Sweet! I had never considered painting the molding, but it looks really sharp..... I have a silver '86 of my own that needs paint.... Thanks for sharing the pix!
13.52 @ 102 at 5,800 ft' DA ...... 351C 4V, 235/243 Bullet cam on 107 LSA. 10:1 CR on pump gas, 9.5" converter in the AOD, 4.10's and p255 M/T ET streets. Best 60' has been 1.95 with the 780 Holley ( 750 double-pumper going on next year). Next move is front strut work to hit the tire harder and get the 60' down.
I had a similar issue when installing my Monster AOD. As I was tightening the case bolts up,it would lock the cranktrain down on my 351 Cleveland. I thought perhaps I hadn't shortened the input shaft enough as the guys at Rev-Max had instructed. After being in and out of the car 2-3 times, I placed a piece of angle iron across the front of the bellhousing and measured how deep each component that engaged the converter was. Turns out, my Monster had more clearance on the input shaft, the pump gear depth, the direct input...all good. The problem was a change in the way the stator support was machined. The Monster pump had a more rounded area in front of the splines and that was bottoming out in the converter, making the converter sit too far forward. Some very judicious clearancing with a Dremel got the clearance opened up. The two components spline together and are locked, so you don't need to worry about the "machined finish" as the two compnents are in a "fixed" relationship.
I've never had one break, but I use a 6-point box end wrench and a quick, light rap with a dead blow hammer (element of surprise attack). I think some of the ones that break are from the pin end being a micro-smidgen too long, then they bottom out and end up stress-fracturing under use..... I use a new cross-pin and grind a tad off of the pin end.
North of Amarillo......... up here on the Caprock......... I'd have to tow to Wichita (KS or TX) to get some good air...... LOL! I see you have a '86 'Bird....... Have you done any research on the fit of aftermarket K-members for an '86? Man, I could use some working room around the Hedman's on my 351C. They have flat collectors and you can't even pull the trans pan without dropping the passenger side header off and knocking the collector off the driver's side.
Turns out I had a "too thick" thrust washer between the pump and the intermediate clutch...... you live, you learn.......just because two donor trannies used the same thickness washer doesn't mean that you can safely assume that the component stack height will be within the same window and allow you to forego measuring that clearance. It's weird how the trans will turn Forward with ease, but totally bind up when you turn it in the other direction.
IT looks like a B&M megashifter. I have one in my '86 351C-powered T-Bird. Hopefully, it works better on a c4 than it does an AOD because I've had nothing but issues with getting the AOD detents to synch with the rooster comb in the Megashfter. As a matter of fact, I had to rebuild my trans because the shifter was giving me Second gear starts due to adjusting it in Neutral. Adjusting it in Drive gets the AOD to Low, but the shifter needs more travel to reach it's detent.
I have an issue with my rebuilt AOD. The Forward gears are fine, the Reverse is a bit lazy to engage. The most maddening thing is that the car almost refuses to roll backward. I've removed the driveshaft and checked the rear gears for any problems from my 4.10 install. The rear end is fine going either direction. Turning the driveshaft in the Reverse direction was practically impossible, however. I dropped the shifter all the way down to NEutral and Drive to eliminate the shifter being misadjusted and causing the parking pawl to possible be engaged. The engine was off, so there was no fluid pressure to activate any clutch pack, band, or servo; yet the car is extremely stubborn to push rear ward. Had an episode where something "popped" and the binding seemed to ease up. I'm at my wit's end trying to figure out what might be amiss in the gear train of the trans to bind up like this. I have never had a transmission does this before. Anyone have a similar experience and/or solution? Thanks for any help.
I had the same issue with my 351C.....pulled the distributor to weld up the advance slot and shorten the curve. Next thing I know, I fire it up and there a growing pool of 20W50 Pennzoil on the driveway......... With the open headers I never heard the crankshaft counterweight slap the drive rod thru my Moroso oil pan. Looked a like a bullet pierced the pan. Did I shut the engine off immediately?... Hell no......like a nimrod I checked the gauge to see if it actually read "0" first.......... Oh well, it needed to come apart to be freshened and have a new custom solid cam inserted 244/254 .600/ .600 on 107's, 6 degrees advanced.
