Auto in a TR3a?

[Mike Jarman]

Has anyone installed an auto box in a 3? Is it possible, please?

[stuart]

Has anyone installed an auto box in a 3? Is it possible, please?

 

Should be possible using an auto box from a 2000/2500 saloon. It has been done on a 6 so why not.

Stuart.

[Alec Pringle]

Hi Mike,

 

yes it can and has been done - the late Stuart Jenkins fitted a 2000 auto box to a 3A some 25 years ago. Straightforward enough, other than all the auto box fiddly bits that have to be robbed from the donor saloon. The assembly just squeezed in with a bit of hammer work to the bulkhead and the fabrication of a slightly larger transmission tunnel with top mounted 4A handbrake. Propshaft was a cut'n'shut unit from the auto saloon. It may even be possible to add an overdrive unit, that's been done on auto 2.5 saloons and Stags before now, Overdrive Spares would probably know if it's possible, they manufacture separate overdrive conversions.

 

Cheers,

 

Alec

[angelfj]

Hi Mike,

 

yes it can and has been done - the late Stuart Jenkins fitted a 2000 auto box to a 3A some 25 years ago. Straightforward enough, other than all the auto box fiddly bits that have to be robbed from the donor saloon. The assembly just squeezed in with a bit of hammer work to the bulkhead and the fabrication of a slightly larger transmission tunnel with top mounted 4A handbrake. Propshaft was a cut'n'shut unit from the auto saloon. It may even be possible to add an overdrive unit, that's been done on auto 2.5 saloons and Stags before now, Overdrive Spares would probably know if it's possible, they manufacture separate overdrive conversions.

 

Cheers,

 

Alec

 

 

Yes, the fact that I have these photos, indicates that the subject was discussed here or on another forum.

 

 

 

 

Ah, yes. Found it. Here's an excerpt, from BCF. http://www.britishcarforum.com/bcforum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/623849/Searchpage/3/Main/63245/Words/%22automatic+transmission%22/Search/true/Automatic_Transmission_for_TR3#Post623849

 

 

 

I once was considering the possibility of an automatic and Steve Hedke was gracious enough to share his experience.

 

The following is his response.

 

Here's the essence of it, Tom:

 

The conversion was done with a Triumph 2000 sedan parts car. The 2.0 liter 6 is mounted in the car at an angle, canted I believe 15 degrees to the right. There is a steel adapter plate that bolts to the back of the engine where the bellhousing attaches. This mounts the Borg Warner A35 tranny flat in the car while the engine is tilted. This is a key piece.

The oil pan for the automatic is much wider than the bottom of the manual transmission, and the chassis is not designed to accommodate it. When you bolt that steel plate to the TR6 block, it cants the transmission at a 15 degree angle. This is necessary to clear the frame rails.

 

You'll also need to take the flex plate off the 2000 (where the converter bolts to) and fabricate a spacer for the back of the crankshaft so that the ring gear aligns with the starter. As I recall it's just under 1". The 2000 automatic crankshaft has this extension cast into it.

 

The next step is to fabricate the rear mount. Since the trans is sitting at an angle this is a bit tricky. I did it with a u-bolt right on the tail housing of the trans.

 

Once that's done you'll need a fiberglass transmission tunnel. The shifter comes from the 2000 donor car, and is mounted to the tunnel itself (that's why you need the plastic one). The side of the tunnel (right I believe) has to be modified to clear the pan, and a door is cut into it to attach the shifter to the trans. We tried hooking up the kickdown cable but that's tricky. We gave up and simply downshifted the trans manually.

 

The A35 is air cooled so no cooler lines or additional radiator are necessary.

 

However: since you no longer have compression braking available to slow the car down, you'll need to upgrade the front brakes. I recommend cutting a hole in each side of the front valence with a hole saw to allow air to get on the rotors directly. And use the slotted and drilled rotors. This is critical: we smoked the brakes a few times on downhill runs.

 

The shifting into gear from neutral is hard on the rear diff mounts too. If you haven't reinforced those studs you'll need to when fitting the auto trans.

 

The car drove fine with the auto box, it was just about as fast. But it does eat gas.

 

The car now belongs to a collector of TR6's in Santa Barbara. But you can see it on most Moss catalogs and ads: it's the french blue with hardtop sitting on a hillside. The only external difference was that we removed the air dam for more air flow.

[Mike Jarman]

Excellent! Many thanks for the very helpful replies. A friend of mine was enquiring; he knows a chap who has a weak left leg wants to drive a TR3.

Your help is invaluable and may make a chap very happy indeed.

Thanks!

 

 

[Bill.P.]

Yes, it has indeed been done...John Warfield, President of the Triumph Register of America, who is disabled, had a Borg Warner auto box fitted to his Concours red 3A many years ago....I drove it in 1995 when visiting him in Annapolis, and a very neat and effective conversion it was, enabling John to use a sidescreen car he would otherwise have been unable to drive.....there are also a number of auto fitted TR6s in the USA....Bill Piggott