69 Mustang AOD Installation

Installing the Automatic Overdrive (AOD) transmission was part of my EFI 5.0 swap. The transmission came out of the donor car we bought for the conversion so we already had everything necessary to bolt it to the engine.

Installing the transmission in the car wasn't all that difficult. It required a new crossmember, new shift linkage, different yoke, shortened driveshaft, and a different speedometer cable. I also put in a new transmission oil cooler and an external transmission oil filter.

It is critical to have a correctly adjusted TV cable (sometimes incorrectly referred to as a kickdown cable) with this transmission. Because we am keeping the EFI I will be able to reuse the donor TV linkage. However there are kits available that adapt the TV linkage to a carburetor. If you're using a carburetor then you'll still need to do what I had to, plus connect the linkage to the carb.

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We used an aftermarket AOD crossmember that is commonly available:



The passenger side trans mount threads were stripped but the bolt was long enough to put a nut on it. The mount is the one for the 69 Mustang.

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We opted for the Performance Automatic (PA) AOD shift linkage kit. They've got a video on their site on how to install the kit but the AOD shifter linage wasn't exactly a bolt-in affair. The new trans linkage and the donor TV linkage had to be bent for clearance. We also had to cut a few inches off and rebend the PA shift linkage rod. The linkage still just barely touches the body next to the transmission when it's in park. We checked out the VSS (in case I need it for the cruise control) and it clears the linkage so using it is an option. Oh, and we verified that the detents inside the transmission matched the detents of the car's shifter.

The shifter is connected and functional:

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The AOD has a different yoke than the FMX, which was OK because we had the yoke from the donor car. When we had the engine in the final location, we measured for the driveshaft and had a local company shorten the old one and install the AOD yoke.

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The car's radiator did not have a trans cooler so we installed an external cooler. We also put in an external trans filter that uses the same spin-on filter (PH8A) as the engine:








We was able to use the donor line to the trans filter but we had bend a piece of tubing to splice into and lengthen the return line.

Everything that looked like it would abrade against something else was wrapped in short pieces of hose.



If we were to do this part over again we would have gone with a bigger cooler and some braided stainless hose (with AN fittings) instead of all the rubber and hardlines.

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The 69 Mustang speedometer cable will attach to the transmission (see one of the above pics), but we did not check that the speedo gear was being driven by the transmission. The 69 cable will NOT attach to the VSS (vehicle speed sensor) without modification (cache). However, the EFI does not require the VSS when using an automatic transmission. On the other hand, reusing the donor cruise control does require keeping the VSS.

The 69 Mustang cable ends are on the left, the 89 Mustang cable ends are on the right.


We found that the donor 89 Mustang speedometer cable would attach and drive the speedometer of the 69 Mustang. This is very good news, it allows us to keep the VSS (for cruise control) without having to hack up the cable to make the 69 speedo cable work with the VSS. The donor cable was too long by about 12 inches so we did a little searching and came up with a shorter cable that had the correct ends. The application is 83 Ford Ranger, 2WD, with cruise control. This cable can be had for around $8 from the chain parts stores but the local Napa had it in stock.