Sho transmission options

[Dragontvb]

Hi i am new to the forum but not to sho's. I have had a buggy for about 2 years now with a 91 SHO engine in it.I current use a 091 VW transaxle and i am tired of fixing it.I plan to copy a friend of mine who used a ls1 with a turbo350 tranny turned the transcase vertical and ran a short driveshaft under the engine to a front diff out of a branco and he modified the diff to accept porch 930 cv's.That is all in the read of his buggy btw.

He used check engine/chevy tranny/chevy transcase/ford front diff.I plan to use ford engine/ford tranny/ford transcase/ford front end.

So with all that explained i have been hunting for a week now and cant find any solid information.I need to know what RWD transmissions Wtranscase i can bolt to my 91 sho engine and any modifications i will need to do.The only thing i have come up with is using a a4ld but a friend of mine told me that i should be able to make a c4 work.Does anyone have any ideas other then not doing it this way because i wont accept that.I have been in his buggy and having 4low is godly on the dunes

 

[mrecoolgar]

The Ranger M50D from behind a 3.0 engine should work.
Get one from a 4x4 with the transfer case.
OffRoadSho should be able to provide more help.

 

[rubydist]

any small block trans will work with the adapter that is available.

 

[Dragontvb]

Ahh i forgot to mention i want to do a AT not a manual.What adapter btw?

 

[93markVIII]

AAAAHHHH A4LD! run away! ruunn awaaayyyy!!

but really, they sucked in rangers and explorers. a SHO motor would prolly just blow it apart!

 

[Off Road SHO]

Ahh i forgot to mention i want to do a AT not a manual.What adapter btw?

The adaptor from Canfield Industries try CIDIDIT.com

Tom

 

[Dragontvb]

Ok well i might accept defeat here soon it's looking like without major custom work the a4ld would be my only option so how about the Mazda M5OD.Did it comes in the rangers with 4WD? Does it bolt directly up to the sho? Also what parts do i need to use to bolt it up to the sho if it does? Clutch/Pressure Plate and flwheel i mean

 

[rubydist]

if you do a search, you will find all your questions have already been answered.

the M5ODR1 in Rangers was available in both 2wd and 4wd configurations. It is pretty stout, and will take 350 lb-ft of torque in Rangers with no known issues. You need to find one from a 3.0, since they are integral bell housing castings, and only the 3.0 pattern will bolt up to the SHO motor. There is a small amount of trimming required to clear the rear seal on the SHO motor.

if the Canfield adapter fits your definition of "major custom work" then this project is too much for you.

 

[SHOtime2511]

AAAAHHHH A4LD! run away! ruunn awaaayyyy!!

but really, they sucked in rangers and explorers. a SHO motor would prolly just blow it apart!

Tell that to the one in my driveway with 232K miles.

 

[Dragontvb]

@rubydist The plate they make is only to apart the bolt pattern not internal parts such as torq converter. They told me to use a c4 with there adapter I would need to get a custom torq converter made along with fly wheel. I built my buggy from the ground up by hand. I did not toss money at someone else and have them do it so I can take the credit so please don't insult me by implying that this is to big of a project.
Also my definition of "major custom work" does not only refer to the work involved but the cost. If the cost is going to out weight the gain then the custom work needed is not worth it. Thank you for the information about the M5ODR1 rubydist

The way Canfield worded it to me made it seem like it would be a big deal. I have 2 spare engines so maybe I will just pick up a c4 and see what I can figure out. If anyone has more information about the canfield plate such as what all I will need to modify or get custom made I would be very greatfull.I will post some pic's later today of my project.

 

[93markVIII]

Tell that to the one in my driveway with 232K miles.

some people get lucky. we had a ranger that went through 4 in under 100k miles.

 

[rubydist]

you need a "custom" flex plate that is a normal sbf flex plate drilled for the SHO motor. I don't recall if you need a spacer or not - its been a year since I looked at that in detail.

you need a "custom" torque converter because the pilot hole in the SHO crank is smaller than the pilot in the sbf crank. you would also want a higher stall speed because the SHO motor has low torque at 1500 rpm.

that is not extensive "custom" work by most of our definitions.

btw, I would not use a C4. At least use an AOD so you get 4 gears and a way to lock up 4th so you don't have the torque converter slip all the time. you can get a stand-alone controller for a 4R75W from Baumann Engineering that allows you to program shift rpms and shift rate to dial it in exactly how you want it, and the SHO will have a hard time killing a properly built 4R75W.

I wasn't trying to be insulting, I was pointing out that doing custom stuff requires doing custom stuff.

 

[Dragontvb]

What about a c5? I was told that you can put a C4 bell housing onto a C5. Do you think a C5 would hold up? The C4 only sounded good due to size and its so simple

 

[Off Road SHO]

I don't think you do much better than the C-4; it's the auto tranny of choice to be built for drag racing if you're a Ford fanboy.

But, like I mentioned on the phone, I'd use the A4LD with a huge oil-to-air cooler AFTER the oil-to-coolant cooler. It can also be beefed up with parts from its' successors, the 4R44 and 5R55.

Tom

 

[rubydist]

If you are ok with 3 gears the C4 is better - more support & guys know how to build them to stand up to most anything.

 

[Dragontvb]

Anyone know how long a A4LD with transfer case attached is? Also how long a C4 with a transfercase attached is? My buggy is rather short having some length issue's lol. On another note i tore into my blown up 5 rub vw with 094 gears and somehow the pinion nut got tore up so doing a temp fix to it should be fun

 

[Off Road SHO]

Save yourself a lot of grief, heartache and disappointment and just get a Mendeola E or D model. No need for a low range since you can get un-godly low gearing with final drives of 5.88. I ran an E model in The Other Woman with her supercharger and now turbo with a lot of drag racing and it took 3 years to make that transmission whine enough to upgrade to the D model.

If you're dead set on an automatic, go to the Ranger Forums and look at all the A4LD beef-up threads.

EK in Tucson runs an A4LD in his SHO powered "truggy" which was originally a 3.0 Vulcan powered 4X4 Ranger. He burned up the first A4LD (he runs it in low range whenever he is off road) because he didn't think he needed an external tranny oil cooler, thinking the one inside the radiator was sufficient. He re-built that A4LD, installed an oil-to-air cooler after the oil-to-coolant cooler and hasn't had a problem since. If you can't get the heat out of an auto tranny, prepare to get the money out of your wallet.

Tom

 

[Dragontvb]

I got plenty of width to fit as much tranny cooler as i need. The only issue i am having is length from the back of my seats to the end of my buggy i only have 48 in and my engine takes up 36in from front to back of manifold more like 30 from front of crank pully to flywheel. I am just wondering how long the A4LD with tcase on it is. I could extend the ass end a bit maybe 10 inches and it would still be ok. Also can wiggle a few inches by moving seats up

 

[Shovert]

I can give a little advice. Unless you don't need the torque convertor lock up and 4th gear. You will need to find a old Aerostar 3.0 trans. They did not have electronic hookup. I got the wrong one for my project. I hope to use a Jeep 4.0 standalone trans controller. [we shall see] Or maybe this method.
http://www.transmissioncenter.org/new_page_1.htm
Or maybe this way. Run 2 computers.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=308447
If this does not work I will get the adapter. And yes get a extra trans cooler. Also can rebuild the trans to hold up longer.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=146953
If had it to do all over and had the info of the adapter. Now doubt about it I would definitely go the adapter plate. Maurice

 

[Dragontvb]

Was the A4LD bolted up to 2.8/2.9 engine as well? Was the bellhousing different?