351W Redline

[cld783]

Ok I tried searching for this but nothing seems to come up, this has just been bothering me haha. I have an aftermarket Tach which you can set the redline to, however i have on clue as to what the redline is on my 351 Windsor. I know at WOT it shifts around 4000-5000 RPM. Does anyone know what the real redline for my engine is? Thanks

if you have an automatic just set it to whatever your tranny shifts at WOT definetely not 6000 like you have it set in your pic on cardomain.. 4-5 is higher than i expected you to say.

do you have a stock tranny?

[torquelover]

How many miles you got on yours?

Sorry, I missed this. According to Carfax, my car was sold in 1989 with over 80k on it. If the lady who had it for the 7 years before me only drove it 25k, then it has about 398k on it. If she drove it 125k over the 7 years (most likely) then it now has 498k on it. That's in miles. I drove it between Chicago and Detroit/Indy almost every weekend and worked in Illinois living in Indiana, so it's mostly highway miles. After I resurrected it in 2003, I used it as a daily driver 3 years in a row averaging about 50k/year. Not too shabby, considering it's only had 1 engine/trans/rearend overhaul. The front bushings are almost non-existent however. Those who have seen it or driven it will probably tell you it feels like it's only at 1/3 the mileage. I bought another DD last year, and work only 5 miles away so it wasn't really necessary to have 3 cars. Your car looks mint, it really shows the low mileage. If you take care of it, it'll run 200-250k without a problem it seems.

[Brown_Muscle]

if you have an automatic just set it to whatever your tranny shifts at WOT definetely not 6000 like you have it set in your pic on cardomain.. 4-5 is higher than i expected you to say.

do you have a stock tranny?

Well, I have all the paperwork from it dating back to 1982 when the police had it, as far as I can tell the only thing ever done to the tranny was it was flushed a few times. I'm pretty sure its a stock AOD tranny, now is that in a category of its own or is it a C6 or C4 variation??

Torqulover- wow thats amazing the milage you have on that thing, I didn't know these cars were capable of milage over 200,000 haha.

[P72Ford]

I can't get my car to rev above 3700 before shifting. One time the accelerator stuck wide open when I was backing up (why was I at WOT in reverse?), and the engine buzzed to 5K (with retarded wheel spin).

[Brown_Muscle]

HAHAHA, nice.

How does the car feel when It shifts for you guys? I don't know about you but mine is smooth as butter under any acceleration, light or hard. I'm just seeing if mine is any different from the average.

[P72Ford]

Mine doesn't have a kit in it, but its the firmest shifting AOD I've ever felt (without a kit). I can feel every shift very well under light or hard acceleration. My '88 car had a slushbox, but this one is pretty decent. It shifts pretty fast, with the exception of OD, which tends to clunk in, unless it shifts in on its own at 100 mph.

[Tiggie]

The my original '82 didn't work anywhere near right (missing 2nd gear), but it was a slushbox too. It just kinda slid into the next gear. My '88 is the same way, just slides into gear. The '82 now shifts pretty hard under light to mid throttle. It makes the dash make a crack sound sometimes. Full Throttle mushes the shifts a bit on it.

I think they changed the valvebody in '83ish. Not that it makes a difference in stock shifting style, but it might be a concern if you are thinking about a shift kit.

[Brown_Muscle]

hmmm, ok well I'm not too concerned with performance as much as smoothness because I tend to get more compliments on how nice a ride it is then how fast it is, although I wouldn't mind both haha

[Nathan in MI]

My Crown Vic was the slushiest shifting tranny I'd ever driven when I got it. I put a shift kit in it and it's decent now, though the 1-2 shift is still a bit sloppy for some reason that I've never been able to fix (and I've tried...). 2-3 and 3-4 are nice and firm.

My Lincoln shifts quite firmly, leading me to believe that it may have been rebuilt at some point and had a shift kit put in at that time. It's really quite nice; if I wasn't swapping to a manual trans I might consider putting the Lincoln's trans into the Vic.

[Brown_Muscle]

hmmmm, I wouldn't say mine shift sluggishly, about as fast as most modern cars Ive driven actually. It just doesn't jerk you or anything. Now that I think of it there is a bolt or two missing out of the bottom of the tranny resulting in a few drops of fluid, I need to find some bolts for it haha.

[P72Ford]

Mine jerks the shifts pretty seriously for an unmodded trans.

[Mercracer]

It should hold 7 or so. My bronco is factory set at 5500.

No factory stock hydraulic lifter ford motor will rev to 7K. Valve float happens first..... Even if the valvetrain holds, 7K is a formula for a rod through the block in a stock Windsor.... Factory rod bolts suck ass....

[DuceAnAHalf]

A neck snapping shift is not a good shift. It puts a lot of stress of all driveline parts and can break the tires loose. My race tranny shifts as smooth as any tranny, but the shifts are lightning fast.


And your stock or HO Motors are not going to do any good over 5000rpm. My 351 with a 484/512 cam with 1.72 rockers was floating stock valves at 4500, even now with good springs and GT-40 heads it stops pulling before 5500. That's because the cam is too small

[gadget73]

Well, I have all the paperwork from it dating back to 1982 when the police had it, as far as I can tell the only thing ever done to the tranny was it was flushed a few times. I'm pretty sure its a stock AOD tranny, now is that in a category of its own or is it a C6 or C4 variation??

The AOD is it's own thing, totally unrelated to the C4 or C6 tranny. Its closest ancestor is actually the Cruise-O-Matic FMX transmission, usually just called the FMX. Of your gear selector has PRN(D)D2, its an AOD. Should be the only trans available in 82 anyway.

[P72Ford]

A neck snapping shift is not a good shift. It puts a lot of stress of all driveline parts and can break the tires loose. My race tranny shifts as smooth as any tranny, but the shifts are lightning fast.

I had a friend with a '91 T-Bird; AOD with some shift kit in it. It was "neck jerking" for sure; a little bit stupid if you ask me. The thing was, under hard acceleration, it didn't shift well at all. It would feel "spring loaded" after a shift, the car would jump forward. The shifts took too long, but they were better under light accel (which is useless).

My car isn't neck jerking, but you can definitely feel it.

My Dad put a TH350 in his '68 LeSabre this past fall. The trans was rebuilt with a kit and a stock replacement converter. Nothing wild, because the car isn't anything special. Its a really smooth transmission, and it also tends to shift rather quickly.