Hondamatic

The Hondamatic (also called H2) was Honda's first automatic transmission . It was produced from 1973 to 1979 and installed in passenger cars and motorcycles. The name Hondamatic is used on all of Honda's automatic transmissions. The original Hondamatic had sliding gears on parallel axes instead of planetary gears , as in most other automatic transmissions. The design preserved engine braking by implementing a sprag between first and second gear. Shifting between 1st and 2nd gear was done by simply moving the selector lever from 1 to 2. It was not shifted automatically, but could be driven entirely in 2nd gear due to the torque converter. The Honda torque converter had a bypass and resulted in Honda selling the original Hondamatic (which only had two forward gears) as a three-speed. The real three-speed H3 was launched in 1979.

history

Honda Civic Hondamatic

Honda could not manufacture conventional automatic planetary gearboxes without infringing patents. So Honda eventually asked BorgWarner to design a prototype gearbox for their upcoming vehicles. BorgWarner refused, however. That was because BorgWarner did not have any transmission regulations that were efficient enough for an engine as small as the 500 cc Honda S500 and which could work reliably at a maximum engine speed of 8000 rpm. This led Honda to design their own transmission. They bought a transmission from BorgWarner to develop an original transmission design. They tested their newly developed automatic transmission on the Honda L700 . When tests and refinements were made, Honda sold its first automatic transmission in the N360.

1973–1980 Honda Civic
1976-1979 Honda Accord
1979 Honda Prelude

motorcycle

Honda 750 four Hondamatic 1977

The Hondamatic was later used in Honda's 400, 450 and 750 cc motorcycles. In this application, it wasn't a true automatic transmission as the driver had to manually select one of the two gears, although Honda's torque converter meant no clutch was needed.

CB750A (1976-1988)
CB400A Falcon Hondamatic (1978)
CM400A Hondamatic (1979-1981)
CM450A Hondamatic (1982-1983)

Web links

THE HAWK Hondamatic. In: American Motorcyclist. September 1, 1977. Retrieved February 17, 2018 .
Rebuilding Hondamatic 1977. In: MOTORRAD. October 24, 2013, accessed February 17, 2018 .

Individual evidence

↑ The Honda Automatic Transmission / 1968 - The Army of Patents: A Barrier to the popularization of AT Cars. In: world.honda.com. 1968, Retrieved February 17, 2018 .
↑ MC Staff: The Honda CB750A Hondamatic. In: Motorcycles Classics. December 1, 2011, accessed February 17, 2018 .

[1] The Honda Automatic Transmission / 1968 - The Army of Patents: A Barrier to the popularization of AT Cars. In: world.honda.com. 1968, Retrieved February 17, 2018 .

[2] MC Staff: The Honda CB750A Hondamatic. In: Motorcycles Classics. December 1, 2011, accessed February 17, 2018 .