The shift linkage in pre 83 vanagons ( 80 to 82 air cooled, and 82 diesels )
isn't as good as the later linkage, for sure........................ but
'complete failure' is overstating it a lot.

There are many other reasons to avoid an air-cooled vanagon in my
not-always-that-humble opinion though !

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Kai Mei
Sent: Friday, July 20, 2007 6:07 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: pre 83 manual shifting, substandard or unrelable?

Go westy writes:
 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
additionally, the first stab at the 4-speed shifter system was a
complete failure and was totally re-designed with the introduction of
the gasoline water-cooled model in late 1983

 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

What's your guys take on it? Should the A/C be avoided for this reason?

Thanks.