I know you don't want to hear it Unit, but there comes a point where your arguments start to break down, and I really don't think its too far from stock. The original posted wanted to know the differences for both stock and mildly modded cars. Now in terms of mildly modded, cars running in T/S are really too far off when compared to throwing NOS or 9# blowers at the motor. I mean we're making maybe 340hp at the wheels on average. The fastest pass ever made in T/S competition has been by an AODE car with a pro-shifted Tremec car right on its heels. So car-for-car, driver-for-driver you can't tell me that the auto won't hang with the best of the 5spds. There's plenty of average street cars out there putting down more HP to the wheels than 340 by virtue of not being saddled with the rules that I am.
I guess my point here is that the AOD suffered a miserable reputation in the earlier years until people like Len Bertrand gave it some real strength and efficient power flow. Now with its strength and the right VB/converter combo it can and does hang with the 5spds at many different levels....from near-stock to wild. Right off the showroom floor it was/is no competition whatsoever but with a few choice mods it can level the playing field real quick. It takes some understanding of the workings of the converter, valve body and the transmission as a whole, but its not that tough to greatly increase it performace. People need to get off the old '93 era kick of "AODs suck" and come to the realization that there's great potential in the AOD. I don't car how great of a shifter anyone thinks they are, it can done quicker and better with the AOD and it only has to be done twice in the span of a pass. Not to mention the reaction difference of coming off a transbrake compared to dumping a clutch. IMHO, as soon as your talking about 300rwhp or more, the additional losses in the AOD become less of a concern. The additional HP is more than paid for in consistency and power transfer performance. I've been there and lived it. My recent trip to the dyno only showed about 290rwhp with the converter unlocked, yet my car will do 7.30's in the eighth at 94mph. When I lock up the converter right around the eighth mile, its 'lights out'. If I'm side-by-side with a 5spd when I lock up the converter, I'll generally drive away from them at the big end. As far as superior gearing, what's the optimum 5spd gearing? With 3.35 first gear and 4.30 rear gears, that's a final drive of 14.40 out of the T5. With the AOD, its 2.80x4.30=12.04 times the additional multiplication provided by the converter...anywhere from 1.2 to 2.0? My stall provides a flash of about 1.3 right now, so that takes my final drive up to 15.6 and hits the tires softer than a clutch car. Where's the superb gearing of the 5spd now? My 60' are consistently better than the majority of the 5spd cars that I race against. My last three passes of the season were 1.50, 1.50, 1.51 where the best I've ever seen out of a T/S car has been maybe a 1.47 or 1.48.
We've gotten away from the original discussion. What I'm trying to instill here is that the AOD is a different beast than it was just five years ago. It can be made to be just as competitive and just as strong as any T5/3550/TKO.
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Jeff Chambers
Trophy Stock #3
11.462 Seconds / 117.58 MPH
Chambers Racing Team