Unless your planning to upgrade the engine, keep the gearing stock.
Anything you save in lower RPM you will lose with increased stress. If
you are concerned with engine life, monitor and control the oil
temperature. Especially if you need to run over 4,000 rpm. The water
boxer is a short stroke engine that needs RPMs to make power. Go with
taller tires if you need to experiment. Using 215-65/16's as compared to
215/70-14, (27" vs. 25.5) has actually resulted in a loss of ~1 mpg on
the FUN BUS according to a GPS over two NY to Florida round trips.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of Warren Lail
Sent: Friday, October 22, 2004 12:20 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: transmission for Billy Bones

Okay ye lubbers,

I've decided to replace the manual tranny in ole Bill Bones with a
rebuild from a fellow here in Oklahoma.  He has offered to build it with
a slightly taller third and fourth, but I'm not sure how tall to go.
I'm running a 2.1 waterbox.  At what point do I get a 3-4 that is too
tall ?  I want to cruise at a lower rpm, but I don't want to lose all
power when I hit 4th.

Warren Lail
88 Westy "Billy Bones"