haromaster87

Hey guys,

I'm new here but i'm on lots of other forums so I know the drill. lol I'm 16 and gettin my first car/stang soon. I'm hopefully gettin a 1990 LX 5.0 It's an auto, looks dead stock and is pretty clean. With a nice afternoon and some elbow grease I could have it lookin damn near new. lol Anyway, i'm still in high school so even though ima do some mods to it i'm not gonna go crazy. Prolly just do basics like cold air intake, throttle body, underdrive pulleys(do they help much?) and a few other little ****s. I'm also doin exhaust, BBK long tubes, H-pipe and either strait pipes from there or something. In florida we don't have to worry bout emissions. IDK, either way, thats for another discussion. My main thing is I am kinda glad it's an auto but I want some more agressive trans action. So heres my plans, I figured this all out with not alot of knowledge of the trans' in these cars so just bear with me. lol I was thinkin a B&M shift kit or just the whole B&M transpak in general.

http://www.bmracing.com/index.php?id...d=2&cat=13

Id'e prolly get the stage 2 since i'm not concerned about the comfort of the shift at all and I want the most agressive shift.

Then I was thinkin about doin a Hurst Quarter Stick Pistol Grip shifter.

http://www.hurst-shifters.com/catalo...GrpQ-Stick.pdf

I think it looks really cool, and the button will be good for a line lock. Question on these, do they actually improve my ability to"manually"shift the trans or do they just look cool? lol That sounds really ignorant but i'm serious. Also i'll use the car as a DD(mainly to school and back, not far) and I need to be able to use my reverse and have the reverse lights come on and all, so wich version of that shifter would be the best?

And I was thinkin of a better torque converter with a higher stall. Can someone help me with what the higherstall changes? My friend explained it to me but i'm not positive he was right so I just wanna check. I was thinkin the 2800-3200 rpm stall but i'm not sure.

And finally what is the name of the auto trans that came in fox body mustangs? 1990 in particular.

Before anyone ask, I tried searching for all this info but I couldn't find anything truly helpful to my moronic situation. lol Sorry this is so long and all sounds pretty dumb but I wanna be sure i'm doin somethin worth while. haha Any help is appreciated!

Thanks,
Tony

mjr46

for a stock stang 2500 to 2800 stall will be fine and sHift kit and shifter is fine.....the name of the tranny is an AOD

haromaster87

Wow, thanks man! Okay. So now that I know a bit more about the trans I realized the shifter I picked out wouldn't work, so I decided on this one.

http://www.hurst-shifters.com/catalo...rs/V-Matic.pdf

I also did some research on AOD's and found out they had overdrive. Now, by replacing the shifter, how will I be able to activate and deactivate the Overdrive?

86 GT 5.0

Not positive but I don't think the BBK longtubes will fit on an AOD..

haromaster87

Like the transmission will get in the way of the headers? How would the transmission affect the exhaust? Not tryin to be sarcastic just curious. lol

nitrous_bob

ok the AOD bellhousing is much bigger than a t5 it can be made to work, but you need to grind on the bellhousing to clear longtubes

now i am going to tell to think long and hard about buying a aod car , and i will also tell you to not waste money on some of the mods you listed and why.....

first off...i am 36 years old, i have owned a mustang of some sort since i was 15 that includes a '66 coupe, '90 GT(aod) , '89 notch 5speed, '88 notch 5-speed, '90 lx aod, and a '93 notch 5-speed

so what i say...i say from personal experience....not what my brothers neigbors uncles friend said.

aod's are heavy, they rob power, and break VERY easily

i bought my '90 GT brand new right after highschool cuz i didn't know any better. in 6 years i broke 3 trannies and the car never went faster than 14.40's

5-speed cars are about a full second faster (10 car lengths) in the 1/4 mod for mod and way more fun to drive

the gearing in the aod is horrible, the shifts are super slow and sloppy, the shift points are way wrong unless your grandma is driving it, the shifter position does NOT allow you to manual shift it (it goes 1-d-od) so 2 and 3 are in the same spot...it will shift into 3rd at about 3500 rpms

now this can be cured w/ a full manual valvebody, butthey area few bucks, a good converter (DO NOT GET LESS THAN 3000 or you will regret it) is about $500

lentech is the best stuff out there...enuff that they are the only ones who will warranty their stuff.

all in all your better off buying a new lentech trans instead of upgrading what you have

now other mods.....don't bother w/ tb's, or even an intake until you do heads first, you will gain nothing.....the 2 best mods on a stock mustang (3 in the long run) are gears and nitrous...then your gonna need tires, but they are the cheapest and hands down, the best performance gain you can get for even twice the money.

if you do go aod...you HAVE to have 4.10's, even in a 5-speed i like 4.10's best , but aod is a must

here are some comparo's for you, my previos cars and main mods to see the big gap in performance....

