Hi,
They did look into that from what I've read.  Their  reason though was for
smog legality reasons in California.
Long saga..........California basically flat says 'no OBD-II engine
conversions can be certified' ..........
from what I've read that Jim's written, there might be some provision or
loophole about if the same transmission is used with the OBD-II engine....
the very trans that was used with that engine type.
And I think he said they even put one it, or determined that it will fit in
a vanagon.

It's also just never seemed to me that a transmission designed to drive a
small light fairly aerodynamic car, would be happy pushing a big vanagon.
Transverse, by itself, isn't a serious or undoable problem.  After
all..........the Ford trans has two axles going out to the wheels, just like
a vanagon trans.
But imagine the re-engineering it would take......
after all that work to make a kit to put a Zetec engine into a vanagon
inline with the chassis ( longitudinally. ) .
to then re-do the whole thing so the engine and trans can sit back there
transversely.
Whew. Just the shift linkage even..........to re-do that to be compatible
with the vanagon shift linkage.

The only transmissions that lend themselves to being fitted into a Vanagon
would be ones from a rear engine car, and designed for a clockwise turning
engine  ( when viewed from the crankshaft pulley end........this is 'normal'
way almost all engines turn  ...........all Honda's until later years being
an exception, for years Honda engines turned 'backwards ) ............there
is mainly only one common car that has a transmission layout similar to a
vanagon ........
the Porsche 911, or earlier 356's too..........And  almost all front
transaxles can't be turned around.  Most are not designed to allow the ring
gear to be flipped over so it drives the other way if you turn it around,
etc.
For mounting a front transverse engine and trans unit..........if it'll fit
it doesn't care if it's in the front or the rear.  But you're just going too
far from the original vanagon layout .  Stock, there is both opposed 4, and
inline 4 engine installations in vanagons.  It's easiest to stick with
those.

You can buy absolutely anything you want and con afford in terms of a rear
mounted VW-related transaxle though, in the dune buggy and drag racing
world.
Not cheap though.  Built from all new extra strong casings etc.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Allan Streib" <streib@cs.indiana.edu>
To: "Scott Daniel - Turbovans" <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>; "Vanagon List"
<vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 10:57 AM
Subject: Re: Is there such a thing as a good used transmission?

> "Scott Daniel - Turbovans" <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM> said:
>
>>   These days.............since almost all you find are 20 + years old, or
>> very high mileage, like over 200,000..........
>> finding an actual good used one is less likely these days than it was.
>
> I seem to recall that the Bostig people were looking at swapping in an
> entire Focus powertrain (Zetec and tranny) not sure whether that was
> ever carried into a working prototype or farther....  Since the Zetec is
> transverse in the Focus I'm not sure how it would fit but...
>
> Allan
> --
> 1991 Vanagon GL
>
>