I also have a Long Tranny in my '84 1.9 watercooled.  I heard about Rick
(Long) from Bob Donald's of Boston Engine, who I got my engine from.  I
also had a good pre-sales experience with Rick.  After less than a year
and 5,000 easy miles on the tranny I started having a lot of problems
getting into 3rd.  Called Rick and he explained that it sounded like a
bad or unevenly worn synchro for 3rd gear but he didn't offer to do
anything for me and was relatively un-helpful.  He told me to
double-clutch it or hope that it wore off on it's own, stopping the
noise.  2 years later if I don't double-clutch going into 3rd grinds
every time.  I'd never buy from the guy again.  There seems to be a lot
of good things said about a place up in Washington State on the list?
Anyone know their info?

-Tolga-
>------------------------------
>
>Date:    Wed, 14 Jan 2004 20:56:54 -0500
>From:    Dennis Haynes <dhaynes@OPTONLINE.NET>
>Subject: Re: Opinions on tranny rebuilds from Long Enterprises?
>
>Unless someone finds some old stock somewhere, all the replacement hubs
>are the new designs. I think VW started using it in production in '90.
>If that price includes replacing the ring and pinion, then it is a deal.
>The ring/pinion set and the input gear shaft are both expensive parts
>that say the trans is not worth repairing. Replacing the gear carrier
>housing also costs $$.
>
>Dennis
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
>Of george packard
>Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2004 8:34 PM
>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>Subject: Opinions on tranny rebuilds from Long Enterprises?
>
>Anybody had experience with a rebuilt vanagon tranny from Long
>Enterprises in Sebastopol, CA?
>
>I had a long phone chat with Mr. Long (I think his first name was Bob),
>and came away pretty much sold on what he knows and what he says he
>does,  but he wants $1200 for his rebuilds, and so I want some
>independent opinions about his work.
>
>His URL is http://www.longenterprises.com/index.html.  Also, in
>reference to a recent thread on trannys, here's the info on design
>problems and fixes with the 3rd/4th gear hub.
>http://volksweb.relitech.com/091trans.htm
>
>  (Long uses the new design hub in his rebuilds.)
>
>I've got an '86 Westy Weekender (200K miles) stored in Los Altos (SF
>Bay area) which I bought knowing it had a bad pinion bearing in the
>tranny.
>
>I have heard bad stories about sloppy rebuilds, and didn't really want
>to buy a used tranny unless I knew its history, and since I'm planning
>on keeping this Weekender for a long time, I only want to fool around
>with the tranny once.
>
>Feel free to email me off-list at  george@parrotcreek.com
>
>George in NH
>'82 Westy, '86 Westy Weekender, '87 Vanagon GL