The bosses on the gear housings were made "longer", towards the front,  in
about 87/88 to prevent the boot around the shift rod from being compressed
so much that it popped out of 4th gear.. The fix moved the little bracket
fwd to reduce the boot compression. Thick washers ( 6mm or so) between the
bracket and the mounting boss will fix it..Only nec to do this if you still
have boots on the shift rod..If they are gone..no issue.

Daryl of AA Transaxle
(425) 788-4070
aatransaxle.com
86 Syncro Westy
Zetec in the trunk

----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott Daniel - Turbovans" <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
 > I though I'd mentioni that you may run into a very small differnce about
> bolting your 89 he shift linkage bracket to the 85 trans body .......
> this 'might' happen. Sometimes it's neccessary to adjust where that
> bracket
> bolts by about 1/4 inch, fore-aft wise.
>  I can tell you this for sure .........I sent in an 87 vanagon transaxle
> for rebuidling, and an 84 as a core.  The 87 wasn't good for rebuiding,
> but
> the 84 was, so since I'll be installing a an 'early' ( trans main case )
> wher e a 'late' was, they gave me a little spacer bracket to shim the
> shift
> linkage bracket forward or aftward a bit. You might encounter this in your
> deal, so if you don't have the travel you need fore-aft wise on your
> shifter
> after your 'new' trans is installed...........this would be why possibly.
> Scott
> www.turbovans.com
>
>