Technical Is there a modern semi-automatic (ie Fluid Drive) trans?

In the just wondering department, are there are any modern versions of the old MOPAR Fluid Drive transmission out there? And ifn so, are they easily adaptable to the usual pack of "Trad Brad" engines? Thanx in advance, Gary

 

As the Fluid Drive was basically a hydraulic coupling between the engine and a conventional clutch/manual transmission package (in most cases) why would you want to add some slippage to the drive line when modern lock up converters are so much more efficient and provide torque multiplication as well.

Roo

 

Well... Cindy and I learned to drive on our parent's 53 Desoto with 276 FireDome / FL drive. It was especially great during traffic or on hills (a San Francisco treat!) as once in drive the******* worked just like a conventional auto, you controlled the car with just the brake and gas pedal. While the clutch was used only for the initial start and reversing, one fun factor was being able to dump it when you wanted to during stop light starts instead of foot / torque braking a regular auto. As an aside, I'd love to have the 276 hemi / FL drive in a rod, but good gawd would that be a heavy, slow******! Gary

 

It's electronic nowadays, but you get semi auto trans like the paddle shift in Porsche, by the flick of a switch it's full auto, Audi and Ferrari has the same kind of stuff, probably others too. Personally I prefer the old kind of semi auto trans.

 

I don't know about fluid drive one of the luxury car companies has been advertising a car with a******* tat is the modern day equivalent to the dynaflo. LOL

 

Drag racers used to use "clutch-flite" and turbo 400's. Take out the torque converter & put in a clutch. I haven't seen any around in a long time, but some old drag racer that never throws anything away might have the parts to build a new one.

 

This place still makes them http://www.lyonsperformance.com/clutch-hydroflite-kits-c-55_21_164.html.

 

Last car to use this type trans was VW Automatic Stick Shift in the early seventies. It combined a torque converter, clutch and manual trans like the old Dodges but with the refinement of a vacuum operated, automatic clutch.

I don't know why Chrysler never did this, they had vacuum operated automatic clutches in Chryslers in 1931. I suppose they did not want to shock drivers by eliminating the clutch pedal. They knew in an emergency drivers would stamp on the clutch by reflex action. Maybe that is why they called it "Safety Clutch".

 

There is the dual-clutch transmission. 2 gear train paths with separate clutches. The next gear is pre-selected, then the clutches swap engagement.

 

i remember the vw setup well. a good buddy bought a '69 or '70 equipped with one. i think chevy II/nova was offered with an "automatic" that had to be shifted. cheap version of the powerglide. anyone else remember that?

 

Some interesting responses. Keep 'em coming, please. Gary

 

I well remember the VW Automatic Stickshift, an updated version of the much earlier European only model Sachs Saxomat that had a centrifugal clutch. In my experience with VWs, the Auto Stick was junk.

The GM semi-auto was known as Torque Drive. Not a popular option, but a price leader "automatic".

Ray

 

seems like a line lock or trans brake would do what you want

 

On a street car, in traffic? On a hill? Nope, not the goal at all. Gary

 

How modern?

The wife mobile has a dual-clutch 6-speed. Paddle shifters were an option.

 

Race stuff, but the idea is the same: http://www.lencoracing.com/LENCODRIVEMasterPage.html
Probably not very cheap, or practical in a street driven car

 

The late model Ford Focus automatic trans is actually a dual clutch manual, as are many economy imports.

 

I thought you wanted a "Hill holder" for when you come back to where we have hills. Don't know why a Line Lock wouldn't work. My old Stude had a hill holder from the factory. It really wouldn't do burn outs. But that wasn't the brakes doing. When my roadster had a SBC in it it had a Clutchflit. That thing was a pain and no use for the street. My 2011 GMC has a 6 speed auto with a manual shifter setting and a paddle shifter. More for show than usefulness. I never liked thoseold Chrysler semi autos. Don't know why anybody would want to have one now.

 

Used for a couple years on the Novas, '68-'69 or around there. Also on the first year or two of the Chevy Vega. Think the first couple years of the cast-iron Powerglide were manually shifted as well.

 

My wifes Honda has A CVT transmission,two pulleys and a belt ,one gear ,I can't wait till the warranty runs out. But I like the 42 MPG.

 

my late-model has a hill-holder--i love it. seems to have a "timer" feature on it, so you gotta take off or it eventually rolls backward. and it will do a burnout!

 

I have a Torque Drive trans out of a CII with a four banger hooked to it. It worked good enough for the previous owner to roll the Deuce in a ditch!

 

Renault in the 50's had the Transfluide, which is basically a manual trans with a torque converter and a clutch but you change gear via the column shifter that acted on electric switches who in turn acted on a giant solenoid (roughly 6" long and 20 lbs) that wa acting like the clutch pedal, you could use it in full auto also. That also means that if you add switches you can add gears.

 

I vaguely remember some obscure European car had a semi auto in the fifties that had an automatic clutch filled with iron filings. It had an electromagnet to lock it up, cut the juice and it releases. Don't remember who made it.

 

If you really want your mind blown, try to understand the Constantinesco inertial torque converter drive. Invented in the twenties, it was used on a few experimental vehicles but never caught on. But apparently it worked.

http://www.rexresearch.com/constran/1constran.htm

http://www.rexresearch.com/constantinesco2/constantinesco.htm

 

Something wants me to say "Simca", but something else echoes, "Fix It Again, Tony".

 

Could be one and the same........Simca built some Fiat models under license....

Yugo is/was a Balkanized Fiat 127.......

Ray

 

The way I remember it, the advantage of this semi-auto gizmo was that, for the most part, it worked like what we all have come to know as the modern automatic trans. Street-wise, you basically drove it with the gas and brake pedals once in drive. Needed the clutch to get going and get reverse. I can't remember for sure, but I suspect it worked in reverse the same way - making the car easier to park - but perhaps not. While it was never said out loud, I suspect my mother enjoyed it most and perhaps that was one of the reasons my parents got the car - because it was easier for her to drive in traffic or on hills. Another sales point, I reckon, was that if you were stuck in mud or snow, you could choose the gear you wanted and slip the clutch a little to rock the car / better control wheel spin while trying to get going again. The reason I liked it was that it still had a clutch and you could chirp a tire at the stop lights. I don't think I'd mind one behind a small vintage hemi at all in a stocker or custom, if you could still get parts to rebuild them (to HD specs?) and if you could get some better highway gears or an electric OD unit, too, like on the old Austin Healeys. In a hot rod... that would be one heavy engine / trans combo for a light car. Gary

 

Wowsers! That's got "Citroen" written all over it!

I'd guess that a lot of Yugos had iron filings in the clutches... But not intentionally.

 

Early Ford Mavericks could be had with a C4S transmission, which was a semi-automatic C4 that was manually shifted. Much like Torque-Drive. But neither had a clutch pedal like the old fluid drives.