The AMC Forum : AW-4 Conversion by Rick (SC397) http://theamcforum.com/forum/ This is an XML content feed of; The AMC Forum : Transmission & Drivetrain : AW-4 Conversion by Rick (SC397) Thu, 23 May 2013 00:55:05 +0000 Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:25:17 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Web Wiz Forums 10.03 360 theamcforum.com/forum/RSS_post_feed.asp?TID=15549 The AMC Forum http://theamcforum.com/forum/http://www.theamcforum.com/forum/skin_images_amc/forumheader.png http://theamcforum.com/forum/ AW-4 Conversion by Rick (SC397) : Original author SC397Yep, I... http://theamcforum.com/forum/aw4-conversion-by-rick-sc397_topic15549_post136297.html#136297 Author: poormansMACHINE
Subject: 15549
Posted: Dec/28/2009 at 4:25pm

Original author SC397

Yep, I have a 2WD AW4 bolted to a 304 in my 69 Javelin runningflawlessly for 2 summers now. Probably 6000 miles in this car on top ofthe who knows how many miles when it was in the Jeep. I sent a PM withmore detail but it is a bolt in operation more or less. I used a GMtype trans mount and modified a stock K-member. I used the 4L flexplate and welded the 304 counter weight to it. I also used the 4L hightorque starter. I had to fab a bracket for the TPS, and kick downcable. The drive shaft I used I think came out of a V8 hornet but I amnot sure. I am not a electrical guy either. All I know how to do ismake the smoke come out of the wires. Anyway, I did wire in thepower/comfort switch etc. With some help, I had to wire in a relay tomake the neutral saftey switch work correctly. The bottom line is, itworks perfect. Down shifts, up shifts the whole nine yards. In myopinion, it is a great transmission and I wouldn't be afraid to put itbehind a 360. On a early ('70) engine, you will have to use theBulltear crank adapter.

 Mechanically, it all bolts together. I used the 4L flex plateand welded the counter weight to it. In your case, you need to take theweight off of a 360 flex plate and weld it in the same location on the4L plate. Use the crank mounting holes as a reference point. With the4L flex plate I also used the 4L starter. The other mechanical thing isthat I made up a special bracket to house the TPS and kick down cables.I used the trans computer for the 4L and figured out where all of thewires go. The only real tricky part was wiring up the neutral safteyswitch to work correctly. In my opinion if you can spin tires, a 360won't hurt that transmission if you keep it cool enough. I am running atranny cooler that is bolted where the licence plate goes in the front.Tell you what, the combo of the 304 AW4 3:54 in my Javelin isremarkable.
I used the floor shifter out of a Comanche Pick up but, I wouldthink the B&M should work as well. I wired in the lock up converterand it works perfect.
The output yoke from the 2WD Jeep takes the exact same u-joint as the cars.
The transmission fits in the tunnel of my '69 javelin with nomodification. I had to bend the dip stick tube a little to clear theengine.
Seriously, I put it in drive and floor it. It either spins tiresor just digs and goes! The transmission starts to shift at 4500 andfully engages at 5000 rpm. I drive it like I used to drive my Jeepswith that transmission. Every time it goes out of the garage it getsflogged. (Just to make sure it works correctly, you know..)
For me, a 3.91:1 gear may be too steep. Mine is a 3:54 behind a304 and runs 15.3 in the quarter. It churns about 2600 rpm at 70 mph. Iwas thinking of going down to a 3.31:1 gear so I can cruse with lessrpm. My best gas mileage so far is like 28 MPG but, I really can't keepmy foot out of it.


The bracket I fabricated to house the Throttle Position Sensor and theKick Down Cable. I mounted it off of the 2 center intake manifoldbolts. I am using a old Carter AFM carb and filed a hook on the linkagearm to mesh with the TPS. The key is to line the center of the pivotsbetween the carb butterflies and the TPS arm.


I cut the chunk off as shown and knocked off the round steel shieldfrom the tail shaft. I used a GM transmission mount and had to elongatethe mounting holes a little. The transmission yoke from the Jeepaccepts the same U-joint as the early AMC cars. I was checking the bellhousing bolt pattern with a V8 spacer plate. I think that I had toenlarge one hole in the transmission bell from a smaller metric hole toaccept the 3/8" bolt. It seems like I couldn't use one bolt hole due tothe placement of the Jeep crank shaft posisition sensor cavity. The CPSis not needed because I was not using a engine control module.   


Excuse the dirty interior but, here is a shot of the Jeep shifter withthe console that I modified to work. I installed a simple toggle switchto the left of the ignition switch for the Power/Comfort switch. Imounted the TCU to the heater box so you can't really see it but, youcan get at it if you need to.


