Greeting all.
I have a weird setup that I am trying to accomplish, and I thought the Lumps forum would be a good place to seek knowledge. I’m wanting to build a two seater kit car, and I have an XK6 engine and automatic transmission from a 1977 XJ6 to use. While the kit car will look more like a race car, it will be for sunny day driving on country roads… so it’s basically intended to be a cruiser with some pep to it. The stock BW35 automatic is my fallback plan. I would really like to use some form of an automatic overdrive transmission for better highway cruising and (slightly) better MPG. I am a double amputee, so it has to be an automatic transmission. Nothing I can do about to change that.
The kit car’s transmission tunnel is narrow and built specifically for a Jag XK6 and transmission with a 15 inch bell housing… total width between footwells is 18". As much as I want to, I can’t use a 700r4 with a Johns Car conversion kit because it’s too wide and the metal can’t be altered because it’s part of the frame.
So with all of that being said…
1). Does anyone know of a reliable overdrive or four speed (or more) transmission that can be used with the XK6 engine? Either by using the BW35 bellhousing or an adapter kit? Anything Japanese or German perhaps?
2). I’ve read some online posts about Volvos using the BW35, and owners upgrading to a AW70 4-speed auto. Anyone know if that could be an option?
3). While width is a problem, length is not. Is there any kind of reliable bolt on overdrive conversion for a BW35 automatic?
4). Barring all of that, is there any way of altering the BW35 and/or the rear end gears to achieve something close to an overdrive ratio in the top gear? I understand that the first and second would suffer, but as stated, this is a cruiser and not a track day racer.
Strange requests, I’m sure. Just exploring options. Thanks !!