< I was just reading a message in the Quattro mailing list about someone > stating that the Audi 5000 automatic was the same transmission as the > Vanagon automatic. How can the be? The Audi would have to spin backwards > to be in a Vanagon... >>
I have no idea which way the 5 cylinder spins but the trans works one way regardless. The final drive in the tranny is flipped, ring gear side to side relative to a van. I'd guess physically you can do as such in your van if you'd like 4 reverse and one low forward speed. Quite common for people who installed Porsche 5 speeds into buses. In point of fact the 5000 trans is compatible as is physically damn near any VW auto tranny ever made, only the auto tranny section of course when unbolted from the final. The van/Audi box is supposed to be heavier duty than rabbit and early golf/jetta boxes but I've had a late A2 Jetta box sitting dissasembled next to a '90 Vanagon box and they are part for part identical except for the lack of the drillings for the tranny cooler on the Jetta housing (which early vans lack as well) and the obvious parts one must exchange (the outer most planetary ring gear, and the selector and throttle levers and shafts.) The swap into my '90 is going fine now with about 15k on the Jetta box, deleting the cooler. The box had somewhere between 50 and 75k (can't remember sat behind a friends garage for 2 years.) I think I retained the Jetta valve body and it might shift slightly differently, but I don't really recall, seemed a bit different immediately after the swap and seems a bit peppier than the '87 van. In point of fact I never found a thing wrong with the '90 tranny, I saw what had been contacting (the very gear that was swapped into the Jetta box, made a whoop, whoop, whoop noise in 1 and 2, perhaps a tad of wear on the very last thrust bearing) but never figured a reason, hardly any wear at all in fact, my best guess was that the shims set between the tranny and final on the driveshaft were a bit too thin allowing a bit too much play, wobble, and contact(incorrectly set shims from the factory on very later Vanagon automatics seem to be common on this list) but I feared setting them correctly and reinstalling the damn thing only to have that not be the problem (particularly as unless I missed something quite obvious I though getting the SOBing final and tranny back together was annoying as hell as you have to match 2 levels of fine splines meshing at the exact same time in different locations without being able to turn either to allow alignment, why one couldn't lead the other a bit is beyond me.) If the Jetta box ever goes I'll try reinstalling the van box with correct shims. I note I talked with quite a few people who had even installed older rabbit trannies with no problems although they appear in the manuals to indeed have fewer clutch discs and detail construction differences as VW refined the design. My money is that a '89-'92 vintage golf/jetta box is identical to an '81-'85? van box sans cooler and is probably a good swap if you can obtain the tranny only section cheap. I shot a bunch of pictures of the swap, been meaning to put them on a www page, can scan and email to anyone needing them. John janderson@iolinc.net |
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