Best Way To Set Up An Automatic. PLEASE READ....

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mxer755

New Member
First off let me start off saying, I am paralyzed from the waist down due to a motocross accident. I still drive with hand controls and im looking into getting a civic hatch or something. Here is the problem, it would have to be an automatic due to having to use the hand controls and steer at the same time i dont have another hand to shift with. so if somebody could help me out and let me know the best way to set up an automatic and if it would be worth it i would appreciate it. looking to do an engine swap and turbo if possible? im looking for an overall daily driver/ street racer so i want it to be fast but dependable.
 
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sorry to hear that, im really not sure who does it but i do know you can build the hell out of a auto tranny just like any other so i say build the heck out of it and then turbo it and you will be set ill try to find a place that builds auto trannys for you
 
and also if you go with a b series motor there are rare auto gsr trannys those would be good
 
Sorry to hear about your accident, but Im glad to see it doesnt stop you from pursuing the things you wanna do. I cant give any solid info about building a Honda automatic tranny, but I can give you some companies that have qualtiy products, and are definitly worth contacting. B&M, Hughes, TCI, Performance Automatic, and ATI are the companies I'ld suggest gettin in touch with. Even if they do not have parts for your tanny they can modify you existing parts to handle more power, or even direct you to companies that have what your lookin for. Good luck findin what need.
 
Both... i dont have the car yet im trying to do some research to see if its worth doing first. I found a 97 civic ex with no motor for $500, looks to be in good shape im waiting to get more pics of it so i might go with that. i talked to my friend that owns a performance shop and he said all i could do was a stock ls vtec and then just make the car look good? but that just seems like a waste. other people have said that i could probly make a fast gsr with turbo. im just looking for some advice and oppinions, what would you do if you were me?
 
i already have a chevy trailblazer. having a civic wouldnt be a pain in the ass, i have no problem getting in cars and throwing my wheelchair in...

as far as the power, i just want something fast enough to give the other boys around my way a lil competition.

i would love to go manual but they want 7 grand just for hand controls, not including getting them installed. with an auto tranny could you tune the shift points to where it would still be good for daily driving?
 
sorry to hear that bout u man..i remeber when i was 11 when i first moved to Fl my dads friend was paralized and he had a 9sec toyota Sarlet that was with a 13b Turbo motor swap..if u he can do it with a much older car then u can make it happen..im not saying it wont take time to build but u can do it don give up.i say do a TR swap any tr=type r swap and then u make massive power..or u can get a k20/k24 swap and go in that route ull have a good all motor set-up and possible have a little boost to run with it
 
You can tune your shift points by a few hundred RPM with out any modification to the tranny, just a simple adjustment. One thing to consider (may not be reasonable for you intended purpose) is a C02 shifter. They are a real popular item with the big time braket racers runnin Chev 2 speed automatics (but they work with other trannies too). They run off a delay box or an RPM trigger and they're an air ram that pushes a floor mounted shifter forward through the gears. At the line you pull your shifter down to 1st and set the C02 shifter then when you leave the line and hit your desired shift point the delay box activates the shifter and you move to the next gear, totally hands free and effortless on your part. Then after the run you can shut the shifter off, put the car in drive and have your fully automatic street driving remain the same as always.
 

An automatic GS-R would probably be your best bet. It's gonna have better gearing (for performance anyway) than any other automatic B or D-series you're going to find. If you can afford the LSD option I'd get that as well. It will help a lot with traction. And as Blanco already mentioned, maintaing traction on the front wheels is very important in cars like these.

Both... i dont have the car yet im trying to do some research to see if its worth doing first. I found a 97 civic ex with no motor for $500, looks to be in good shape im waiting to get more pics of it so i might go with that. i talked to my friend that owns a performance shop and he said all i could do was a stock ls vtec and then just make the car look good? but that just seems like a waste. other people have said that i could probly make a fast gsr with turbo. im just looking for some advice and oppinions, what would you do if you were me?

Does the shop deal with imports a lot? It doesn't really seem like he knows a whole lot about what's available. You have lots of options (D-series buildup, B16, B18 (VTEC or non-VTEC), or a hybrid combination (LS/VTEC, CR/VTEC, Poor Man's Type R, etc.).

i already have a chevy trailblazer. having a civic wouldnt be a pain in the ass, i have no problem getting in cars and throwing my wheelchair in...

as far as the power, i just want something fast enough to give the other boys around my way a lil competition.

i would love to go manual but they want 7 grand just for hand controls, not including getting them installed. with an auto tranny could you tune the shift points to where it would still be good for daily driving?

As far as I know there's no really good way to tune the shift points aside from having a custom-geared transmission built (and that's NOT going to be cheap at all) or using a system like the guy above me mentioned. If you're serious about building a turbo automatic, I'd at least invest in a good tranny cooler and performance torque converter, if not a complete custom gearbox...
 
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As far as I know there's no really good way to tune the shift points aside from having a custom-geared transmission built (and that's NOT going to be cheap at all) or using a system like the guy above me mentioned. If you're serious about building a turbo automatic, I'd at least invest in a good tranny cooler and performance torque converter, if not a complete custom gearbox...

+1 for the cooler. Autos creat a large amount of friction, which in turn generates heat, which is the number one cause for failure. I would recomend that you take a look at Don't just cool it, Perma-COOL it!. Any of their oil coolers will do what you need, also you should look into a remote filter (perma-cool has those too) for your tranny. That friction also produces large amounts or debris in your fluid, thats just how it is with automatic trannies, theres no stopping it, and factory filters are not capable of cleaning fluid in a high performance application. If you can keep your tranny temp in line, and keep the fluid clear of debris your tranny will be super reliable.
 
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