Hi Tom -- I had my 84 Westy switched to an auto trans 2 years ago and like
you -- love it. After 10 years it was clear that my wife would never learn
to drive a standard and I was tired of driving 12 hours at a time with no
breaks. I agree that the auto trans is just so much easier in traffic jams
-- just another thing to love. I had many Westy drivers frown about power
loss etc -- I've had no problems. BlueBelle the Westy still climbs hills
just fine and cruises happily at 70 mph (if I want her to). The swap wasn't
'free to me' but it was very reasonable. The donor bus belonged to one of
the mechanic's employees who was as happy to get all the parts for a
standard tranny as I was to get all the parts for the auto swap.

Cheers,
Doug

On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 9:14 AM, Tom Rowsell <86westy@geoexploits.org>wrote:

> This is mostly for general interest, but I recently got my '86 Westy back
> from my mechanic. It's a long story; he was supposed to undercoat it, but
> he
> got carried away, stole my 4 speed transmission and replaced it with a 3
> speed auto :) The swap was kind of free-to-me, but I did spring for a few
> additional goodies. My point? After driving the standard and fearing those
> groggy automatics for the last 9 years of Westy ownership, I'm so so so so
> pleased. Perhaps I'm getting old, but for city driving, it's so smooth and
> sublime :) Reading about the potential problems with the stock tranny
> cooler, we opted for one of those
> Go-Westy<
> http://gowesty.com/ec_view_details.php?id=4481&category_id=&category_parent_id=
> >aftermarket
> coolers. He also rebuilt the axles and installed a gas tank
> sealing kit/hoses etc. New front shocks, and a new Rad from BusDepot
> rounded
> out the job...Just in time for spring...
>
> Tom
> http://www.tomrowsell.com/2011/03/switching-to-glide.html
>

--
http://www.dougalcock.com