I needed to get the extra clearance to get those to fix. I ended up making a thinner pressure plate. I did get a .326" plate, but a .280ish is what I needed to get the right clearance. I wanted to make certain I used the thicker metal plate on the piston side but if I did not, I could have had a thicker pressure plate. There comes a point where the pressure plate is too thin and will not perform the task at hand. I do not know what that is, but I guess I will find out. It took some time to find out what works and I am glad I checked it. If I did not, I certainly would have had issues. What clued me in was that I had difficulties getting the snap ring in the intermediate/OD piston carrier.

I did not want to go with thinner than stock metal plates on any of my clutch packs, but I did ended up going with the thinner Alto clutch pack for the OD clutch.

I'm going to drill the converter for the plug today, wish me luck.

 

Drilled the converter for a plug and welded a similar weight on the opposite side. I sure wish I could have done this before they rebuilt this converter. I know the people and I bet they would have just given me the billet cover for me to butcher. Then they could have assembled, welded, and balance the unit properly. Oh well, nothing I can do about it now.

The core transmission was missing the shift shaft and the used one I got several months ago is too short. One of the goals was to not take apart the transmission in the truck. That goal was not met.

I swapped the transmission and took care of a few things while the truck was in the air [yes, a rack is something everyone should have]. I replaced the stock rear differential cover with a Banks unit. I installed a 4.10 gearset [stock was 3.55] a few months ago. I blew out the cooler circuit to make certain there was nothing nasty in it. Since there was nothing wrong with the original transmission, only nice clean fluid came out. After the installation was complete, 18 quarts of Motorcraft synthetic Mercon V was added.

I backed it out of the shop, yes, it did move, confirmed my wife had her phone and a large dose of patience if I called. Couple stumbles during shifts, but that is common with all the circuits having air in them. After a few seconds of that, the transmission did shift in every gear. 1-2 and 2-3 shift are fine. 3-4 is a bit harsh. I was hoping I would not have to go back into it and I may have to so I can dial things in. Reverse is a bit. More than I would like, but since there is no accumulator, there is little I can do about it. I may want to reduce the feed hole to the low/reverse clutch at the back of the transmission, but I really do not feel like dropping the complete valve body to do that. It's the ***** I really do not want to screw with.

I have a Tweecer so there are a few things I can do before I go back into the transmission. Too late to see what calibration I have in the EEC-IV, but it is possible that the idle RPM can be dropped a 50 rpms. That would certainly help with reverse.

Looking at the calibration now, Ford really puts a lot of TV pressure on the 3-4 shift, so there is something I can do electronically with that. The other thing I do not like is that when the shift goes from 2-3, the converter engages at the same time. The RPM drop is substantial and I plan on delaying the converter lock up so it feels more like an additional shift.

Like all modifications, it's the tuning that makes it all work. That tuning takes a lot of time so it feels right in all situations. Time is something I do not have a lot of. At this time, it shifts, which is a good thing. When/if I can get this thing dialed in, I will be happy. Playing with software is a lot less messy and takes a lot less time. I will be heading that way first. If I cannot get the 3-4 shift to my liking, I guess I will be putting the stock accumulator springs in and/or reduce the .093 hole in the calibration plate.

I hope that the software makes a difference and should know shortly.

 

Question of curiosity more than anything else--what benefit will the added drain plug provide?

I have both strictly stock one each 4R70W & 4R75E where only the 4R70W has the factory drain feature. The years after 2000 in the E-Series eliminated this feature but it doesn't seem to affect anything when using Mark K's full fluid exchange operation.

Interesting thread BTW--well above my head but still fascinating---thanks for sharing your process!