Hello,

I want to add automatic transmission to the 1999 1.6L 16V 100 since it is the car I have.

I've done some research into this and I think the best bet for this to work is to replace the engine and transmission with one from a 1999 era Eurovan, like the Citroen Evasion and Peugeot 806 (couldn't find a 1999 Fiat Ulysse with an automatic transmission, if they were ever made).

If not, a 2004 Fiat Ulysse is also an option but since the Eurovan project was a joint effort between Peugeot, Fiat and Citroen, I'm assuming that almost if not all the parts should be interchangeable and if not, easy to adapt from one car to the other, especially from the start at 1999. If a 2004 Fiat Ulysse is good as a donor also, I have no issues going for that.


I'm also open to a Fiad Idea, as I don't mind the gearbox being robotized like in a Smart car, since the goal of this is to automate the gearshifts and clutching, not to do it with no pauses. The Idea would be ok for the parts but I would be going down in power and it's a last option.


If I'm going through the trouble of adapting it to an automatic, wanna give it some power also.


What are your thoughts on this? Is this project doable? What more do I need to get this done? Is it going to be relatively easy like I think or will it be a nightmare?


I've attached a photo of the gear selector from a 2004 Fiat Ulysse. Pretty sure it would fit into the Multipla with minimal modification. The problem would be the rest

Nightmare.

There will be MANY electrical differences.

Getting the ECU of your car to work with all these extra devices.. sounds like a vast amount of work

There are almost always a ton of bits you’d not expect that are different between an auto and a manual gearbox car. People often convert a failed auto to a manual as it’s a lot cheaper and easier to find a manual box, any auto sensors no longer needed you tape off in what ever position they need to be in.

If you have a manual you won’t have those sensors or the wiring, or in some cases the software in the engine or body ecu. Nothing is impossible but I think you’d have to gut the car and literally swap everything over, including dashboards, and wiring looms.

varesecrazy:

I'm not going to be using my ECU nor my engine, since as you've said, that is going to be a lot of work and there will be differences. My plan is to take the entire electrical harness, ECU, engine and gearbox from a Citroen Evasion/Peugeot 806 or a Fiat Ulysse and drop them in the Multipla and then tweak the ECU a little as the dashboard layout will be a bit different but engine and car sensors will be the same and the steering column is the same.
AndyRKett:

You are correct: I'd be gutting the engine, gearbox, engine-frame and engine harness from the Multipla and replacing them from the donor car so that electrical differences will be minimal.

From my research, the only "plug&play" mod is to get a Fiat Marea automatic (Type 185 vs Multipla which is Type 186). Here's why:

Both engines are the same(sort of, but I'll be replacing the engine also so, no difference), they use the same ECU (Marelli IAW 49F ) and they are of the same generation which means that ownership costs will be as low as they are for the Multipla (ex. : brand new clutch kit + labor = 70GBP).

Hoping I'm on the right track here


Pros:

Automatic Multipla

Cons:

The gear selector switch on the Marea is goddam huge and will be a bitch to put in the Multipla
No boost in engine power as the automatic Marea uses the same 100 1.6 16V 103HP engine as the Multipla but hey, it's acceptable for a low-budget automatic conversion


I've attached a picture of the landing strip which is the Fiat Marea gear selector. Any way this can be adapted/converted to one from a Fiat Ulysse or something smaller? I'd have to cut into the dashboard of the Multipla to put this humongous thing in