1990 gt aod: 3.73, sportsman pro's, gt40 intake, shorty headers, dynomax catback
14.40's int he 1/4

1989 5-speed notch: 4.10's et streets, southsides, CAI, mac long tubes, OR flowmaster catback, 75 shot dry nitrous
13.20 on motor, 12.50 on nitrous (first pass ever , bone stock just 4.10's and cheater slix went 13.60's...almost a second faster than my '90)

1988 5-speed notch 100% bonestock including 2.73 and street tires
14.20's (it was 2 tenths faster than my '90 aod car w/ nothing done to it and 140k miles on it)

'90 lx vert aod: 3.73 flowmaster catback, shorties, 100 shot dry zex kit, street tires
15.10 on motor 13.60 on nitrous ('verts are heavy though)

'93 notch 5-speed, 4.10's mac everything, hpm's hi 13's on motor hi 12's on nitrous

ok i'll quit for now....but you really NEED to drive some aod cars, and also 5-speed cars

whatever route you go....good luck, post up some pics, and have fun....it's like a disease my brotha

88ttop5.0

Dammit just when i thought i was gonna stay auto to save some money someone posts and makes me think twice again lol

92cobra

dont let nitrous bob get you down, there is NOTHING wrong with an automatic. Granted straight from the factory they will be slower. However with a shift kit and a 2500-3k stall depending on your setup your already getting there. As soon as you really get into things you will realize that 5spd isnt everything. Soon enough we will have you going down the track so fast you would NOT have been able to hit your shift points =P.

To go on about what you want to do, the shift kit is a great idea, however when you say you dont care about how it feels when you shift, your lieing. Haha you dont know it yet brother but you really are. For example my 91gt auto with a shift kit, shifts hard enough that when your foots NOT in it, and you have a full cup of coffee in your lap, it will soon be all over your pants. So yes, do go with the stage 1 because its not a full out race car. Also, there is nothing wrong with my tranny, its a daily driver and yes i was exaggerating a little, but the down shifts and up shifts are really a kick in the pants.

To go on with your post, you posted about under drive pullies. You asked something about if they were worth it. I will be very blunt here because i feel a certain special way on this subject mjr you know what i mean <3 =P. I HATE UNDER DRIVE PULLIES. First off, not to insult your intelligence, but a lot of younger people dont even know what they do. I will tell you what they do. They cause a big pain in your a$$.

Reasons why I dont think under drive pullies should be on STREET cars.
1. If you have them, your battery WILL become dead after driving for awhile. This is because from the factory ford didnt do an amazing job with all the electrical stuff and they also werent to smart by putting in a 75amp alternator. So lets say its cold/hot out and you have the air heat/air conditioner on and your radio is up, and your electric fan is running *no your car does not have an electric fan yet, but it will after you read more on the forums* and you have your turn signal on, along with your head lights and your waiting in that terrible traffic. Your battery is just draining and draining and draining. Now your getting ready to say, but wait zach wont it charge back up. NO NO it wont, because you have a 75amp alternator and it hates you. When you have under drive pullies the most annoying thing they do is slow down your alternator. In return you either need to upgrade the alternator, not use the alternator under drive pullie, or use an over drive pullie on your stock alternator. Also, these things are a huge headache and you will be stuck somewhere wanting a jump start.

2. They slow down your water pump. I believe you posted that you were living in florida, great state I used to live there, anywho, on those hot days in stop and go traffic you will NOT want your water pump slown down by up to what is it guys 20%? Im pretty sure thats just plain and simply stupid. Now granted, most people DO NOT have cooling issues with udp's *short for under drive pullies* however its another reason why I hate them.

3. They gain you almost nothing. Seriously if you read dyno sheets instead of bbk magazines you will see real life gains. Tops you would see 5hp and a bunch of headaches.

Now that i went on and on about udp's and why i hate them and why i believe they shouldnt be on street cars, i say this all because i have them currently. They caused me so many headaches and issues. They killed my alternator, battery, voltage regulator. You might be thinking how...well the battery got drained to nothing, and then only to about 1/2 way, that it developed a little issue i like to call a dead cell. So, after the new battery, I realized hmm im charging better yay. Soon after, im still having problems, replace the voltage regulator alternator, etc and im doing better. Moral of the story, under drive pullies blow.

