Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Looking at purchasing a Skyline after many years behind the wheel of a commo, so not 100% up to scratch with scene that well. Looking at R33 GTS-T, my question is are the auto boxes any good in terms of handling power? and is the driving experience lost in an auto powered turbo car? (have heard numerous stories over the years that auto boxes are just plain crap behind turbos)

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/84977-r33-auto-box/
Share on other sites

I got an Auto box in my line and it beats STOCK manual lines off the mark, but for trackwork (drifting ect..) it aint that great, it depends what you want really, I only got the auto cause I wanted a 4 door and to find them in a Manual is pretty hard for the price I was after But I am happy with the auto, Plus it is easy to convert them to a "quick shift".

Cheers

Chris

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/84977-r33-auto-box/#findComment-1538595
Share on other sites

auto's alright in turbo..

but manual is better if you like to drive it..

Ask yourself how often do you drive, do you drive in traffic etc.. No matter how nice it might be to have manual, if you drive in peak hour stop-start every day, it gives u the shits.

Autos are ok until you start getting to the good power stage (180-200rwkw).. then they can start to crap out with constant thrashing, unless upgraded.

Try to stay away from the "if its auto maybe one day i will convert it" .. as there is a lot of competition for the manual parts these days. Not so quick and easy.

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/84977-r33-auto-box/#findComment-1538725
Share on other sites

ok i'm going to get in here before all the manual guys jump in and say "do a manual conversion"

DON'T DO A MANUAL CONVERSION!

seriously... the auto ain't a bad thing. Its still a skyline, still makes good power, still drives well.

some people will post up that "auto's are a piece of crap" and the like (oh yes, i've seen it before), but really go and take it for a drive and you will see otherwise...

this auto vs. manual argument is just as bad as the jap vs. local debate, and makes us skyliners look as one-minded as commodore drivers

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/84977-r33-auto-box/#findComment-1539191
Share on other sites

oh, and as for aftermarket parts...

it will cost less to strengthen and upgrade the auto box than it would to upgrade a manual box

do a search on "MV automatics", they are a shop in adelaide that makes shift kits and the like for the akyline auto and many on these forums have dealt with them before wtih great results...

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/84977-r33-auto-box/#findComment-1539195
Share on other sites

At the moment i have about 140rwkw (estimated), and the auto has no troubles getting a good thrashing from 0-xx km/hr, with very smooth changes and nearly non noticeable changes at the lower revs... and not too bad at the higher ones either (7000rpm changes). It seems better than any "average" family car I have been in recently, bar the newest ones.

$1-2k will get you an autobox beefed up that should be capable of 300+rwkw and 9 second passes (and its been done in VL's), which will barely get you a decent manual box.

All that said i'm still converting mine to manual.. lol

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/84977-r33-auto-box/#findComment-1539281
Share on other sites

drive an auto and you will see that if you put your foot down that it still accelerates very hard. Great for driving around the city in stop start traffic. The auto's are actually underestimated. Even though the manual is superior as you can get more out of it (compared to a stock auto) the auto is good compromise.

Heat kills auto's so the maximum limit is around 200rwkw. Once you go above this or even if you thrash your car around at this power level for a while, there will be too much heat build up. Spend $500 and get yourself a shift kit and bigger oil cooler from mv automatics and you can handle well beyond 200rwkw.

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/84977-r33-auto-box/#findComment-1542861
Share on other sites

*sniff* An here I was like a fool thinking i was the only one driving around in a "granny" auto :mellow:

I've been asked a lot of questions like "why buy an auto skyline for?"

They soon change their tune when they've taken a ride in it.

That said, my next car will have to be a manual, after learning to drive in a manual, autos don't seem as satisfying when you're driving. I have a habit of pushing my left foot down onto the foot rest and keeping my hand on the shift lever :lol:

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/84977-r33-auto-box/#findComment-1543189
Share on other sites

*sniff* An here I was like a fool thinking i was the only one driving around in a "granny" auto  :D

I've been asked a lot of questions like "why buy an auto skyline for?"

They soon change their tune when they've taken a ride in it.

