14 replies to this topic

[lordyoung1980]

Years ago I would swap out autos for manual units. No one wanted autos and manuals were easy to get hold of from Metros and others. I would happily junk a perfectly good auto engine down the scrap yard. Now decades later I'm on the look out for auto units. I have one that needs replacement, it's a 998 and gutless when it did work. I can see on various forums that people still swap them out. My question is, what are people doing with the old units now? Are they hanging on to them or putting them in the scrap still?

[Spider]

The engines are fairly easy to convert so they can be fitted to manual gearboxes, this is what I've been doing to many of them.

The auto gearboxes though, are expensive for parts and so few people want them, I take a few parts from them and then junk them off.

[lordyoung1980]

The engines are fairly easy to convert so they can be fitted to manual gearboxes, this is what I've been doing to many of them.

The auto gearboxes though, are expensive for parts and so few people want them, I take a few parts from them and then junk them off.

If only you were closer, I would have took some of your hands.

[68+86auto]

Most people unfortunately throw them out as they've got no idea. Most people don't even realise they are four speed.

I'd guess that most people call them slow based on one of three reasons:

- They've never even driven or touched one and have no clue.

- The engine was poorly tuned

- The transmission needed repair. Not a fault of the transmission design, things need maintenance.

 

 

I often get people wanting me to fix them but I'm not a business so don't have the time or space to do so.

Edited by 68+86auto, 16 March 2025 - 11:17 PM.

[68+86auto]

I take a few parts from them and then junk them off.

 

I need parts.

Edited by 68+86auto, 16 March 2025 - 11:19 PM.

[mab01uk]

Might also be worth asking on the 'Automatic Mini Register' Forum:-

https://autominiregi....proboards.com/

 

Underbonnet photo of the first automatic Mini prototype in 1962:-

https://www.theminif...automatic-1962/

 

Edited by mab01uk, 16 March 2025 - 11:32 PM.

[Spider]

 

I take a few parts from them and then junk them off.

 

I need parts.

 

 

Next time I have one, I'll give you a shout.

[lordyoung1980]

Might also be worth asking on the 'Automatic Mini Register' Forum:-
https://autominiregi....proboards.com/
 
Underbonnet photo of the first automatic Mini prototype in 1962:-
https://www.theminif...automatic-1962/

I joined the auto mini register forum a few years ago but trawling through tons of post about which oil to use and the arguments that follow became dull. Also when I asked for technical info I was given a pdf that gave my laptop a virus that it never recovered from. So I avoid it now.

[mab01uk]

These PDF file manuals linked below are a useful technical info reference source for automatic Mini owners and can also be downloaded.

AP-Mini-Automatic-Transmission-Service-Manual:-
https://www.widman.b...vice-Manual.pdf

AKM4694-Mini-Automatic-supplement:-
https://www.widman.b...-supplement.pdf

Mini-auto-gear-box:-
https://www.widman.b...to-gear-box.pdf

Foulis-automatic-transmission-manual-Mini:-
https://www.widman.b...manual-mini.pdf

Also this 'Mini Classic Automatic' Facebook group maybe of help:-
https://www.facebook...4/?locale=en_GB
 

 

[CaymanMini]

The engines are fairly easy to convert so they can be fitted to manual gearboxes, this is what I've been doing to many of them.

The auto gearboxes though, are expensive for parts and so few people want them, I take a few parts from them and then junk them off.

How do you fit the manual gearbox to the automatic engine?  i thought that couldn't be done. 

[68+86auto]

 

The engines are fairly easy to convert so they can be fitted to manual gearboxes, this is what I've been doing to many of them.

The auto gearboxes though, are expensive for parts and so few people want them, I take a few parts from them and then junk them off.

How do you fit the manual gearbox to the automatic engine?  i thought that couldn't be done. 

 

 

It's pretty easy to do. Fitting an automatic transmission to a manual block is what's difficult.

[Spider]

 

The engines are fairly easy to convert so they can be fitted to manual gearboxes, this is what I've been doing to many of them.

The auto gearboxes though, are expensive for parts and so few people want them, I take a few parts from them and then junk them off.

How do you fit the manual gearbox to the automatic engine?  i thought that couldn't be done. 

 

 

Same bolt pattern, the gearboxes bolt straight up.

There's a couple of drillings that need to be done on to the block, a spacer plate fitted for the oil pump and a manual type oil pressure relief valve seat to swap over to.

A few hours work.

[timmy850]

I’ve got a 1275 auto block under my shelf for the future. I think someone had started to convert it for manual as it’s got a dipstick hole drilled

Unfortunately 1275 blocks stopped in Australia when minis and mokes went out of production in the late 70’s/early 80’s and we didn’t get Metros, so the auto blocks became a viable option

[mab01uk]

1275 Auto Block - Convert To Manual (With Pics)

To fit a 1275 auto block to a manual, apart from drilling the dipstick hole, there are a few mods needed to oil plumbing:
1. Auto block doesn't have the drilling all the way from the oil pump to the relief valve.
2. Auto block has 2 holes in the relief valve seat `cotton reel' to let oil get into the main gallery, because the normal filter flange is blocked off with a plate- the motor's lube oil comes UP the banjo pipe from the auto trans to the motor.
3. Auto block pump mounting recess is .250" deeper than in a normal 1275 block.

 

AusMini Forum: Auto Block conversion to Manual article link:-
http://www.ausmini.c...hp?f=25&t=90470

According to one of the Mini magazines a lot of auto Mini blocks are also being converted in Japan where many of the Rover Minis sold were automatics.

Edited by mab01uk, Today, 08:26 AM.

[DeadSquare]

On some auto blocks, the, the "oil pump mounting recess" is the same depth as manual block, not .250" deeper, but I think that these blocks had no oil passage from the oil filter to the main oil gallery and were cast with insufficient metal to risk drilling the passage.

 

By tapping both the oil gallery at the timing chain end and a spacer inserted between the oil filter mounting and the block (that is wedge shaped so that the oil filter doesn't foul the subframe), I make an external passage from the oil filter to the oil gallery.