Millions of Chevrolet Powerglide 2-speed autos were sold and went up and down the highways for decades. They are still used in drag racing and are a very succesful design.

But yeah, more gears are better in a street car. The better new cars have 5-speed autos, even though they have a lot of torque.

Man, a 2 speed transmission, what a torture, that sure is crazy.Imagine, taking off, traaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.... then comes second gear...teeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!Paf! Kaput!, sounds like a bad dream, the engine would blow up!!
you got to be kiddin, that would be like a moped!
Jaime. ______________________________________________________________________ PS : uhuhuhahahaha!!!, that is the
kind of 510 I would like to find
on the road!

I've driven a lot of small 4-cyl automatics that shifted well. The shift points can be adjusted a little bit, but it mainly depends on how the trans was designed. During the late 70s, everyone went to slow shifting -- even the V8 Corvettes.

Last month I rented A 2002 (?) Suzuki Swift - that shifted great! Lots of revs, always in the right gear. Little 4-cyl, but revved and revved. Thankfully the auto was designed to let it rev, unlike many autos.

So, it all depends. I drove a PL510 auto (3-speed) that I thought worked really well. The PL510 two-speed auto was horrible.

I did this conversion to a khanacross car and it works well, though I have never driven it on the road, I was suffering from broken diffs and the converter takes the jerkiness out of the drive train. It also gets better traction dosn't spin the wheels so much. I used a tunnel out of a sunny cause the manual tunel is too small. I tried a mild cam in the a15 but it wouldn't get off the mark so I went back to a standard cam. It also has a 4.8 diff which probably gets the performance back to equal to a 1200 manual.
The handbrake works realy well too
The box is industructable
olboy

for a Datsun Automatic to work well you need some serious power. example: I at one time had a 710 wagon 2l auto. Stock it was dangerous slow when the rod berrings gave up I built a hi-comp flat top su equipped fire breathing monster and put it in front of thee auto... night and day the car went from rust wagon to stealth wagon overnight 0-60 would rival Acura integras and top speed was past the end of the speedo.
If you are planning on keeping an auto build your engine for tourque and get some taller gears like from a stick car.

Not only that, but, if you need more speed, and floor the pedal, the car bogs down, or else remains in the same gear, no downward shift for power, no upward shift, all very bad timming, it is a mess. I've driven autos like Corvettes, those autos really kick in, responsive, but these smaller auto transmissions are a shame,sure they do their job for transportation, but performance wise it is a scam.Why would a Corvette auto work fine and a smaller car does not? sure there is the explanation about a more powerfull V8motor, but not enough, to me , that is cheap and shows no consideration towards customers,auto buyers.I like Datsuns, that is why I am here for, but I am sure the automatic responses could be enhanced, but there is no motivation for it, automakers do not care.
Jaime________________________

3rd gear revs too high? It is the same ratio as the 4-speed top gear: 1:1. You could lower the differential ratio to lower the engine revs for a given speed. The torque converter will slip a little at high speed , but probably not more than a couple hundred RPM?

If my automatic transmission/gear box would work like a Corvette's,I would keep it, but it is only 3 speed and the performance is not good. The third gear revs too high, the changing of gears is simply not good enough. Is there a way to improve a automatic A series box?
Jaime.
_________________________________

Fast? Most drag racing cars have automatic transmission. If you have enough power and torque, the auto is fine for performance. But I'll agree a manual is almost always better (performance-wise) for street cars.

Talk about slow: my 510 wagon had a 2-speed auto ... that transmission was horrible, but the newer 3-speed auto is a good one as automatics go.

I agree. If I could only have 1 car..then I wouldn't consider an Auto I still enjoy the fun of shifting gears.

Auto is boring, but that is mainly due to the fact that 4 cylinder Autos were almost "unheard of" in the early 70s. The Datsun Auto option is one of the first in a mass marketed small vehicle. As such, the A12 in standard trim, doesn't really have the grunt to make use of the Auto box. This is why I'd recommend an A14 or A15 if you chose to use the A12 Auto gearbox.

Chris