That said, my next car will have to be a manual, after learning to drive in a manual, autos don't seem as satisfying when you're driving. I have a habit of pushing my left foot down onto the foot rest and keeping my hand on the shift lever :lol:

lol at the first 2 paragraphs, coz thats exactly what happened to me, after i'd taken everyone who at first critisesed it for a ride, they mentioned nothing more about it :(

i also was lazy though..... and got my auto licence lol, and i always wated a skyline, so hence the purchasing of an auto variant, i still dont have a problem with it at all though, i personally dont think the transmission has a 90% factor of the cars overall performance :P

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/84977-r33-auto-box/#findComment-1544121
Share on other sites

ok i'm going to get in here before all the manual guys jump in and say "do a manual conversion"

DON'T DO A MANUAL CONVERSION!

seriously... the auto ain't a bad thing. Its still a skyline, still makes good power, still drives well.

some people will post up that "auto's are a piece of crap" and the like (oh yes, i've seen it before), but really go and take it for a drive and you will see otherwise...

this auto vs. manual argument is just as bad as the jap vs. local debate, and makes us skyliners look as one-minded as commodore drivers

i also fully agree with that by the way, sorry to whore the thread abit, but there all valid points, dont listen to the simple one liner comments some may post ( like waz said ), coz i would put money down half that say that havnt driven the auto variant before and jst assume its a pos. anyways thats enough from me :D

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/84977-r33-auto-box/#findComment-1544126
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

what is a turbocharged's cars biggest problem? turbo lag

you cure that by manuallly selecting the best possible gear to flow the mount, aka rev it a bit and flow some exhaust gas to spin the turbo, driving slow and wanna boot it quickly? drop to 2nd and bang its on, on the fwy and wanna smoke a another car at 100km/h drop to 3rd gear and your away.

with an auto you loose some of this "fun" and "workaround" as you have to let the autobox decide whats best for you based on engine load and throttle, sure you can move the stock yourself but there is also a noticable delay in gearchanges too

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/84977-r33-auto-box/#findComment-1591791
Share on other sites

what is a turbocharged's cars biggest problem? turbo lag

you cure that by manuallly selecting the best possible gear to flow the mount, aka rev it a bit and flow some exhaust gas to spin the turbo, driving slow and wanna boot it quickly? drop to 2nd and bang its on, on the fwy and wanna smoke a another car at 100km/h drop to 3rd gear and your away.

with an auto you loose some of this "fun" and "workaround" as you have to let the autobox decide whats best for you based on engine load and throttle, sure you can move the stock yourself but there is also a noticable delay in gearchanges too

With 1,2, power button, overdrive button, and a few functions to play with the shift points, you do actually have a bit of control over the gearing.

I'd even say that my auto powered RB20 has similar lag to a manual. Overdrive off, power button on, 1 into 2, 2 into drive, you're accelerating pretty quickly. Rev the crap into it, it holds that gear and drops only a tiny bit more revs in a manual (and a shift kit would be useful there).

I think you maybe need a ride in a fastish auto with somebody who knows how to use it a bit ;) You might be surprised. Where it is not so good is cornering, but again, the 1, 2 selection can play a part there.

But for the track, or in the mountains, a manual is definitely less frustrating in being able to get the control you are after.

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/84977-r33-auto-box/#findComment-1592170
Share on other sites

I'd even say that my auto powered RB20 has similar lag to a manual. Overdrive off, power button on, 1 into 2, 2 into drive, you're accelerating pretty quickly. Rev the crap into it, it holds that gear and drops only a tiny bit more revs in a manual (and a shift kit would be useful there).

i also got an auto...

but I don't find much need to shift gears from 1/2/D manually. when its in power mode and your flooring it the car revs out till 7-8K neway .... if you shifts yourself doesnt that jus tleave room for error?

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/84977-r33-auto-box/#findComment-1592531
Share on other sites

With 1,2, power button, overdrive button, and a few functions to play with the shift points, you do actually have a bit of control over the gearing. 

I'd even say that my auto powered RB20 has similar lag to a manual. Overdrive off, power button on, 1 into 2, 2 into drive, you're accelerating pretty quickly. Rev the crap into it, it holds that gear and drops only a tiny bit more revs in a manual (and a shift kit would be useful there).

I think you maybe need a ride in a fastish auto with somebody who knows how to use it a bit :D You might be surprised. Where it is not so good is cornering, but again, the 1, 2 selection can play a part there.

werd.

