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  1. #1
    FEP Super Member Gemini1999's Avatar
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    Default How do I know what automatic transmission I have?

    What came with the 3.8 Essex V-6 for 1983?

    C3...C4 or C5? I haven't a clue.
    Bryan

    1983 Mustang GLX Convertible

  2. #2
    FEP Super Member xctasy's Avatar
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    C5 was the only Fox option in the 3.8 Essex 90 degree V-6 Mustang for the early years. C3 was French, code V, not an option with the code 3 engine you have.


    Trans code C bottom right on door placard tells all. W is for the C4. Engine code is not a letter, but a number 3 for the 3.8

  3. #3

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    Interesting. Pretty sure my 83 3.8 cougar is an aod.
    2 1986 cougars (both 4 eyed and 5.0)
    1 1987 cougar

  4. #4
    FEP Super Member xctasy's Avatar
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    Yes, LWB Foxes and S bodies, not the Short wheel base V6 Capri and Mustang. The AOD got a bad wrap.

    Just like the 255. Yet you could get an AOD 255 LWB Foxes and S body and in the Panther frame.

  5. #5
    FEP Super Member Gemini1999's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by xctasy View Post
    C5 was the only Fox option in the 3.8 Essex 90 degree V-6 Mustang for the early years. C3 was French, code V, not an option with the code 3 engine you have.


    Trans code C bottom right on door placard tells all. W is for the C4. Engine code is not a letter, but a number 3 for the 3.8
    Thank you! I did some searching online last night and found one specification reference that also said the C5. I also checked the sales brochure and the description of the transmission matched the description of the C5. I'll check the door card later as it was too dark last night to check it out.
    Bryan

    1983 Mustang GLX Convertible

  6. #6

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    Yeah, no doubt it'll be a C5, which is the good old C4 with a lockup torque converter and valve body, like in my '86... and, the '83 3.8 Cougar I had also had a C5 in it.
    Mike
    1986 Mustang convertible ---> BUILD THREAD
    Past Fox-chassis "four eyes":
    1983 Mercury Cougar LS
    1986 Ford Thunderbird ELAN
    1980 Capri RS Turbo

    Work in progress website ---> http://carb-rebuilds-plus.boards.net/

  7. #7

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    I had 4 87 cfi 3.8's. Two had od and two didn't. With the od the v-6 got nearly identicle to a v-8 gas mileage wise freeway. Very little if any gain. Around town, the non od cars actually did a tad better. Im guessing the non od cars had different gearing.

    To be honest, i really didnt care for the 3.8 motor at all. I never really didnt anything with mine. I had plans for a carbed 302 swap on my 83 mainly because i live in a non emission county and have an extra v-8. Ive never owned a carbed car and wanna play with one.
    2 1986 cougars (both 4 eyed and 5.0)
    1 1987 cougar

  8. #8
    FEP Super Member xctasy's Avatar
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    The 3.8 liter was a 3.3 and 4.2 replacement. It drove the C5 or AOD in the same way most of the 1982 4.2 liters did. In Mustangs and Capris, no 4.2's got AOD's

    Normal rules are that if geared as fully as a top gear will allow and the engine will take, the capacity difference is irrelevant to mpg at 55 to 68 mph.
    For city mpg, a smaller engine loses out under matched to the fastest hare. When matched to the slowest turtle, there is a gain in miles per gallon figures.

    The comparison is the Panther frame 1980 to 1982 Ford LTD’s with 4.2, 5.0 and 5.8.
    You had the C4 or C5 or FMX standard and the AOD as options. The CAFÉ mpg figures favoured the 5.8 AOD o the highway, and the 4.2 C4/C5 on the city figure.
    With the Stirling built S cars, the 1980-1982 XR7 and Tbird, the 5.0 was never with drawn until 1982, so same 3.3/4.2/5.0 options with C4 or C5 standard, and AOD optional and standard later on. For 82, the 3.8 replaced the 3.3, not the 4.2 .The 3.3 never got the AOD either, but it had the C3, C4, or C5

    Same with the Fox frame Ford LTD from 1983 to 1985. 3.8 C5 or AOD, 5.0, AOD. No real difference.

    Same with the Fox frame Ford LTD from 1983 to 1985. 3.8 C5 or AOD, 5.0, AOD. No real difference.

    The CAFÉ figures were as accurate as you could expect for a 100% mechanised drive cycle.

    The AOD had a looser 39 A “2300 rpm” torque converter, and 3.08 gears, same as the old SROD 3.3 six.
    the C4/C5’s, 2.73:1’s like the old 3.3 six had. The torque converter was a stiffer “1650 rpm” stall with the lockup C5.
    The last of the 4.2’s had likewise, 3.08 AOD, 2.73, C5.
    The rationale back then was that the AOD jumped into top very early, so it needed a more performance orientated axle ratio, and the looser converter helped it due to the aggressive 2/3rd to 100% lockup between 3rd and OD top.
    What happened is the Mustang/Capri AOD became the 5.0, and the 3.8 never got it as the engine was coarse and rough, and the 5.0 CFi was the automatic performance option.


    (This is 7.5”, so it’s missing the code for 3.55s)

    2.73:1 overall with 3.8 liter C4/C5
    2.06:1 overall with 3.8 liter had an3.08 axle AOD, very, very tall (The 5.0 AOD was 2.73 axle, 1.83:1 overall in OD 4th)

    Conventional (non-locking) in some Foxes
    G- 2.26,
    B-2.47.
    8-2.73,
    Y-3.08,
    5-3.27,
    F-3.45,
    6-3.73.

    From 1981 onwards, locking limited slip differential "Traction Lok" in some Foxes

    M-2.73,
    Z-3.08,
    E-3.27,
    R-3.45,
    W-3.73.


    Everywhere and with everything else, the 3.8 got the AOD as an option.

  9. #9

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    Changing gears here, a hurst shifter for a c4 would work an a c5?

  10. #10

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    The shifters are pretty much universal in the way they work. As long as it has the proper shift pattern, it will work fine.
    2 1986 cougars (both 4 eyed and 5.0)
    1 1987 cougar

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