Hello, John brought up some legitimate concerns about the ability of the Vanagon gearbox in stock form adequately handling the torque of the 5 cyl TDIs and other alternate powerplants. I'm sorry that my reply will be brief to his involved questions but I've have several transaxles that *must* be finished for shipment on Monday morning! Why go to the extreme of retrofitting another make of gearbox into the Vanagon at all? With minor internal modifications that would be less expensive than a transplant, the 091-1 gearbox could be strengthened to absorb just about whatever you care to dish out. Gear ratio selection is fairly broad so you could tailor your transaxle to the engine specifications of whatever you choose to install. Michael Sullivan is contemplating running a TDI in his Syncro and we have discussed how to change 3rd and 4th to better suit that powerplant's output. (No answer yet, Michael, about 3rd gears ETA but expect within the next couple of weeks) The same could be done for whatever engine you decide to install. The ease of not having to fabricate some sort of shift linkage, hangers, etc. more than outweighs- IMO- any potential benefit of swapping in another mfg.'s stock gearbox. I can build the 091-1 anyway you like and I am sure that the other transaxle builders out there could do the same. Back to the workbench!! -Todd Hill VolksWerks Transaxles Olympia, WA 360-412-0948 |
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