Wilson Pre-selector transmission expert needed!

[Guest gerg]

Hello,

I recently aquired a 1953 Armstrong-Siddeley Sapphire with a Wilson Pre-selector transmission that is giving me trouble.

I have been getting some on-line help from the club expert in England but since I know next to nothing about them I have not been able to translate this help into success.

Is there anyone out there that knows of someone in the USA that has some expertise with these transmissions? They were used on some cars made in the US in the '30's Cord and Auburn among them, probably some others. I don't think there is much difference in the design.

I live in Ferndale, WA near the Canada border so someone in Seattle or Vancouver BC would be great but anyone in the USA would be great. Maybe someone who makes house calls?!

Thanks as always for the assistance.

Craig

[West Peterson]

I don't know if there's any/much difference between the Wilson or the Cotal, but the Cotals were used on Delages/Delahayes and some other foreign makes. I suggest moving on down to the Auburn Cord Duesenberg forum and posting your dilemma there... AND, I would also click on the link to the Auburn Cord Duesenberg club forum and post there as well.

[Guest gerg]

Hi West,

I am 1/2 step ahead of you, I put a post on the ACD club forums and will follow your advice and copy my post to the ACD forums within.

Thanks,

Craig

[Guest jelp]

Hi Craig The first thing to note about the A/S Wilson pre selector gearbox is that it is basically a later version of the T model epicylic gearbox and the forerunner of the auto transmissions of the 50s and 60s.Armstrong Siddeley have always made a point of emphasising in there workshop manuals that work on these can be carried out by any competent mechanic. The Sapphire has electric selection of the gears and over the years the contacts can become worn and dirty, an auto electrician should be able to quickly check this out. The workshop manual and the parts manual both go into the gearbox in great detail and it should be a breeze for a good auto trans man The sapphire is a very under rated car today, roadtests of the time show it to be the equal of the Jags Rollers etc. The A/S Owners Cub is one of the very best clubs I think they have a 24 hour parts service.If the gearbox is beyond salvation the mark 2 and 3 Humber Super Snipe 4speed full syncromesh gearbox was used in the manual Sapphire

[Guest gerg]

Thanks Jalp,

I think I may be on the road to getting things properly sorted.

I have been getting help from the British A-S club pre-selector transmission expert and I think I may have experienced a breakthrough.

I have the workshop manual, not sure what kind of look I would get if I brought the car to the local transmission experts but one never knows. Hopefully this will not be necessary.

I joined the British and Austrailian clubs both of whom offer excellent parts support, one can obtain just about any part needed which is pretty good for a car that has been out of production since 1960.

I thought about a swap to a manual gearbox but I am told the bellhousings are quite different and there may be some conversion issues.

The club members all tell me the pre-selector is robust and reliable once properly sorted out.

Thanks for the input.

Craig

[Guest sparecr]

I am going to have to bump this thread. I am need of finding someone either US or UK that knows about these gearboxes. I am in the process of being the restoration of an early Lotus Mark X. This is the Young Mark X that competed in a the Targa Floria and was originally outfitted with a Connaught Formula One 4-cyl and some sort of pre-selector transmission, either a an Armstrong-Siddley or an ENV 75. I was wondering of contact info for any of the above sources was available?

Thanks-John

[Guest Commodore]

OK, here are some contacts. I should like to mention that Hudson in the thirties used a pre-selector transmission called the "Electric Hand". It was made by Bendix. I think it was the same system used by Cord. The Hudson club has some trouble shooting info on this system.

Armstrong Siddeley

http://www.siddeley.org/

http://www.armstrongsiddeley.info/

http://www.armstrongsiddeley.org/

Auburn Cord Duesenberg club

http://www.acdclub.org/

Hudson Electric Hand Info

http://hudsonterraplane.com/tech/1935/1935ElectricHand.pdf

[Guest Peter Kubitza]

I am going to have to bump this thread. I am need of finding someone either US or UK that knows about these gearboxes. I am in the process of being the restoration of an early Lotus Mark X. This is the Young Mark X that competed in a the Targa Floria and was originally outfitted with a Connaught Formula One 4-cyl and some sort of pre-selector transmission, either a an Armstrong-Siddley or an ENV 75. I was wondering of contact info for any of the above sources was available?

Thanks-John

Hello John,

Iam new in this forum and registered mainly to answer your question:

Surprised to learn that early Lotuses still had preselector boxes. They were much more common in pre-war cars such as MGs (mostly ENV 75) or in my Riley (Armstrong-Siddeley).

Now if you need information about Armstrong-Siddeleys (or preselector boxes in general), you should go to www.vorwahlgetriebe.de and get his book. No fear, although the chap is german, the book and all informations come in english.

Good luck

[Tom Martinez]

I too understand some early MG cars used the Wilson preselector, these guys all have websites that work on and deal with these cars; Steve Baker, Andy King Terry Bone, Barry Walker, all located in the UK