[amit_snk]

Jugaad at its best; reminds me of an incident when my brother in law's Indica Xeta petrol's engine gave up, he just plucked that engine out and put in a scrapped Indica's diesel engine.

Although the car has been sold 3 years back ( to some one in our locality only), i still see it occasionaly and it's still going strong.

[akmits_bhp]

YoungSaint:
Yes, the stick also changed. I have already posted a pic and an earlier reply.

Fuel economy: I think its better than earlier. Earlier it was 7-8 in city with AC and now perhaps 9-10. Mind you I have been using it for office commute in peak hrs. I filled it only once and in the absence of working odometer, I am relying on GPS tracker's data.


Thanks everyone for the kind words.

[john doe]

Excellent initiative and I hope this conversion serves you faithfully for years to come.

I also predict and expect long lines of Skodas with dsg Gearboxes outside this garage in the days to come !!

[rsm97]

Originally Posted by akmits_bhp

Hello all.

_ _ _ He visited us, saw the car and told us the plan - he will source the transmission from some used car, flywheel and other parts would be new from Hyundai and he gave estimate of ~20k.

-----------------

Very interesting and useful, especially if can be achieved in about 20K. As flywheel and other clutch parts apparently were sourced directly from Hyundai, any idea how much was the cost? And how easy was to fix another pedal in the footwell? If you can provide a snap of it.

[ecosport rules]

Originally Posted by akmits_bhp

YoungSaint:
Yes, the stick also changed. I have already posted a pic and an earlier reply
Fuel economy: I think its better than earlier. Earlier it was 7-8 in city with AC and now perhaps 9-10. Mind you I have been using it for office commute in peak hrs. I filled it only once and in the absence of working odometer, I am relying on GPS tracker's data.
Thanks everyone for the kind words.

Excellent idea and work.
Really appreciate your efforts both in getting work done and sharing it lakhs of users
This could give hope to the thousands of automatic cars gathering dust for want of rare or expensive parts.

I am sure this can be done to any car if the AT box fails

-How many kilometres have you done after the transplant?
-As you already bought the Celerio, who will use this car?

This qualifies to be a true 5 star thread.

[johannskaria]

A very informative thread.
Automatics resale at a much lower prices.
Converting one would be really an alternative if the cost of maintenance if any, reliability and the RTO procedures are much more known.
Do keep us informed. Thank you for sharing the info.

[sidzzone]

Awesome work! That is meddling with the core component of a car, with minimal risks (given the circumstances). Congratulations on the success of the experiment!

I saw a couple of posts mulling on converting manual to automatic. As I see it, it would be a big change - and even if successfully done, it would give problems in the long term. Given the lack of knowledge of automatics, our mechanics might mess it up further than fixing it.

Rating this thread 5 stars

[dkaile]

The whole Steering Column and Power Steering Pump of my 2007 Santro recently went kaput and started leaking power steering fluid. The new parts with labour were quoted by the Authorised Service Station at around 30k. So I too went to my friendly neighborhood mechanic and he sourced a barely used steering column and pump for just 6k and charged 1k as labour to replace the same. And the cars been up and running for about a month now with zero issues.

Cheers...

[purohitanuj]

This mod is great just for the sake of complexity. However, I feel sorry for you as the torque converter does not fail easily as it is based on hydraulics and is free from mechanical stress.

What I think is that the ATF leaked gradually and though your less-informed mechanic had a clue of this when he warned you earlier, still he did not further investigate the issue and which could be just flushing and refilling ATF.
I know the process and it is very complex to flush and refill the torque converter. Bosch service stations are aware of this and can do this without fuss.

AT users, please don't get inspired from this thread unless your gearbox fails. The TC can be revived easily by just replacing the ATF on time. It is no rocket science to change the fluid and I would risk changing it myself (DIY) as a last try before converting it to MT.

[akmits_bhp]

Originally Posted by ecosport rules

-How many kilometres have you done after the transplant?

Close to 300. Tyre change is also due on the car. After that will take it on a longer drive.

