sixtyninestang

The 90 LX I just bought has an AOD. It was rebuilt with a new torque converter and a shift kit a year ago. Someone showed me how to shift an 89 AOD LX in a way that allows me to control all of the gears. Starting in the lowest gear ("L" position I believe) you shift up to "D" which puts the car in second. At that point you can pull the shifter back down to "L", but the transmission remains in second gear instead of downshifting back to first. This allows you to control all four gears. My trans won't do this. I'm guessing it's because of the shift kit. Is there an aftermarket shifter, like the B&M or something, that will let me select all four gears independently, or is this controlled electronically? Thanks.

PJB

You should be able to do it with the stock shifter. You probably arent shifting it fast enough.
Ive got the B&M Hammer shifter and can do it but I never had the stock shifter.
Ive also got a shift kit. When shifting manually the shift kit doesnt affect anything.

As for independently selecting all 4 gears without doing the 1-D-1 thing its only possible if you change the valvebody.

tom29

its weird whenever i go from D to 1 it shifts down HARD, but it is when im slowing down.. Do you need to be WOT or accelerating to do this??? and when you do it do you go from first hit drive then immediately hit it back down to 1 then when it revs out again you hit D again for 3rd???

sixtyninestang

Thanks for the reply. I'm definitely shifting fast enough. My friend who showed me the trick was right next to me, advising me on how to do it, and he was puzzled. He watched every move I made and we still couldn't do it every way we tried. The transmission seems to want to get into high gear as soon as it can, and even feels like it will do first to third if I get way into it in first, so I keep it in "D" when driving in the city. It shifts fine, really tight in fact. No noise, no hesitation, very firm shifts, and like I said, the torque converter is less than a year old, brand new, not rebuilt. The kickdown cable is attached securely, and definitely works.
I'm not used to manually shifting an automatic. It seems necessary sometimes, and other times it's just fun (cruising). My 69 Coupe has an FMX in it, and no throttle kickdown when I got it. I kinda like it like that, although it does have it's down side (no immediate throttle response). When I get it on the road next Spring/Summer I may opt to get one. Sometimes it's cool having the option to keep it in high and accelerate without downshifting. That's a horse of a different color though (excuse the pun).

PJB

Ive only done it when racing so it was definately accelerating.
I start out in first, hit third and quick hit first again and hit third when it tachs out.

creekrat

accelerating out of first, shift to drive, allow the trans to complete the shift , then pull it back down to1. It doesn't have to be a super quick shift back down, the trans must be able to complete the shift internally

sixtyninestang

Right you are! I guess it just took a little bit of practice. I got it down now.