Tiptronic transmission

[Jim Dupree]

VW's Autostick and Porsche's Sportomatic were
essentially the same. Had both a torque converter and
a clutch. Torque converter was between the engine and
the the clutch. The clutch was operated by a large
vacuum servo. A solenoid valve control vacuum to the
clutch servo. A micro switch in the base of teh shift
lever controlled the solenoid valve.
Slight movement in the shift lever opened the micro
switch with opened the solenoid valve with allowed
vacuum to the servo to disengage the clutch allowing
you to shift gears. Since the torque converter was
attached directly to the engine it smoothed out the
abrupt engagement of the clutch and allowed you to
come to a stop. The rest of the trans was typical 4
speed manual. 
Common failures (quite common):
Switch in shift lever meaning it could disengage the
clutch anytime anyplace or not disengage at all. (in
high school I helped my friend older brother tow his
Autostick beetle to the dealer 3 different times. Ran
fine but would not engage the clutch.)
Servo diaphragm would fail.
Not enough engine vacuum to disengage the clutch.
Sudden vacuum draw would kill the engine.
Linkage to clutch from servo would fail.

Torque converter and engine share there oil supply.
Adding heat to the already stressed engine and dirt
from the engine to the torque converter. At least on
the Porsche there was approx 10 qts of oil to share.

Not a bad idea but poor implementation.

Jim



--- Richard J Lebens <rick-l at rocketmail.com> wrote:

> Sounds like the Porsche Sportomatic
> 
> --- David <duandcc_forums at cox.net> wrote:
> 
> > If that one in the beatle was the same as the one
> that was in a
> > friend's Ghia...it wasn't half bad, sorta fun. Not
> sure how it
> > worked, I always thought it was a manual where the
> clutch was somehow
> > conencted to the stick shifter. Anyone know for
> sure?
> > 
> > Dave
> > 1987 CGT 2.3
> > SE VA
> > 
> > > 
> > > From: David VS <davidvs at iserv.net>
> > > Date: 2005/08/25 Thu PM 02:27:54 EDT
> > > To: quattro at audifans.com
> > > Subject: Re: Tiptronic transmission
> > > 
> > > Okay, as we seem to be slipping off the
> tiptronic topic and
> > exploring 
> > > the history of clutch-less auto/manual gear
> boxes, I throw in the
> > old VW 
> > > auto sticks of the late 60's.  My dad had one in
> his 69 beetle.  If
> > I 
> > > remember right it was basically a 3 or 4 speed
> standard trans with
> > a 
> > > torque converter.  Kind of fun to drive, but
> made an already slow
> > car 
> > > even slower.
> > > 
> > > And... Porsche had a similar (I think) setup in
> their early 70's
> > 911 
> > > call the "sport-o-matic"...
> > > 
> > > Dave VS
> > > 4+ cars and only one slush box (the wife's).
> > > 
> > > 
> > > cobram at juno.com wrote:
> > > 
> > > >snip >This is hardly "cutting edge"
> > > >technology as some seem to think,< 
> > > >
> > > >  
> > > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > quattro mailing list
> > > quattro at audifans.com
> > > http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/quattro
> > > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
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> > quattro at audifans.com
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> > 
> 
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