Originally Posted by purohitanuj

What I think is that the ATF leaked gradually and though your less-informed mechanic had a clue of this when he warned you earlier, still he did not further investigate the issue and which could be just flushing and refilling ATF.

The first mechanic did mention checking it and he told it was full. But, as discussed earlier, with AT, we can not be sure with our friendly neighborhood mechanics. I did not know about BOSCH SC being more familiar with AT. I did not see that in earlier threads with similar issues. Good info to have. Thanks!

A quick google on "what can fail torque converter" lead me to an excellent article:
http://www.aa1car.com/library/torque_converters.htm

quoting from that for what looks like was problem in Santro
"The torque converter is the fluid coupling between the engine and transmission. If the transmission is making noise in gear, but the noise goes away when it is shifted into neutral, the problem may be worn needle bearings in the torque converter. Needle bearings are used inside the torque converter to separate the stator from the impeller, the stator from the turbine, and the turbine from the converter housing.<

Torque converters contain a one-way clutch. If the clutch jams and locks the stator (which normally keeps the stator tuning only one way), the converter cannot circulate the fluid properly between the impeller and turbine. The resulting turbulence inside the unit can cause a lack of power at highway speeds and may cause the engine to overheat during cruise conditions. A locked one-way clutch will also cause the fluid to run dangerously hot, which can damage the transmission and lead to transmission failure. If the one-way clutch fails to hold its position and freewheels in both directions, the torque converter cannot multiply torque normally and the vehicle will accelerate slowly (like starting out in 2nd gear). The only cure for either condition is to replace the torque converter."

I do agree MT conversion should be the last resort.

[Ravindra M]

Originally Posted by purohitanuj

...
I know the process and it is very complex to flush and refill the torque converter....... It is no rocket science to change the fluid and I would risk changing it myself (DIY) as a last try before converting it to MT.

Thanks for sharing this info. I also heard of a similar case of a Mercedes E class from Kerala. The local Mercedes dealer quoted something like 4 to 5 lakh for replacement. Frustrated car owner sent it on a tow-truck to a known garage in Bangalore. They filled-up the transmission fluid and everything was OK. It costed something like 20K all inclusive.

Since you said you know the process, it would be helpful if you could share some more details.

[r_nairtvm]

Originally Posted by purohitanuj

AT users, plead dont get inspired from this thread unless your gearbox fails.

I fully agree with the above statement. In the modern car, which has more electronic gizmos than that was there in the early space craft, you never know how the behavior of ECU is going to be unless you can remap the same to that of a MT. If this too is not taken care of things could be dangerous.

Most of the developed countries I believe it is illegal to change the type of transmission from what is originally supplied

India shouldn't be different as the cars sold there are supposed to be homologated, isn't it.

Best Regards & Drive Safe

Ram

[Rahul Rao]

There are local mechanics who repair AT boxes and torque converters in most major cities. I know two aftermarket experts in Pune. One of them is actually a lathe and turning shop owner, and requires a auto mechanic to dismantle the converter which he repairs and hands back for reassembly.

Rahul

[AutoSphere]

Great job akmits_bhp and thanks for sharing the very useful information & option, because many of us may not even have thought about it.

Originally Posted by Kushal_Gupta

I think it would be fairly simple and cheaper to convert AMTs to manuals as compared to conventional automatics or torque converters or CVTs as AMTs uses the same gearbox as of the manuals but the gear shifting is done through sensors, pneumatics, etc. Whereas Conventional Automatics use different gearbox. Am I correct in my judgement?

Yes, this seems logical and correct. But in my opinion, it may better to replace the entire gearbox and the associated clutch system.

Also, converting MT to AT will probably be a bit more challenging as the ECU involvement would be higher and the local mechanics may not have the necessary knowledge.

[TheCoolestOne]

Wow. This is awesome stuff. I wish I had known this 2 yrs ago when we sold my wife's Santro AT 2 yrs ago for transmission fail issues and got a Corolla AT.

20k would have been worth a try and to convert it into a spare car would indeed be nice.

Thanks for sharing the experience and contact details. It will surely help others.