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Subject:Re: curious ebay vanagon
From:Mark Drillock
Date:Mon, 15 Oct 2007 12:00:33 -0700

The North American Vanagon 4 speeds have a .85 top gear. Other Vanagon
models had .82 or .77, for 5 speeds. Aftermarket makes a .70 also.

Mark

John Bange wrote:

> I notice the following '90 Vanagon on ebay.
>
> <http://tinyurl.com/yo3u6h>
>
> It's a Graz-built non-GL very similar to mine--- only it's been converted to
> a 1.9 turbo diesel. What caught my interest was the following from the
> auction:
>
> "We replace the 4th gear in the transmission so it will be compatible with
> the new diesel engine."
>
> Now, the manual transmission has what, a .77 or so 4th gear? And for diesels
> you want to go a bit taller, right?
> Looking at the pics, this Vanagon doesn't HAVE a manual, it has an
> automatic. I GUARANTEE they didn't change the gearing in that 090
> transmission, so doesn't that leave them with a 1.00 third gear at the top?
> It's effectively MORE than 1.00 too, given the inherent slippage of a
> non-locking torque converter. I know little about the diesels, but isn't a
> 1.00-1.05 top gear going to limit you to like 60-65mph?
>
> --
> John Bange
> '90 Vanagon - "Geldsauger"
>