Hey guys,

So, I won't be doing this but thought it would be interesting....

The 3 speed automatic in our V12 cars is the common TH400. The same TH400 used in certain Rolls Royce models. Even the bell housing is the same (Rolls uses an adaptor plate to fit the Jaguar TH400 to their V8s).

A friend showed me his spare TH400, as I was considering it for my V12 and I noticed that it has an electronic actuator on the rear, next to the rear tail housing, which only controls the selector arm. So in theory, the Rolls selector, commonly on the steering column, isn't connected to the tansmission like in our cars. Instead, it is a switch.

That means, it would be possible to remove the sometimes faulty and troublesome selector with solenoids etc., and install a push button transmission control, like many modern cars have again. P, R, N, D, 2, 1 all as a row of small buttons. Like that it would be possible to free up the center console. Maybe making for a proper flat ski slope...

I won't be doing this, but I would love to...

 

Selecting the gears on a Rolls is truly a fingertip thing. Only a delicate movement is needed....feels about the same as operating your turn signals. Sorta cool.

Cheers
DD

 

I still have so far to go with my, Lady...

But usually, I want to hear MORE about everything I read here.

Like THIS ^^^^^

And, the stuff I am reading farther down into the "header" tread that is in the works today - about exhaust. So much to learn here.

Thanks to all of you!

 

Yep. Now imagine just pressing a small selector switch or turning a little knob from P to R next to say the cigar lighter and engaging the gears like that... Would be an awesome thing. I would love to try doing it but that would go heavily against the commited and selected path I'm taking right now. Though it doesn't mean I wouldn't do it with a different XJ-S which I could possibly turn into a hyped up beast... Would be a more elegant way and it would also beauty up the ski slope. Removing that "after thought" selector in the middle - thopugh I like the T shifter...

The best thing is, it is a bolt on part. No heavy machining needed. Just some wiring and the choice of removing the selector in the middle... The rest is all rather straight forward going by what I have read, touched and seen

 

That's cool, Brother. Just for my curiosity,,, where can I find more information? Do you have a lead or two?

 

The dangerous thing about the Silver Shadow type selector is that it requires that the battery is charged and attached.
I remember an incident at the local Jaguar/Rolls Royce dealer back in the early 1970s when a flat-bed wrecker delivered a Silver Shadow to the service dept.
The truck lined up the Rolls with the service entry overhead doorway, disconnected the holdown chains and tilted the bed to allow the car to roll into the shop.

The battery was flat and the 'Shadow' would not disengage PARK even though the selector was in NEUTRAL.

The towtruck driver hooked up some jumpers to the battery and the gearbox selector motor moved to NEUTRAL!!!!!!!!

The Silver Shadow was now free to roll into the shop with nobody in the car. The Driver's door was opened and got torn off it's hinges on it's way into the shop.

The towtruck driver was screaming that it was NOT his responsibility but technically it was still on his truck when the door was torn off.

$8,000.00 later, the car was fixed at the body shop.

Be sure you understand how the system works. It can be both good and bad.

bob

 

I was just jabbering with a guy from this company,,, he sent me this info... Dang expensive, these things are...

https://www.powertraincontrolsolutio...utton_Shifter/

 

Interesting. One of the “features” of modern cars I find most displeasing is rotary gear switches. Something about putting the car in gear myself pleases me greatly

 

I hear that...

 

Well, you can still do so But with say a smaller lever, or a more compact design. Doesn't need to be push button. As said, the Rolls actuator just needs to have some kind of electrical input to know where to go to...

 

Just convert the t-bar selector to an electronic one like the RR. I think it's an elegant and unusual shifter, and it's actually been commented on when I've shown my car at car shows. One girl called it "cute".

 

I searched the silver shadow shifter (the one I think mentioned as example) and all I saw was a column style shifter. Have an example, Some Day?

 

This one looks kinda cool...

 

Ooops, wait... ^^^^^
That's a Bentley...

 

I think you misunderstood. I didn't mean that RR had floor-mounted shifters, just that they had (as noted earlier in the thread) ones that operated electrically, rather than mechanically. Daim was thinking about using push-buttons, but I agree with Spikepaga: rotary gear selectors? Push buttons? Odd. Wrong. So keep the slim, elegant T-shifter, just make it use the same effortless electrical switching the Roller has. Before I got my XJS, I had imagined that such a thin shifter would merely need a gentle nudge to move between gears--turns out it's quite physical. Of course, you'd need a way to prevent a stray brush from your arm as you adjusted the climate control to suddenly put you into neutral or second gear....

 

I think they are saying the column shifter on the RR is an electronic actuating device, not a cable-operated actuating device as in the XJS. Presuming my understanding is correct, the two, of course, still push or pull the same mechanical lever on the GM400.

 

If you place the lever in "D", SDSD, there is no need to move it whilst driving....

 

Exactly that. The XJ-S uses a cable. The Rolls Royce uses an actuator which is bolted to the rear of the tranny.

 

Everything old is new again? First thing that came to mind concerning push button shifting was the steering wheel mounted control for the 1958 Edsel. Probably last seen on early '60's Mopars and Ramblers.

 

I'm learning here. To me, it seems that if the correct actuator was found, could be easily mounted to the TH400 and that could be paired with an e-shifter that was smart and fit the interior of the xjs,,, it would be awesome. I agree with another writer about the preference of manually shifting the lever into gear,,, but at the same time, in mine, I've imagined a shorter shifter and a situation that was the same or similar to my xjs. I think it could be nice.

I just have not been able to find a product. Over $1000 (the example in the link above) will just not do,,, and (sorry) it's kinda ugly...