. The Jeep owner's manual says the shifter only has 3 forward positions- the first controls 1st and 2nd combined, the second controls 3rd (ordrive), and the third controls the overdrive. Are you saying you canshift through all 4 gears now or are you still stuck with whatever rpmthe 1-2 shift decides to come in at?"
I am saying that I don't remember now.... I THOUGHT, that I hadshifted it through all of the gears manually but I will wait until thesnow melts to try it again. Check out some of the Jeep forums, theyhave lots of things to say about the AW4. Check the Toyota websites(A340,A350,A650E)and see what they say about them. There has GOTto be a guru out there on these transmissions that knows what takes tohandle real power and, knows what to do to "tune" them.

"The bracket for the TPS looks simple enough but I'm not sure wherethe kick down "cable?" is located. I think I'll need a betterexplanaition of the carb area hookups eventually."
The bottom picture of the TPS showes it pretty well. It comes inbelow the throttle cable. I bent a 90 degree bend on the TPS bracketand made a square hole for the kick down cable to snap in to. The endof the cable connects to the carb linkage but you can't see that part.Basically, I convert the TPS and kick down cable from a fuel injected4L to a carburated V8.

"It's a good thing nobody wanted the 4.0 intake setup I tried tosell a month ago - I'm pretty sure the TPS is probably still mounted onthat. Not to mention the wiring for the trans "computer"."
Get all of that stuff you can including the engine wiring harness,Power/Comfort switch and, the brake switch and bracket that is locatednear the brake peddle.

. The Jeep owner's manual says the shifter only has 3 forward positions- the first controls 1st and 2nd combined, the second controls 3rd (ordrive), and the third controls the overdrive. Are you saying you canshift through all 4 gears now or are you still stuck with whatever rpmthe 1-2 shift decides to come in at?"
I am saying that I don't remember now.... I THOUGHT, that I hadshifted it through all of the gears manually but I will wait until thesnow melts to try it again. Check out some of the Jeep forums, theyhave lots of things to say about the AW4. Check the Toyota websites(A340,A350,A650E)and see what they say about them. There has GOTto be a guru out there on these transmissions that knows what takes tohandle real power and, knows what to do to "tune" them.

"The bracket for the TPS looks simple enough but I'm not sure wherethe kick down "cable?" is located. I think I'll need a betterexplanaition of the carb area hookups eventually."
The bottom picture of the TPS showes it pretty well. It comes inbelow the throttle cable. I bent a 90 degree bend on the TPS bracketand made a square hole for the kick down cable to snap in to. The endof the cable connects to the carb linkage but you can't see that part.Basically, I convert the TPS and kick down cable from a fuel injected4L to a carburated V8.

"It's a good thing nobody wanted the 4.0 intake setup I tried tosell a month ago - I'm pretty sure the TPS is probably still mounted onthat. Not to mention the wiring for the trans "computer"."
Get all of that stuff you can including the engine wiring harness,Power/Comfort switch and, the brake switch and bracket that is locatednear the brake pedal

.
OK... I will attempt to explain how I wired up the AW4 from a 1989 Jeep Comanche (2WD) to my '69 Javelin.

From TCU: Red wire. Ran to the + battery side of the solenoid (probably should have a fuse)
From TCU: Yellow wire. Ran to the "FAN-TRANS" terminal of the fuse block.
From TCU: Light blue/yellow tracer. This is for the lock-up torqueconverter. I wired in the brake switch from the Jeep so that it brakesthe ground.
From TCU: Yellow/black tracer. Transmission Diagnostic Data Wire. I didn't wire this up to anything.
From TCU: Tan wire. This is for the Power/Comfort mode. I ran thisto a toggle switch that is supplied with 12V. I think that applying 12Vswitches it to the Power Mode.
From TCU: Black wires with ground terminal. Ran to a ground on the fire wall.

From gear selector on the transmission:
Black/yellow tracer. Back up lights. I ran this wire to the "BACK UP TURN" terminal on the fuse block.
Brown/white tracer. Wired to the brown wire from the original shifter that runs to the back up lights.
Black/white tracer. Neutral Safety Switch. Needs to be wired to arelay for "reverse logic". Don't ask me how this works. I will includeof the wiring sketch on my buddy made this work with a Relay from aNissan.


This is how I had to wire the 4L starter to work with the stock Javelin solenoid.

THE DRIVE SHAFT LENGTH is 50 1/8" from CENTER TO CENTER of theU-JOINTS. This is with a V8, 2WD AW4, Jeep yoke and, the AMC20 rear endin a '69 Javelin. I think that the drive shaft that I used was from aV8 automatic Hornet/Cord but, I am not sure. I wouldn't want to go anyshorter with the drive shaft so, if you found one in the range of 50.25to 50.5 it should work fine. To determine the correct length for adrive shaft, push the transmission yoke in until it bottoms out thenbring it out 1". Measure the center to center distance with the carloaded on the rear end. (at ride height).





Edited by poormansMACHINE - Dec/28/2009 at 4:27pm]]> Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:25:17 +0000 http://theamcforum.com/forum/aw4-conversion-by-rick-sc397_topic15549_post136297.html#136297