Hypothetical Transmission
 

Hello everyone, new guy here, thanks for having me! so as many of you realize sequential transmissions are the pinnacle of shifted transmissions, however the cost is prohibitive for hobbyist use.Sure, there's dual clutch and modern automatics with paddle shifting, but then you lose that third pedal we all love. So I defer to the keyboard engineers out there, why has nobody ever replaced a torque converter in an automatic with a clutch and flywheel and converted the valve body to manual control? Sure a 4 speed wold be a bit pointless, but with modern 6 speed autos, with a paddle shift or up/down console shifter and a clutch, it seems like an acceptable alternative to sequentials.

You've managed to come up with an idea that makes everything worse.

Build and prove it and bring it to market.

BTW, we have plenty of good transmissions out there but no good way to adapt them to our blocks. Finding another transmission that won't connect to the engine easily helps nothing.

lol this has got to be the wackiest thing I've heard this week. I can imagine this contraption in operation: it would feel like a video game "manual"

Less posting, more reading for you.

I'm not sure how it would make everything worse? As long as you can hold the transmission in a specific gear it would essentially act just like a manual except with a sequential like operation. And being as some of GMs transmissions can hold quite alot of horsepower, the trans would no longer be a weak link.

Why would you want to replace one clutch with a bunch of clutch bands, solenoids, pumps, and other unnecessary heavy crap plus a clutch disk?

How would this make anything any better? Last I checked GM does not make an affordable automatic transmission that holds torque with any sort of decent gear ratios. Besides that, have you seen how massive a 6l60e is?

There's a reason it's not done, it's straight dumb.

Sounds like you really want a Lenco. Would only need the clutch to start, though.

Sixshooter answered your question in the first post.

you're trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist. There is no shortage of good, strong manual transmissions. The challenge is in adapting them to the Miata engine/chassis economically. Creating yet another strong transmission that doesn't fit easily is not helpful.

if you want to create a solution, work on adapting any of the good, strong 6-speed manual transmission to the Miata.

... you know, there's some boxes out there that would be pretty nice if they were adapted to more universal mounting. I bet you could start with an off the shelf transmission and change it to universal mounting with at most one casting. I'm specifically looking at the 350/370Z box here, for argument's sake.

Given I'm working on doing casting stuff anyway, I think I have a new project.