Hey, here's a first.  I'm already dismissing my own question to the list.
 : )  I punched in the diesel gear ratios into my "RPM spreadsheet," and
even if the diesel 5-speed bolted to the WBX, you don't get any RPM drop at
highway speeds due to the really steep 5.428 final drive ratio of the
diesel.  If you want a closer ratio 'box with nearly the same highway RPM
(the diesel revving the tiniest bit higher (as in 20 rpm...), then this
would be a good swap.  But without putting in something at least as tall as
the 4.86 final drive from the WBX trans, those of us looking to drop highway
RPM won't gain anything.  (If there was a final drive like a 4.86 available
for the diesel box, it actually looks like a nice modification.)

Chris

> So here's a silly question - does the diesel 5-speed from 1983 bolt up to
> the WBX?
>
> Chris
>
>