Date:         Fri, 25 May 2012 23:59:12 -0400
Reply-To:     David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Subject:      Re: Automatic vs Manual
Comments: To: Zeitgeist <gruengeist@GMAIL.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <CAN5Ep7SK8eiwT+PeraaBXUt0B8wPFw0n5tRv90TU=hUp3fhgrA@mail.g
              mail.com>
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At 11:27 PM 5/25/2012, Zeitgeist wrote:
>After living with it for the last 8 years as is, I can truly say that an
>automatic no matter how bad would be a step up.  I hate the clutch shudder
>upon release, I hate the hunting for gears and the grinding shifts from
>third to fourth.  I will not miss my green eggs and ham

The automatic (3 spd) is very easy to drive, and nicely set up so you
can downshift to 2nd without having to push the unlock button.  It
has no lockup function and it definitely reduces mileage.

But none of those things you mention should be happening.  My '84
suffered from clutch judder for a period which was cured by refacing
the flywheel, and naturally it cracked the 3-4 synchro hub (at only
about 90,000 miles, while it was still in Scotland).  But otherwise
it worked perfectly well.  I had to grease the bearings of the
linkage underneath whenever it started getting harder to
shift.  Clutch was very smooth for all but ~15,000 of its 250,000
miles, the gears were where they were supposed to be, no grinding.

Yours,
David