Fast Marina Magazine

A new Borg-Warner automatic gearbox.—We went down to Port Talbot, braving the distinct possibility of getting irretrievably lost in Swansea on the way home, to see the impressive factory which Borg-Warner have erected on the new Kenfig Industrial Estate just off the A48 (M) road, where they are introducing new methods of production of their automatic transmissions in a fine new building of some one-million square foot floor space.

The main purpose of this move to Wales is manufacture of the new Type 45 four-speed Borg-Warner automatic gearbox, for cars of up to 2-litres, which will eventually supersede the well-known Type 35 three-speed box. We were able to sample the Type 45 transmission in a fuel-injection Volvo 144 which, together with a 1.3-litre Morris Marina, are being used for development and demonstration purposes, and the smoothness of the changes in this closer-ratio gearbox was most apparent. It marks a notable step forward in using plate clutches instead of the difficult to keep in adjustment band brakes of the earlier gearbox and it is significant that pressings replace castings for many of its components. The design, it is pleasing to note, stemmed from this country rather than from America and the new Type 45 box will also be made as a three-speed Type 55, which Toyota are using at present, the casing being sent to them from the Welsh factory.

The production methods at this impressively spacious factory, where 1,500 operatives work, a number to be doubled when the full production of 1,000 Type 45 and 500 Type 55 gearboxes per day is achieved, are most interesting. For instance, there will be an 83-stage transfer machine, supplied by Lamb of Ontario, for machining the aluminium gearbox casings, which needs but three operatives to oversee it. Two 1,000-ton Wilkie & Mitchell presses stamp out clutch cylinders, to a ready-to-use state, with no subsequent machining involved. There are nine stations per press. In contrast to this automation, women operatives fit the rotor blades by hand. Components will be conveyed about the factory on roller-coasters, and J-pattern travelling jigs will facilitate assembly, right up to the dispatch stage. Completed gearboxes are all tested on A. T. & T. dynamometers, having been balanced electronically while revolving at 1,100 r.p.m., their heavy-point marked with a blue spot for the guidance of the car manufacturer fitting the box to his engine.

The gear assemblies are electron-beam welded, each being completed in 4½ seconds, the weld being made in a vacuum, using Scieky apparatus, which obviates any distortion or interference with the heat treatment of the gear pressings. Before welding, the components pass through a Raydne washing vat.

Even a brief inspection of the new Borg-Warner plant shows that the company plans a big expansion. Apart from the new gearbox, it supplies BMW, Saab and Citroen with automatic transmissions, while the applications of the Type 35 B-W box to British cars are too well known to need enumeration. B-W claim to have well over 5-million units in use and to serve more than 80 manufacturers in eight countries. They are seeking customers for the new Type 45 transmission, which has ratios of 3:1, 1.94:1, 1.35:1 and direct-drive, against those of 2.39:1, 1.45:1 and direct drive of the Type 35 box. Aluminium is now used for all automatic gearboxes intended for cars of up to 4-litres, although cast-iron casings are found in the XJ6 and XJ12 Jaguar transmissions.

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• During mid-September Austin Morris announced an estate version of the Morris Marina with very attractive styling. The estate bodywork provides a payload of 8 cwt and a load space of 58.4 cu. ft. The Marina Estate will only be available with the 1.8-litre engine. Austin Morris division of British Leyland feel this new model will replace the gap left in their range by the Morris Oxford and Austin Cambridge Estate cars. A brief run in the car served to illustrate that the Marina handling is now all sorted and, if anything, the Estate handles better than the saloon. The top speed is 95 m.p.h. with good acceleration. The vehicle should appeal to Estate car buyers.