[brendan]

just interested to know what is involed in putting an auto box into a sierra with a 1.6efi.

is there a loss of acceleration?

[felix]

No idea what is involved, can't see it being too difficult.

But, depending on your stall converter, yes you will obviously notice a difference in acceleration due to the nature of a fluid coupling vs a friction coupling like a conventional dry clutch. With an auto it'll be a bit more poo to drive on the road but you have to weigh that up with the advantages offroad..

[joeblow]

what auto?.....three or four speed?

[brendan]

joeblow wrote:

what auto?.....three or four speed?

whatever would be best. i am just thinking of the ider and what would be involed

[joeblow]

try this..........

http://www.auszookers.com/index.php?nam ... itara+auto

[brendan]

read all of that nice write up.

you mention about making an adaptor plate to fit the auto. do you make these or able to make these joe?

[Gwagensteve]

If you can make the gearing work, a carby vitara auto (trimatic three speed) is a much easier fit into a sierra.

AW-4's are awesome, don't get me wrong, but the trimatic is an option. Plenty of strength, no wiring, and much shorter (about 130mm shorter) which allows a useful jackshaft to be used with the sierra transfer in the stock spot.

I've built one with a baleno G16B 16V efi and it has plenty of acceleration, and never seems to lack punch.

It runs Q78 swampers, a S4 Rockhopper (24% high range, 6.4:1 low) and 3.9 diff gears. Spins about 3950rpm at 100kph.

Steve.

[kenn]

Traumatic's are horrible , but that's my opinion, if you have the 1.6 efi already then why not use the auto the factory put behind it.The extra work needed to fit it couldn't possibly out weigh the benefits.

I've built an Lj with a 1.6 efi and Asin Warner 4 speed in it ,so an Sj should be easy...

And Steve, its good to here your house didn't burn down hope all is well.Kenn..

[joeblow]

remember that lovely traumatic i used to have kenn?...........never again. when i had the workshop i had the opportunity to deal with the 3 speed on a regular basis (mainly repairs and changeovers), and lets just say wreckers could not get thier hands on enough good 'intact' ones. they were famous for failures. as far as pick up and speed go the 4 speed is far superior. 4 speeds are more work to install, but once in, they stay in.(oh....and they are heaps quieter)

[kenn]

There's a reason there known as trumatics If they were any good Suzuki would still be using them, so would every body else
As for the Aisin Warner ,even the ATF's still like new I only change it cause i can.(yes they have a sump plug)

[Gwagensteve]

There's bucketloads of upgrades for the trimatic and they are very cheap to rebuild.

Based on gearing and converter ratio, yes, the AW will pull harder. However, properly geared, an efi 1.6 in a sierra has plenty of power and the Trimatic still pulls hard.

Steve.

[Built4thrashing]

what requires to be done to get gearing right?
is it just crawler gears or do ya have to go the other way?

[Gwagensteve]

No, it's just a matter of crunching the numbers to get a happy compromise between highway and offroad.

The car I setup has an old set of RH S4 gears so it has 24% high range, so the diffs really need to be 3.7's, even with over 35" of tyre.

Ideally, with a 32 or so, I reckon high range reduction as tall as you could get for the offroad gears you want would be the go.

an example - with 1.55:1 high range, 3.7 diffs and a 33" tyre, and a trimatic highway revs are 3550rpm, or about the same as a stock sierra. (100km/h)

Offroad this setup (with 4.9:1 low range gears) runs 44:1 crawl, which equals 79:1 through the converter - should be plenty for a car on 33's with a 1.6.

Of course, if you already have 5.12 diffs, for example, the trimatic isn't going to be an option without going back to taller diffs.

Steve.

[kenn]

Or you could just stick a 4 speed auto in it ...

[Rockhopper]

I know Traumatics are not the best gearbox, but they used to put them behind 5 litre Holden motors, so surely they'd go alright behind a Zook motor.
Having said that Aisin is a Toyota owned company, and they make their shit to last, so coupled with the fact it's got one extra gear and is probably a little more refined than the traumatic, I would probably lean toward doing the extra work to squeeze the 4 speed in.

[joeblow]

a 'little more refined' is a BIG inderstatement.

[kenn]

You mean a BBBBIIIIGGGG UNDERSTATMENT

[datso]

It depends who you talk to as the trimatic if used with the right oil (castrol dx2 which is no longer made!!!) is perfect and reliable.
When the wrong oil goes thanks to having no choice (dx3) they become traumatic.
There are also the experimenters that always think another oil will do without properly draining out the Dx oil in them causing further dramas.
The trimatic without the transfer case in Geminis, kinnies, commonbores etc are tough units that when serviced within right intervals are as good as any 3 sp auto.
I know of several beefed up tris that sit behind 9s geminis and other cars and show no signs of issues even after 100 passes.
There are manual kits also which make them an ease to operate in tough terrain and match up better with dextron 3 which causes late upshifts in auto mode.