What is a clutchflite transmission?

[THE CHARGER PUNK]

anyone have pics what it loosk like ina car? and how it works?-MATT

[Big Lebowski]

I think it was a half auto and half manual tranny. I think they had clutch pedals.

[Rolling_Thunder]

I think it was a half auto and half manual tranny. I think they had clutch pedals.

yes - you started off in first gear by feathering the gas and clutch (just like a manual)  but the shift from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd was done by a torque sensing gyzmo...        im pretty sure thats how it worked... 

[hemihead]

they had them in the 40's and became popular in racing in the 80's.

[THE CHARGER PUNK]

ah do finding one to day would be in the odds of 1:?           -MATT

[Rolling_Thunder]

well...     my boss had one in his 51 coronet...     they are still around      1:5,000 ?

[Todd Wilson]

The way I understand it is theres actually 2 different clutchflight transmissions.   The clutch flite trannys of the early Hemi days. Had a clutch/torque convertor.  You clutch out on start and then the tranny shifted like an auto. I believe it evolved into the 727 that we know about today.


In the 60's and on racers used a clutch flight tranny either based on the 727 or the chevy TH400  where there was a clutch instead of the torque convertor.



Todd

[Ghoste]

There were a variety of clutched transmissions going from the 50's back that had planetary transmissions or self shifting mechanisms of one type or another but the Cltuchflite you are referring to was basically a development by B&M in the 60's.  It was a 727 that had the bellhousing sawn off and and clutch installed in place of the torque converter.  There was a spider assembly to drive the transmission pump.  The idea was that you could leave as hard as a stick car and gain the consistency and speed of an automatic.
I had one in a 69 Super Bee many many years ago and it seemed wierd at first but you quickly got used to it.
Advances in torque converter design made them largely obsolete for anything but nostalgia purposes.  They occasionally appear at swap meets or in MCG.  B&M stopped making kits for them long ago but a competent machine shop could make one for you.  There was another trans shop that was making them not so very long ago but the name escapes me now (JW??).   I still have the manual from B&M here someplace but your money is better spent on a quality torque converter.

[is_it_EVER_done?]

They are also known as "clutch bombs" as they blow up with amazing force and destruction. Dumping the clutch is as destructive as neutral dropping your trans at high rpm. They are not made anymore, and with good reason.

[Mike DC]

I think the "automatic-with-a-clutch" idea is considered obsolete because of modern transbrake setups.

 

[Lightning]

that's leading to a question I've been wanting to ask for a long time,  how does a transbrake work?  does anybody have a diagram of it or something?

[Blue Pentastar]

The basic premise as I understand it is you are holding the trans in reverse by pressing the button on a transbrake. At the same time the trans is in first gear and wanting to go forward. When you release the button assuming no delay box. It then send all the fluid to the forward gear. It sounds like it would tear the heck out of everything but doesn't cause to many problems when done correctly.

Mike Schrader

[Lightning]

ah, ok! it makes sense now.

[John_Kunkel]

As previously stated the Clutchflite came about because there were no trick high-stall torque converters available at the time, modern converters have rendered the Clutchflite obsolete.

The earliest Mopar versions of a clutch-driven Torqueflite appeared in the early sixties and used an engine-driven power steering pump as the pressure source, but B&M developed a 3-fingered "spider" that contacts the pressure plate arms and drives the transmission internal pump; this development made the Clutchflite a self-contained unit that bolts to a standard bellhousing and uses standard clutch linkage.

Below is a link to my photo album showing the conversion process and the finished product:

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=1751254&a=30088793&f=

[RD]

here is one on ebay... i know this thread is kinda old

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/B-M-727-CLUTCHFLITE-TRANS-dragster-gasser-race-mopar_W0QQitemZ140015462412QQihZ004QQcategoryZ133188QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[moparguy01]

I saw one last sunday. it made its way all over the freaking 1/4 mile track and he had a nice long cleanup session cause he parked the stupid thing right over the groove! He blew up good.

[MOPARHOUND!]

Colby, Kansas?  Wonder who ran a funny car out of Colby??