Just wondered if anybody knew of any Auto Sapphire Cosworths, As I would like to return to a Cosworth, But due to having a stroke, I struggle to drive a manual. I know its a long shot. Thanks Simon.

 

If not occasionally saph auto boxes up for sale on ebay dude.

 

I wouldnt imagine a normal saph auto box would be upto the job of taking cosworth power. lot of work converting to auto i would imagine. There are auto cossie's around although very rare.

 

there was only handful auto cossies from the factory - you will have to search fairly hard to find one.

Try contacting some of the registrars as they may know of their whereabouts ie paul @ north yorks rs spares, etc

 

Non were converted from the factory.
All the ones converted were done by Somar Transtec, who converted them on behalf of Hartford(sp) Motors and Ford - warranty still applied

I have scans of the ad somewhere on, plus original ad and roadtest too

 

Somar did most of the unusual auto conversions under licence for Ford: Capri 2.8i, and also XR4i's....

 

You learn something every day!

 

was one for sale on p.heads a little while back

 

Yep and on eBay. I think I started a thread about the one on eBay a year ago ish?

 

Great find

 

They are about, ive seen one or two pop up for sale over the years, very, very, few and far between though.

 

I very nearly bought 1 years ago for the wife as she can only drive auto...

 

They did as stated above, box was the C4 or C3 IIRC, but they only did so on 2WD MK2 Cosworths, i.e. Saphs I am sure.

It is a misconception about Auto boxes and torque NOT power this is what stresses the box, the Toyota Supra is testimonial to this, it's also the very reason why the Rover P6 V8 was only avaliable as a auto initially, as the manual box could NOT handle the torque, it was only later, after the manual box was strengthed it found it's way into the 'S' model.

PS: I seem to remember there were only 100 cars converted as well.


Martin

 

Cosworth conversions used the A4LD only.
C3's used on early Capri and Sierra conversions until the A4LD become more common place in mid 1985 approx.
I had contact with Somar a number of years ago when I was researching a very special XR4i one-off they did for Mrs Henry Ford Jnr for her UK trips.
They said that only double-numbers were done, as very few took the option unless for motability/disabled use

 

easy enough conversion though for a competent mechanic

 

If you had standard(ish) power you could use the auto box froma boa 24v granada no problem, they have beefier guts, you would just need to sort the bell housing to suit the four pot.

I've seen a modified borg warner T5 with the bell end of the A4LD for the 24v to be driven manual. No reason a good transmission shop couldn't do the reverse.

You would be the king at the lights

 

found an original magazine ad for these conversions

 

and Performance Ford test

 

how many 'right click, save as' for these pages?!

good read from the old days

 

It says T10 on the second page lol. Thougt the original 2wd cossie manual boxes were a T5

 

i just threw away a few weeks ago every nut and bolt from a 50k ghia auto (a4ld?) because nobody wanted them, advertised a few times!

everything from centre console bits, pedal box, starter, wiring throttle cables, prop, bolts etc etc etc

drove an auto saff cos years ago, used the torque very very well!

 

Anyone know how to I'd an auto box, just stripping one now from a Sierra 2.0

 

There was an old boy near me few years back had a flintgrey 2wd auto that had a hand throttle as he was disabled

 

Well the nice thing is you can load the motor and spool the turbo without ever moving. Imagine a 4x4 setup for daily cruising in the winter.

 

Hi I was just being nosey on this site iv got the actual car in this picture it’s been in storage for many years

 

thats a special car you have mick

 

That must be a very rare car now! Is your car still up and running or do you have any plans to use it again?