AP auto history

[jockduck]

As a new member to this forum and having lived the last 30 years in Australia I have to say that I am stunned that automatic minis went on in production until 2000, my experience here suggests that the import of autos must have stopped in the early 70s, production of Australian built Leylands stopped in 78.
I was looking through some of the posts today and there was a "modern" powerunit with an oil cooler! just what the AP11 needed when it first came out. The question I ask is there anywhere that lists the modifications and developments that occured over the life of the power unit? What upgrades are possible to early units?

[bnicho]

Yes Jock, we stopped getting Autos in the early 70's. The engine and box units came direct from the UK and were inserted into the locally produced shell.

The UK stopped getting Autos around the mid-90's, but Japan got them right to the end, many also with air con.

My Moke has a 1990 Auto fitted, with Park and a factory oil cooler. I don't know whether the cooler actually achieves anything, but I figured if Rover thought it necessary in the UK, it's probably very much needed in our hotter climate!

The later oil cooler can be purchased new or second-hand from the UK and bolts straight on to the earlier Autos.

As for other mods, there were various changes to the clutch and band surfaces, valve body and shifter over the years. For example your shifter will have RN1234D. Later they had RND123D (no 4th position) and then finally PRN123D like in my car.

Cheers,

[jockduck]

Yeah thanks for that, I always wondered why an oil cooler was not fitted as most other automatic cars have them in some form, a cooper or S type would have been easy to do, I suspected the standard heater is just an attempt to improve the cooling.
I picked up a couple of later forward clutch housings when I was at JPAT a couple of years ago and found that the shaft is a larger diameter than the early ones(Its my belief that the forward clutch is the weak point of the early cars) so I have bored the govenor housing to suit, I did contemplate converting to a 3 plate forward clutch ala Austin America but lost my nerve as I was worried about the robustness of the bits after machining to complete the conversion. There must be a Guru out there somewhere.

[bnicho]

It sounds like you have already studied Autos quite a bit!

I know a couple of guys that are very good on Autos. One is Peter Van Alkemade (aka PVA) who is well known in Mini circles. He introduced me to Autos and has competed in his Auto for 20 years plus in Motokhanas (eg: Hay Mini Nationals). The first words he ever asked me was how many pedals my Mini had. When I replied it had three, he told me it wasn't a real Mini. Apparently real Minis had two pedals, centre speedo and no radio.

I have another mate near Geelong who despite being stone deaf is very good mechanically. He's been playing with Autos for years. He tested and set up my Auto for me. His paddock basher buggy is made from two Mini Auto subframes. For a while he had an Auto in each end - my A+ in the back and an 1300 A Auto in the front. It was lethally quick.

Unfortunately neither of these guys is very computer orientated, so we are unlikely to see them on here.

Steve from Brickworx in Adelaide was also good with Autos I hear, but he has recently shut down shop.

[kalkat]

Hiyas Guys!

It's great we have reached all the way to Oz It would be a shame if we couldn't get these people on board Bnicho... any info we can accumulate would be soooo useful. Many of the Autos are lost over here, people see them as a route to a tidy manual car so conversion is very much the order of the day

Because of this, information and knowledge about autos is being lost.

As regards machining down in the clutch plate area, it shouldn't present to much of a weakness as the forces involved are rotary. AAfter all the clutch plates themselves aren't particularly thick, and the gain of 50% more clutch area is a great benefit

I currently have two 'spare' engines/boxes and a probably scrap gearbox and will be doing some serious investigation over winter


Emma

[jockduck]

Emma you sound like someone after my own heart, two spare power units plus a bits box, I only have one spare plus a bits box, the auto cars are quite rare now in Aus there is a complete 67 auto on Aus ebay just now $8000, probably cheaper to buy one in the UK and ship? especialy with the Pound/Dollar rate at the moment. Whats the typical price of a MOTed runner?

[bnicho]

Having done the import route myself, I don't think it would be cheaper.

The shipping is around $3K, port fees and duties another 1-2K. Then if it its a 1969 onwards model it has to be inspected for compliance (like type approval) for another $500-1500. Given that clean pre-1969 UK cars are now rare, the prices have shot up quite a bit. Of the ones that remain, many will require rust work. Don't count on a MOT as a guarantee of condition either. THe MOT standards in the UK are not as strict as Regency (the South Australia Authority)!

There are plenty of 80's ex-Japan 998 Autos already in Aus, most with Air Con and compliance already done, in the $5-8K range. Any half decent classic Mini is worth $5K now anyway.

For example item number 120489702775 is 998 Auto, 51,000km and air con for $5K

Cheers,

[jockduck]

Don't talk to me about Regency!

[asahartz]

Autos tend to sell for less over here; you'd pick one up for as little as £1000, perhaps less.