Now to go on with other stuffzorz, the bbk long tubes that your wanting wont fit. Im sorry, i dont know if someone else explained it, i forget now and im to lazy to go back up and read it, but they wont fit. This is because the transmission gets in the way. Your best bet would be shorties anyhow, there cheapier and there isnt much of a difference in shorties vs longtubes.

Now for my own peice of mind theres a few things that i personally want to put out here for you.

Driving a 3000lb vehicle with the ability to kill yourself, your friends, and others you dont know is a HUGE responsibility. Before you stop reading this and thinking im a 30yr old over protective father think again. Im a 20yr old kid who just had my back broken in 3 places by a kid who was a bad driver.

Cars are obviously not toys, but your going to want to have fun with it. I understand that, everyone has fun with there "toys". Just as a tip, doing donuts isn't the best thing on the fox bodies, some people can do it without having an issue and then others do it and snap tie rod ends, and other various things. Also its VERY hard mainly on the tires, and you will notice quickly that your going to want nice tires and there expensive.

Thats the other thing I will put out there for you. This is a rear wheel drive car obvioulsy, and it WILL be a pain to drive in the snow, which i doubt you have to worry about, but you will have to take into concideration the rain. A stock mustang can easily lose grip and go into a wall, building, car, person etc and cause major damage. When its raining out make sure to ALWAYS keep your foot out of it.

Do you know when its the slickest out? Its when it first starts to rain, so dont think "oh its just starting i still can take this corner hard" etc, because you will end up hurt as i am currently.

As i stated earlier tires are great, you need to purchase a very nice set of wet/dry tires since you dont have to worry about snow. You will notice a huge gain in traction with this as did i.

As far as go fast goodies for the stang, since it is your daily driver stay away from the under drive pullies. Exhaust, and cai and all that is great, however you wont notice much. The point where you start noticing things is GEARS which no matter what anyone says is still the best bang for the buck mod, minus nitrous. For an automatic the only gear your allowed to use is the 4.10s. If you use anything else people here will hate you. So if you use 3.73s dont tell us that. haha, generally though if you have a manual go 3.73s and autos go 4.10s just the way it is. And no this wont effect gas milage all that much.

The best thing to do to add hp later on down the line is h/c/i, which is heads cam and intake. Im not talking cold air intake, im talking upper and lower intake. However this will be later on when your comfortable with what you have now. Your car has A LOT of power so remember that when your going all out like you will do one day.

Other then those random things ive said theres not really much more i can think of to say this morning. I just dont want to see a thread in a few months or a year later on down the line saying you wrecked a nice stang and got yourself hurt.

The number one rule here is suspension, then horsepower. Straight from day one, if you want to start adding things to your car, go with suspension first. EVERYONE here will agree that suspension should be done before hp, if not there an idiot.

Oh ya!! one last thing, make sure you keep up on the maintence of the vehicle, this is a no brainer but sometimes people forget to check there oil, change tranny fluid, etc. Also, find out what kind of oil

haromaster87

Wow, Idon't know anyone on this forum but 92cobra, u are my favorite member! lol I appreciate everything u told me. Now I know, skip UDP, 4.10's and shorts. Wich will save me lots of $. lol The part that really hit me was the responsibility part. I entirely respect everything you said and agree completely. The main reason I don't wanna go nuts on this thing is cause I don't wanna build a car I can't handle, and end up bein a cross on the side of a road. I'm the biggest safety freak when it comes to that. I.e. Before I do anything to this car, ima just drive it for a while and get a feel for it. Get to know everything about the handling of this car. I knew about the slick roads thing but I will be driving extra cautions in rain, if I choose to drive in rain. I've seen wut really happens in accidents and I know whats up so I will only have fun with this car once and a while. I just want a cool car to drive to school and be able to spin the tires once and a while. Nothing more. I will never drive fast with people in the car cause thats just downright inconsiderate. The day I crash this car by fault of my own is the dayI failed in life. lol

haromaster87

Thanks man, that helped me alot, sorta. lol So do you think I should just not get the car at all? I really don't wanna do a tranny swap, i'de rather find one with a 5-sp already. Keep in mind, i'll prolly only track this car one time. All I wan't is somethin cool, that sounds good, and gets up off the line pretty quick. Just somethin to play with in high school. Also u mentioned not bein able to shift, does that mean even after the shift kit and the new handle I still wont be able to control my trans at all? LMK,

Thanks,
Tony