Automatics - The forgotten Minority?

[Reddi-Eng]

Browsing through the Archive disc and, thinking about it, looking around the cars at the National Day, there does not seem to be many autos about and little information published in Rarebit's. Mine’s a MKIII with an auto box.

In 45 years of motoring this is in fact the only auto I’ve owned, although I’ve driven a few in the USA.

So how many Gilberns were made with Auto Boxes? Was it only the MKIII’s?

Recent discussion in this forum on the reversing light switch, but on manual boxes. Is it as fiddly on an auto? (My reversing lights don’t work and the switch could well be the cause)

Like a lot of cars mine runs hot and leaving the National Day I turned east onto the M4 at junction 32 and into the roadworks. The roadworks had a 50-mph limit, which meant my auto box would not change into 3rd. I therefore ran for about 10 miles in 2nd with the consequence of a rather warm engine. Is there a way of forcing it to change up? (sometime I can just ease of the throttle but this did not seem to work)

So, how many Auto owners are there out there? What experiences and tips do you have?

[Admin]

Were only Mk3s available as automatic? That is a matter for the club historians but is highly likely, as is how many. Certainly earlier Mks do not have the symmetrical squared section in the transmission tunnel necessary to accommodate the sump.
To fit an auto box to the Mk2, a section of the lower chassis rail (drivers side) has to be cut out and replaced with a bolt-on (I did one in the 70s). The alternative is a major floor reconstruction. At this time I contacted the company who did the development work, but seem to have lost all the details in a house move. Having said all that, Giles' son obtained/converted? for Giles an auto Genie which has gone somewhere, so the details of that would be interesting.

The gearbox itself is the BorgWarner 3 speed from the Zodiac MkIV and if memory serves, the reversing lights are a function of the inhibitor switch found on the nearside close to where the kick-down cable leave the box.

No information:
The reason there is nothing in Rarebit is that in twenty years, the only other member I have known to have one (not counting an auto V8) was converting it to manual. Although there are stories of a member hill-climbing an auto Mk3 at Wiscombe 70-ish. A painful process of straining the torque converter against the brakes to get a fast launch!

[Greybags]

Have driven Automatics all my life.. best thing there is ...

Anyway ... any slush box I've ever driven will change up into top as low as 20-25 MPH as long as no real load on the engine .. so if yours wont change up till 50, then sounds like it needs a look at ..

Have you checked the fluid ... should be clean and red and full... if brown/black then the box has been running hot ...

When was the last time the fluid was changed, as on the older BW boxes it was always recommended every 3 years I think.. not sure which box you have but most of them from the 70's were BW boxes..

Grahame

[mike whiskey]

there are stories of a member hill-climbing an auto Mk3 at Wiscombe 70-ish. A painful process of straining the torque converter against the brakes to get a fast launch!

That would have been my uncle, Nick Hill, in what is now my MkIII, although it would have to have been late 70s or early 80s.

I am in the process of rebuilding, so no idea what state I will find the gearbox in....

As I intend to keep the car more or less as it was, you will not be alone with your Auto.

MW

[Admin]

Could any of you supply photos of the installation and perhaps even write something for Rarebit?
You never known, you may set a trend!

[trippdl]

Re: You never know, you might set a trend...

I am in the process of converting one of my Mark IIIs into an automatic - the project started several years ago when the arthritis got to the point that using the clutch became painful, but was put on the back burner when I got some more effective medication, and a couple of manual-transmission cars intervened.

This is the project wherein I contacted a friend at Ford SVO in Michigan, and asked, 'What have you got that could replace an Essex?'; I had joined the Club at a time when Bruno and others were lamenting the lack of power, excess weight (and its effect on handling) of the Essex. The answer from SVO was to look at the 4.0, then used in the Explorer and Ranger in the US. This is a Cologne block which has been bored and stroked to 4,000 cc. Jeff at SVO 'just happened' to have an engine they had used for experimental purposes that had had some serious performance mods done to it, and, conveniently, had the A4LD autobox attached. This is a four-speed with overdrive and lock-up torque converter unit, so should be fairly economical compared to an Essex with the BW unit.

It should be noted that this was the pushrod engine, not the overhead cam version used in the current Mustang - having the OHC setup means that it is wider at the heads, and while it might fit, this would have to be determined by trial and error, whereas it seemed highly likely that the pushrod unit was about the same size as the Essex, which it was intended to replace.

The project is now at the stage where the new engine is assembled and sitting in a corner of the shop, and the Mark III engine bay has been cleaned out to take it, but not yet at the point of having been hoisted in to do a fitting. The major concerns at this stage are motor mountings, exhaust header fabrication (the stock Ranger/Explorer headers will not fit between the footwells), and clearance for the oil filter location.

Jeff at SVO estimated that in its present, naturally-aspirated form, (at one point it was fitted with a Procharger supercharger) it should have 'about 200hp'; it had something like 225 lb/ft before he started on it, so the usual complaint of an automatic sapping all the power should be less of a problem, LOL.

And, yes, as it progresses, there will undoubtedly be something written about the installation in The Rarebit.

If anyone else is interested in the 4.0 (but not auto) conversion, I also wound up with a second, brand new, old stock, 1991 (ie, pre-cat) engine, with the manual-transmission crankshaft, which is going spare at the moment... Depending on whose numbers you wish to believe, it is somewhere between 75 and 100 pounds lighter than the Essex it replaces.

Dave

[genie]

From my research notes on Genies : I have 3 cars built as Automatics by the factory. Regards Julian

[IN2VADER]

Hi to everyone, I have owned an auto MK2 for years (since 1977). The car is off the road at time of writing.

A point that may be of interest to some readers is that I believe that Gilbern did not fit auto-box oil coolers (unless mine was missed off!). After my gearbox over-heated a few times I fitted an american after-market rad / cooler kit. This I fitted via the supplied wire ties to the front of water radiator core. The flow and return pipes with flexible engine / gearbox links were plumbed into the gearbox with the existing short bypass pipe being discarded. This work seemed to cure the gearbox overheat problem.
In the old days the auto-fluid would overheat and blow out via the vent /seals(?) fluid would then flood all over the twin exhausts. This would then cause a massive smoke screen so bad that the only option was to stop, cool down and top up using the large fluid supply I always kept ready in the boot! Once the mass of metal had got too hot it would take ages to cool down to the level it was safe to top up and continue, this could sometimes be as long as a hour or so, many the time I thought off setting fire to the car and ending it all!!

Gilberns for ever.....Cheers.....Pete.

[Reddi-Eng]

My MkIII has an Auto oilcooler and it looks like s standard fit.

I've not to my knowledge had any overheading problems like those you describe.