Morris Minor Owners Club

hi i learned to drive in a manual but because of arthritis have driven an auto for the past 5 years. would it be posible for me to have an automatic gearbox fitted in a moggy

It might be possible but you'd probably have to swap to a 1275 engine to make up for the power lost in the auto 'box. I have seen it done though; in Practical Classics a while back they featured a 1275 auto traveller.

In fact, I think they made a 1.3 automatic version of the Marina, so that could be a possible donor for both engine and autobox. You might have to make some modifications to the transmission tunnel in order for it to all fit, however.

Rosie Hamilton has an automatic traveller. Her contact details are in Minor Matters magazine.

It can be done, but you really need the 1275 engine. Re autoboxes, the Borg-Warner 35 is not suitable because of the shape of the bellhousing. Use its successor, the BW 65, which is a much redesigned and better unit anyway and can be found on post 1976 Marina’s/Itals.
There are quite a few modifications involved though. Owen Burton described the complete procedure in his MM Modification Manual. Send me a PM if you want a scan.

there was recently a van with an automatic on ebay, but it also had a V8 and was pinky red

I probably have a spare BW box in useable nick (a bit of a whine in first, but works fine) I could be persuaded to part with, but it's Triumph so I think the bellhousing would be wrong, you'd still need the right flex-plate and torque convertor, etc.

Funnily enough, a while ago I had the idea of finding the A series bits to de-curse my Triumph of the small, and there didn't seem to be a vast amount of Marina 1300 auto parts around Probably if you want to go auto you might be better finding something else rwd with an auto box, and fitting the whole lot complete to a Minor, IMO.