Trying to make the Buick transaxle run backwards would be difficult at best.

Much better would be to mount the transverse motor/trans combo the same way
as in the Buick, but driving the rear axle in the Vanagon.
This would put the engine slightly ahead of the rear axle centerline, which
would improve weight distribution.
You may need to clearance some sheet metal:)

Don't even bother with the Buick sub frame, fabricate a cradle to attach to
the van frame rails and motor/trans mounts and make custom drive shafts with
VW outer splines and Buick inners.

The Westy might weigh more than a Buick but the Buick transmission is built
to stand up to a lot more torque from the 3800 motor as compared to the VW
transmission.
I would certainly feel better about longevity with the Buick tranny backing
the Buick motor compared to the 091.

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Greg Potts
Sent: Monday, May 19, 2008 11:48 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Can engine and transmission be swapped?

Hi Gerry,

That would be an interesting idea... I think the secret of that Buick's
gas milage was in the transmission, not the powerplant.

But... The buick doesn't way anything close to an unloaded westy. I
doubt that the transmission would hold up for long, even if you did find
a way to make it fit.

Also, in the buick the engine is in front of the transmission. If you
spin it around to install it in a vanagon you are going to end up with
one fairly slow forward speed and three choices for reverse. So I guess
you will have to plan to have the transmission modified to spin the
other way.

BTW, the corvair engine/tranny swap for aircooled buses puts adapter
rings on the transmission that the original bus CV's bolt up to. No
special axle fabrication is required.

Gerry Lepage wrote:
> There was talk on the list of converting to a buick 3.8. Kep makes the
adapter. Someone had mentioned the possibility of swapping out both engine
and transmission and getting custom axles built with buick at one end?and VW
at the other. Has anyone actually done this? How about any other conversion
using both the engine and transmission? I know that VW makes a good
transaxle but geared too low to keep a bigger engine at proper RPMs. I also
know that a taller 3rd & 4th could be installed to fix problem but a lot
could be said in keeping both engine and transmission mated. I've searched
quite a while on the Internet and haven't found anyone who's done it. Can
anyone point me in the right direction if this is possible.
>

--
Happy Trails,

Greg Potts
1973/74/79 Westfakia "Bob the Tomato"
1987 Wolfsburg Weekender Hardtop
www.busesofthecorn.com
www.pottsfamily.ca