Auto valver?

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mds141
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Re: Auto valver?

Post by mds141 »

Thanks for all the advice chaps. I'm going to discuss the merits of an auto conversion with Barry Annels at the Tech Day the Saturday before the X rally. If it's doable, then it will be done. If not, the valver can have a rest in the garage.
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Re: Auto valver?

Post by Kitch »

Gotta echo what Tim said overleaf. Yeah it could be done, but it'd likely end up being rubbish. The D6C needs thrashing mercilessly to extract the beans and to aid that it needs closely stacked gear ratios.....the opposite of what you get in an auto box.
With a BX alone, an auto would be much better suited to a GTi IMO, though the drawback there is you obviously don't get the great engine. TD auto probably makes the most sense really....I'm sure someone will build a green one, one day :lol:

I think if I was confined to an auto car, I'd have to go more than 4 cylinders personally and ditch the BX entirely. No disrespect to anybody who has one, as we all like different things, but an auto 4-cyl petrol car - I shudder at the thought! V6, straight 6, V8....fine. Or like I said before, diesels suit them better.

XM V6 would probably be where I ended up, or over at the Alfa/Saab/Volvo stables. :lol:
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Re: Auto valver?

Post by MULLEY »

If you didn't want the electric clutch, they do a right hand side manual clutch, that may be a cheaper alternative?
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Re: Auto valver?

Post by Way2go »

Kitch wrote:With a BX alone, an auto would be much better suited to a GTi IMO, though the drawback there is you obviously don't get the great engine.
I can attest that the GTi goes well with the autobox :D and the engine has real go in it in the motronic 3.1 version.

When you want to overtake within kick-down range, it does so like "shit off a shovel" and still has plenty of torque available at higher revs & road speed for quick acceleration.

The torque converter is fully bypassed in 4th and wont change up normally until road speed exceeds 42mph, which will also hold longer under rapid acceleration to above 50.

The torque converter is also semi-bypassed in 3rd so I would have thought that results with the 16v engine would be quite acceptable. If you want to rag it like a manual I guess that you would need to adapt your driving style to utilise kick-down as the norm rather than the exception but how the long-term reliability of the ZF would be affected by this mode of driving, I couldn't possibly comment.
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Re: Auto valver?

Post by Kitch »

Way2go wrote:
Kitch wrote:With a BX alone, an auto would be much better suited to a GTi IMO, though the drawback there is you obviously don't get the great engine.
I can attest that the GTi goes well with the autobox :D and the engine has real go in it in the motronic 3.1 version.

When you want to overtake within kick-down range, it does so like "shit off a shovel" and still has plenty of torque available at higher revs & road speed for quick acceleration.

The torque converter is fully bypassed in 4th and wont change up normally until road speed exceeds 42mph, which will also hold longer under rapid acceleration to above 50.

The torque converter is also semi-bypassed in 3rd so I would have thought that results with the 16v engine would be quite acceptable. If you want to rag it like a manual I guess that you would need to adapt your driving style to utilise kick-down as the norm rather than the exception but how the long-term reliability of the ZF would be affected by this mode of driving, I couldn't possibly comment.
I wasn't suggesting the GTi doesn't go well, as performance is subjective and down to personal opinion of what constitutes being "quick".
But the 16v engine was taking the XU9 one step further. The 8v was a basic engine design, where the 16v featured all manner of exotic materials and the latest technology at the time. There's a fairly bit difference between it and the 8v in terms of performance in a manual BX.
But that goes back to my point - in an auto car the gearing is so tall that you drop out of the power band on each gear change. The 16v lump is pretty flat below 4000rpm, and though it still produces more torque than the 8v engine, the 8v can deliver it much lower down, making it better suited to the auto box. The 16v lump is a bit of a one trick pony - it can potter around at 1000rpm, or it can scream down the road at 7000rpm. That's about it, where the 8v can handle most things in between, so for an auto car the 8v is probably better. I suspect there would be little in the way of a performance difference between a GTi auto and a 16v auto. And some may say "why the obsession with speed?" Well, if you're not fussed about speed there's not much point owning a 16v, as all the other BXs do everything else better :lol:
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1983(A) 16TRS (Rouge Valleunga)
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