TR2/3/3A TR3 Auto?

[CJD]

Wondered if anybody has heard of an automatic tranny being put in a TR3?

I know...easy on the comments! My wife has a disability...and this car will be for her. If she has trouble with the clutch, I'd like to look into a tranny swap (You know...so it looks like I made an effort before I steal it from her!?!). It would have to be temporary...with no cutting or major mods that cannot be unbolted later.

So, has anybody heard of a swap?

Thanks,

John

 

[Vaark01]

John,

I saw one several years ago. It was a nice red TR-3A built by Mike Gassman in southern Virginia. You may want to check his website. I believe it is Gassman Automotive.

Paul

 

[HerronScott]

John,

Found a couple of threads on automatic transmissions in a TR6 over on the TR Register forum and I would guess the same thing might be applicable to a TR3. They referenced using an automatic transmission from a Triumph 2000 or 2500 Saloon(BW35 or BW65) which might be kind of hard to find here.

Scott

 

[Banjo]

Best option, if you can't find a auto-box from a 2000 would be an engine/auto-tranny swap from something like an old Toyota Corona, or Datsun, or a Pinto. Likely, you'd be able to do a swap without any major cutting, and leave the original driveline in the corner for later re-install.

 

[Andrew Mace]

Triumph did at least one prototype TR3A around 1960, with the immortal B-W 35 autobox, but decided against going into production. And Steve Hedke did a TR6 for his father out in CA years ago, using the Triumph 2000's B-W 35 and related parts. That big old Borg-Warner slushbox takes up a lot of space in the relatively narrow TR cockpit, though it didn't stop someone I knew using a 2000 engine and autobox in a Sports 6. In that case, he had to pretty much re-engineer and reconstruct the chassis around that gearbox! I think I still have pictures of the chassis work on one of the old hard drives....

 

[rlich8]

That's a nice guy, willing to build a car and change the driveline for her. I admire that. Best of luck with the project, I'm sure you'll get it all straightened out.

 

[Andrew Mace]

Best option, if you can't find a auto-box from a 2000 would be an engine/auto-tranny swap from something like an old Toyota Corona, or Datsun, or a Pinto.

Ah, didn't think about it when I first read this reply, but another option might be an engine/gearbox combo from a Volvo. B-18 or B-20 with the BW-35 box, or perhaps the later B21 OHC engine with the four-speed AW70 or AW71?

 

[Don Elliott]

Check with the President of TRA John Warfield. He was in an accident in a Spitfire and later he had a red TR3A modified with hand controls and an automatic like others have described above.

John later sold the car to Leon, also from Maryland.

https://www.triumphregister.com/TRAContacts.html

 

[Twosheds]

Check with the President of TRA John Warfield. He was in an accident in a Spitfire and later he had a red TR3A modified with hand controls and an automatic like others have described above.

John later sold the car to Leon, also from Maryland.

https://www.triumphregister.com/TRAContacts.html

Leon put a stock gearbox in John's old TR3, and has sold it.

The automatic came from a Triumph 2000 sedan and it was an easy job, according to Jim Booth, who did the work. Jim Booth is now with Treasured Motorcars, in the Baltimore area.

 

[mrv8q]

There's a guy in our club w/ a TR3, and a 260 or 289 Ford V-8 w/ an auto. Tight fits but looks good!

 

[CJD]

Great...I've got some places to start. I wasn't expecting so many responses! Thanks...

John

 

[vivdownunder]

Not sure if this would help, but a friend who had a bad go-cart accident to his feet, put power boosters on both the clutch and brakes on his TR2.

It was a RHD car - one went on the left firewall beside the battery, and the other on the inner guard.

Made the leg work very light.

Viv.

 

[lbcs_r_fun]

Yes, but this fellow was handicapped and it was needed. The resulting performance was very disappointing.

 

[TR3driver]

The resulting performance was very disappointing.

That's strange, I wonder what went wrong? Normally I'd expect the car to be quicker, due to the torque multiplication of the torque converter and the nearly non-existent flywheel.

Steve Hedke put a BW35 (from a TR2000) into a TR6 and from what I heard it worked out very well.

 

[Banjo]

I agree with Andrew. A Volvo plant would be a great choice. The older ones even used twin SUs It would look almost stock.

 

[Twosheds]

The resulting performance was very disappointing.

I don't remember that.

 

[tomshobby]

Sorry to bring back this old thread. I just found the e-mail I had received from Steve Hedke a few years ago when I was considering the conversion in my TR6. After reading about it I decided against the conversion.

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 aavailable 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.
Steve Hedke