Ford Performance ignited the popularity of crate engine swaps with its companion Controls Pack harness. First the factory performance arm supported the Shelby GT500 5.4 before moving on to the Coyote and, eventually, the EcoBoost engine families. Today these swaps are all the rage, but the Controls Packs have one limitation. Most are designed to work with manual transmissions.
For those choosing a to run a pre-2015 Coyote or an EcoBoost engine, it takes some support from clever aftermarket companies like Performance Automatic. The company offers four-speed automatic transmission and controller package built just for the EcoBoost and Coyote engines.
…You can bolt this up in any street rod, muscle car or any project that you want.—Harvey Baker, Performance Automatic
The EcoBoost are part of the Blue Chip Street Smart Systems line and are designed specifically for Ford Performance’s crate engine line. Rated up to 650 horsepower, these systems include the complete transmission, Street Smart controller, wiring harness and everything you need to install them behind the 3.5 (PN PASS45202) or 2.0/2.3 (PN PASS45203) engines.
“They have the engine management and we have the transmission controls, complete with the wiring harness and everything else people are used to when they get it from us.” Harvey said. “Get the engine in one box and the transmission in another box. Bolt the two together and put it in anything you want.”
While the base kits are designed for a street cruiser, you can certainly customize them for a racier application like an EcoBoost Fox drag car.
“If you want to leave it drive and use it, you can take all the settings and adjust them to the high side so it will shift at max rpm. There is an option if somebody wanted to put a paddle shift on it,” Harvey explained. “The converters that come in the package are set up for more of a street rod (application). It will give them the best of the performance and the best of the fuel economy. If someone wants to drive coast to coast, that converter is not going to be be too racy and overheat everything and cause any longevity issues.”
These packages are pretty flexible for EcoBoost applications, but Performance Automatic also has a transmission package built specifically to live behind Ford Performance’s new 527-cube big-block as well as a 6R80 six-speed auto made to live behind Coyote engines.
You can learn more about all the options on the Performance Automatic site here.