Where to start?
OK.
The tranny has high stall points.
2nd gear comes real quick. About 10mph. And stalls approxmately 25mph)
3rd stalls about 40mph.
4th stalls about 52mph.
The converter locks at about 55-56 mph(by my speedo).

Im finding it to be very interesting, though challenging.
Heres what Ive observed:

All gears above first shift reluctantly and rough if you wait for the stall point. But, if you ease off the throttle before reaching stall it will shift smoothly.

Ive found that easing off at 20-25 to achieve 3rd, and about 40 to achieve 4th, gives a fairly smooth and progressive ride. But you can push it closer to the stall points but have to ease off to avoid the rough gear change. Ive found it especially useful to push third to just below the stall point and then let it go to 4th around 49-50(If Im trying to reach speed in a hurry).

The thing that annoys me most is how easily the tranny downshifts. This is especially annoying when it downshifts right after locking up. I worry that it will somehow be damaged and fail. I have that worry because of the disscussions that turbo owners have had concerning the Aw72L in turbo cars. This worry could be unfounded. But I dont know enough about it yet to determine with confidence.

Im thinking this ease of downshift happens because the downshift cable, I think, is to short. Please comment if you have any info about the cable.

I will say one thing without reservation: Once you get through the gears and the converter locks, with the open road ahead, it aint bad.

Its definitely not install and forget,and will make you drive the car differently. I like it. Im excited to drive it. But still slightly annoyed by its kwerks. Thats the best way for me to put it.

I hope someone finds this useful, informative, or , at least, entertaining.

Larue

Hard shifting can have a few causes, but I want to clarify something.

What is this "stalling" you're talking about? Is that when the road speed (mph) stops increasing while the rpms stay steady?

Anyway, a too-tight (long housing) kickdown cable can cause harsh shifts and early (and frequent) downshifts. To make downshifts less likely and frequent, and to have the transmission shift later, screw the blue (red?) adjusting screw for the kickdown cable IN a half-turn or so.

Also, I remember a recent post that said the kickdown cables are different between AW70/71 and AW72. You should look into that.

Good Luck!

I need to back up and restate all of this. At this point, it appears the cable on the tranny was adjusted far to tight.

I backed off the adjusting screw,28 flats, to get it where I could set it just off the pawl in the tranny. Now its shifting a whole lot better. At this point, it appears the problem was mostly me(listening to my own thoughts, rather than advice being offered).

I may have to tweak it further but right now its shifting at lower speeds and much smoother, without having to back off the throttle.
The situation is still new to me and I will be monitoring things closely.

Thanks Will740. I really appreciate your feedback.

Cool! I'm glad it helped :)

Happy bricking