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/84977-r33-auto-box/#findComment-1593675
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Great work! Give it a clean up with some Emery paper, and I'd run a thread die over the threads too to clean them up. It will make reinstall much easier, and also life easier for the next time it needs to come out.
    • I'm not a fan of high humidity, it's one reason I don't mind being further inland out Ipswich, except the last 3 odd years, the drought broke, and it won't stop raining, which is making the humidity nearly unbearable when the rains are in during summer! For me, my body hates the cold, once the cold sets into my body, I'm totally screwed. I end up with severe muscle spasm in my back/shoulder muscles, and it feels like someone is trying to tear the muscles out. I have no issues with it getting stupid hot, so long as the humidity goes away. So the last 3 years as above, have been woeful! Ha ha. However, June 1st, and I'm only just converting from shorts and a tee, to long pants and a t shirt. And that's mainly as it's a bit wet and miserable and I wanted to work on a car.
    • I much prefer colder weather to hot weather, and especially prefer cold to hot and humid, Goulburn does gets pretty warm in the hotter months, but, I've found the humidity there is not as painful as even Sydney, the humidity up north is to oppressing for this old rooster  In saying this, it does get rather "nippy" in Goulburn for early morning, late in the evening walks, but nothing that a layer or two, some thermal gloves, and a beanie doesn't fix to make it an enjoyable experience, which is much more bearable to me than the oppression of heat and humidity,  especially at night when your trying to sleep If I recall correctly, a "wise man" once said that the "Southern Tablelands" was gods country, and I will not argue that point with him for the fear of a "permaban" LOL In car part related news: My intake is currently in Botany getting processed for the last leg of its shipping journey to my door   
    • Had a go at the stuck crush tube this afternoon. Tried things like grips and a chain wrench first but wouldn't just twist straight off. So got to work with a drill. Started small and kept a depth stop on to make sure I didn't drill into the bolt. Made a line of drill holes all the way up and enlarged them. Then a combination of chisel and Dremel to split it all the way up. Levered the split to get oil in there and eventually it gave a bit while levering. Worked it back and forth with loads more oil till it was spinning freely, then with grips I could work it downwards and off. And no significant damage to the bolt (not by me anyway - just the 27 years of rust)
    • Well, I'm tired. I'm tired because about 4PM yesterday, before today's appointment someone immediately bought my bumper. They couldn't get it any other day as they're on the way back to NSW. So I had to do that big GTR conversion I had been planning. Unfortunately, the information on SAU about what you need and how this is done is incomplete. So what should be a simple bolt on affair, yeah, it's not. Did you know if you use all GTR items the bonnet won't close? This little manuever sent me into about 1am the night before trying to dodge a way to get it closed. I will have to revisit this in the next few days  - or maybe not, I may let a body shop figure it out. It all needs to come up and my motivation to pull the bumper off is low. It also seems to hit things in the bay where the GTT bonnet didn't. Yes I used 100% new OEM GTR items. Today, I had the joy of driving to the dyno looking like this: Given I had roughed in the fuel and given sensible but pretty conservative timing, I didn't really bet on having the car drive out any real difference than when it drove in. Sadly due to a miscommunication and laptop fun and games (and almost bricking the dongle, prayers and firmware updates indeed), I ended up using HP Tuner credits to licence the car that was already licenced. So in the end my laptop was used. It turns out my butt dyno is still well calibrated after all this time. The 325kw was on 74% Ethanol, the 313kw line was on 98. The other line is the 'before' line which was 281kw. While the numbers are pretty low, they're pretty in line with what you'd expect. Even if US dynos bump the whole result up about 50KW, gaining 10-15% is similar gains.  The curve of the cam is pretty much spot on with what was discussed as well. All this said, it still feels bad to not see the number you secretly want to see. Even if the car drove great beforehand, and I knew pretty confidently the car would drive out much the same way it drove in due to the nature of a wellish dialled in LS1 not gaining much if anything at all from being tuned from where it was. As expected, the car isn't particularly sensitive to running it at anywhere between 12.0 and 13.0 - And the initial timing at 20deg and 12.0 made 308KW. So 3 degrees of timing, and leaning it out to 12.7 for 5kw, anything above stopped giving any benefit until E85 (which has an additional 2 deg as before). Car itself behaved entirely fine. I found out that 100C = 1.15V! IAT at about 7pm was 19C. I might mess with the bonnet mounting.. but given the REO NEEDS TO BE CHOPPED TO FIT A GTR BAR this is possibly something I may leave gathering (more) dust until it returns to paint jail.
×
×
  • Create New...