Jeff,

The Diesel transmission has a final drive of
5.56. The higher the final drive numbers , the
lower geared for torque. This lowers the cruising
speed and decreases economy.

So the popular swap is to the 4.57 Air-Coooled
Vanagon transmission.
This trans is 2" shorter than a WBX trans.

An adaptor plate is needed to bolt up the Diesel
bellhousing to the WBX trans, and because of the
longer WBX trans being made even longer by the
adaptor plate, you can only use the '83 Vanagon
Diesel side carrier bars.

These are also the same bars found on the Tiico
conversion kit.

This problem of finding the '83 bars or modifying
the the '82 bars is solved if you use a
air-cooled Vanagon trans.

On this trans you swap all these Diesel parts to
it:
The bellhousing, clutch slave cylinder bracket,
the front mount.
On the WBX you have to replace the rear shift
linkage section with the Diesel Vanagon one, or
modify the WBX one.

If this is to be installed in a Westfalia, it's
also recommended to use the '93-'99 A-3 2.0 liter
block with a 1.8 head.

The 2.0 is a better engine , has less vibration
than a 1.8, more torque and hp.

There is a place in Montclair Cal called Quality
German and they import engines and transmissions
from Germany. I got a 5-speed WBX trans from them
, which is a perfect match for a 2.0 engine.
There you might obtain the Diesel hardware you
need.

I drove with a 1.8 for 4 years and stock it's not
powerful enough.
The 2.0 also has oil squirters that cool the
pistons. The longer rods minimize vibration.

I can tell you this engine is tough because I
have had one in my '82 Westy for the last 7
years. even now over 200,000 miles on it and it's
still running good .

I'm burning some oil but that is to be expected
after what I put this through.
I towed Vanagons cross -country with it .

Robert

1982 Westfalia 2.0 inline-four 5-speed trans

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