Date:         Sat, 29 Dec 2007 10:06:47 -0800
Reply-To:     John Bange <jbange@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Bange <jbange@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Any real automatic trans upgrade for vanagon?
In-Reply-To:  <007f01c849e1$ebbd4c60$6401a8c0@TOSHIBALAP>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

>
> not sure what they mean though....the mention ring and pinions of 4.11,
> 4.56, and 4.86 ...
> 4.11 would be pretty high so that sounds good.
> Then they say 'final drive ratio' from 2.60 to 8.80.
> Not sure what to make of that.


From the look of it, they appear to have shoehorned some sort of additional
gearing in between the transmission unit and the R&P. That, combined with
the choice of R&P ratios, and you can pretty much choose any RPM range you
want--- so long as you're happy with the relative ratios between 1st, 2nd,
and 3rd  dictated by the 090 auto transmission unit. Also, it seems to me
that it's an "auto manual" setup. The shift governor for the 090
transmission is usually on the final drive section, and since they have such
a wide range of output ratios I bet they didn't develop one for their
system.... and now that I look at the picture, I notice it says "full manual
valve body" on the transmission. So yeah, it's actually a "semi-automatic"
transmission system! Kinda like the old auto-stick in some beetles, only
it's a simplified auto rather than a manual with a torque converter...

--
John Bange
'90 Vanagon - "Geldsauger"