David,
You're treating the transmission upgrade like it's a liability for the
subaru conversion.
You don't need to upgrade the transmission with a subaru conversion, rather
a lot of people opt to have the tranny rebuilt because it already has 150k
or whatever, and while it's being rebuilt they add the taller 4th gear.
You can run the subaru conversion all day long with stock gears just like
the Zetec conversion without problem, so don't treat it like a necessary
expense of the subaru conversion.  The subaru just has the power advantage
that lets it pull the 0.77 fourth comfortably, and even the 0.70 fourth
without much trouble.  The 0.70 fourth lets the engine turn at approximately
3200 rpm and makes for a quiet and comfortable ride, and excellent fuel
mileage to boot.
-Hans
http://www.vanaru.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Clarkson" <Dvdclarksn@AOL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, July 27, 2007 12:38 AM
Subject: Re: Decisions, decisions which conversion-didn't intend to start a
power war

> I am certainly impressed by the  power
> that the subaru 2.5 has overt the Zetech (35 hp difference right) but
> would
> also have to factor in a very useful upgrade to the 3rd and 4th gears that
> would benefit the Subaru conversion (Daryl at AA transmission would be
> great for
> this). Factoring in the cost of this (shipping and opening up the case to
> swap  out 2 gears) might reduce the difference in price between the two by
> another  $500.00-750.00 maybe?