Re: Is there an inexpensive, convenient, reliable AT conversion?

Posted by HH56 On 2009/7/8 16:53:02

I think the motivation is the one issue that affects just about all the rest. Almost anything is possible with time and money but aside from the relative few who are not purists and would not be adverse to changing out the trans, I think in our case there just isn't too much demand to make most of the other issues potentially worthwhile solving. After all, a market of a few dozen or hundred Packards is pale to a few thousand of something else when the cost of design, setup & materials is the same. Anything produced would have to be more a labor of love than a quick way to get rich so back to motivation.

Having said that though, this shop was mentioned before by someone on the forumhttp://www.transmissionadaptors.com/product%20development.htm and has Kaiser-Willys & Hudson listings which aren't exactly high demand either. Reading his reasoning for trying to produce some different adapters on the about page, I wish him all the best. But looking at the prices of some of the adapters he already has--unless it is an easy, complete and superior solution, I doubt they will fly off the shelf. Factor in the cost of trans and install and you're way up there in the cheaper to rebuild an Ultra range again.

Will be interesting to follow and see what he finally does & which trans bolt up. Using the vac modulator takes care of one of your issues, driveshaft & crossmember are probably not the worst to tackle. Just leaves shifter which depending on mechanical or electrical would be the biggest hurdle--particularly to make the dash part look nice.

That Ford conversion did appear to be a very neatly done one and sure wish more info was available. Have never been that big a fan of GM trans since after about 1980 I never had much luck with them. However, in size they seem to be most Ultra like and would probably cause the least issues in some models.