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Member
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2009
- Messages
- 6
- Vehicle Year
- 1986
- Transmission
- Automatic
Hello...ranger guys...fellow ford nuts... 
Long time lurker first time poster. Im the drag racing moderator over at www.natomessageboard.com user id 86XR7auto We now have a few fast turbo coupes that are pretty stock in the 12's... it's cool. All those cars are T5's. But the only current auto setup that lasts worth a damn is the C4. Which is what I have. Its awesome, but not so good for a daily driver, weekend warrior.
Now my question(s) and thought process(s).
For many years anybody that has any interest in increasing the performance of an auto 87-88 TC, is just asking for trouble. Now the guys at NATO know a few tricks for general A4LD info to tell the noobs, but not a lot. Being we have only one guy that is trying to race the A4LD(ie trying to make any power). With just a shift kit and tranny cooler....I believe. The common option is to swap the T5 stuff or get a rebuild with 90-94 explorer stuff. Only a handfull has done so, because of the cost. But there are lots of auto TC's that have low mileage for a good price and not much performance. You can easily get 240hp out of the stock turbo with just a boost control, exhaust, timing, IC..blahblah. But at 240hp or better is possible. That alot of torque...over 300 at low rpms with the stock little turbo. Which easily destroys the infamous 87-88TC A4LD.
Now the little info that I know about the Turbocoupe A4LD. 1987 to mid 88 use only 1 solenoid to control torque converter lockup. Sometime in 1988 ford started to use 2 solenoids. The second is for the 3-4 shift. The extra noid ment a computer change. I believe the LB3 computer. Now I don't know what other year ford vehicles started using 2 solenoids for the A4LD. That would be good to know for tranny compatibility. So is there any crazy supercharged/turbo/nitrous 4.0l rangers out there???? If so what did they do to build the A4LD to last. Now with turbocoupes being over 20 years old, they is a few guys buying them just to have fun. I would like to point them in the right direction. ie...spend $1500.00 and the tranny will be good until 300hp for example. Maybe nobody does this with the 4.0l...just swaps in a 302 and an AOD. But it isn't free to swap the T5 either...about half the cost depending how you got your tranny, clutch pedals, driveshaft, wiring...not to mention the time involved.
Another thought is how the torque is made in the turbocoupe. Stock 87-88TC made 150hp @ 4000rpms and 200tq @ 3000rpms... You could get lots more torque earlier in the rpms if you override the factory boost controller trying to save the weak stock A4LD....like 320tq at 2000rpms, which everybody does that is trying to go faster. That maybe a huge amount of load on the tranny at too little rpms, plus the TC isn't light, about 3500lbs.
So fellow ford crazy guys....gots some info to share. Do you have some great tranny builders that will stand behind and know what the additional torque will do. Also a quality torque converter guy that can build a good lockup torque converter for the A4LD....
Thanks for reading the book I typed.
Travis
Long time lurker first time poster. Im the drag racing moderator over at www.natomessageboard.com user id 86XR7auto We now have a few fast turbo coupes that are pretty stock in the 12's... it's cool. All those cars are T5's. But the only current auto setup that lasts worth a damn is the C4. Which is what I have. Its awesome, but not so good for a daily driver, weekend warrior.
Now my question(s) and thought process(s).
For many years anybody that has any interest in increasing the performance of an auto 87-88 TC, is just asking for trouble. Now the guys at NATO know a few tricks for general A4LD info to tell the noobs, but not a lot. Being we have only one guy that is trying to race the A4LD(ie trying to make any power). With just a shift kit and tranny cooler....I believe. The common option is to swap the T5 stuff or get a rebuild with 90-94 explorer stuff. Only a handfull has done so, because of the cost. But there are lots of auto TC's that have low mileage for a good price and not much performance. You can easily get 240hp out of the stock turbo with just a boost control, exhaust, timing, IC..blahblah. But at 240hp or better is possible. That alot of torque...over 300 at low rpms with the stock little turbo. Which easily destroys the infamous 87-88TC A4LD.
Now the little info that I know about the Turbocoupe A4LD. 1987 to mid 88 use only 1 solenoid to control torque converter lockup. Sometime in 1988 ford started to use 2 solenoids. The second is for the 3-4 shift. The extra noid ment a computer change. I believe the LB3 computer. Now I don't know what other year ford vehicles started using 2 solenoids for the A4LD. That would be good to know for tranny compatibility. So is there any crazy supercharged/turbo/nitrous 4.0l rangers out there???? If so what did they do to build the A4LD to last. Now with turbocoupes being over 20 years old, they is a few guys buying them just to have fun. I would like to point them in the right direction. ie...spend $1500.00 and the tranny will be good until 300hp for example. Maybe nobody does this with the 4.0l...just swaps in a 302 and an AOD. But it isn't free to swap the T5 either...about half the cost depending how you got your tranny, clutch pedals, driveshaft, wiring...not to mention the time involved.
Another thought is how the torque is made in the turbocoupe. Stock 87-88TC made 150hp @ 4000rpms and 200tq @ 3000rpms... You could get lots more torque earlier in the rpms if you override the factory boost controller trying to save the weak stock A4LD....like 320tq at 2000rpms, which everybody does that is trying to go faster. That maybe a huge amount of load on the tranny at too little rpms, plus the TC isn't light, about 3500lbs.
So fellow ford crazy guys....gots some info to share. Do you have some great tranny builders that will stand behind and know what the additional torque will do. Also a quality torque converter guy that can build a good lockup torque converter for the A4LD....
Thanks for reading the book I typed.
Travis
