Lucky for you there are several knowledgeable vanagon shops in the
Montreal area who might be able to help you or know of a good used
tranny.  Hopefully they will speak up shortly-Benny Boy or Frank C.
are you there?

Welcome & good luck.  Your trip from the motherland sounds interesting.

Peace,

Mr. Buese

On May 24, 2010, at 5:34 PM, Scott Daniel - Turbovans wrote:

> Greetings,
> sounds like you are having great fun and adventure with your Vanagon !
>
> Transmission work is specialized work, usually only done by
> transmission
> rebuilding shops, and in this case should be done by someone
> familiar with
> VW transaxles, not just 'any' transmission rebuilding shop.
>
> it's not a matter of just get a new 4th gear and put it in.
> it's a rebuild really.
> your choices are .......
> find a good used transmission, it's called a "DK" ..that's the code
> letters
> for your trans.
> Used ones are a bit hard to find sometimes.
> 'good used' is your most cost effective option if you can find one.
>
> otherwise it's rebuild yours and hope that yours is a rebuildble
> core, since
> if it's not, they'll charge you quite a bit extra for not having a
> rebuildble core to start with.
>
> have fun !  and Welcome.
> Scott
> www.turbovans.com
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Johannes Emigholz" <johannes.emigholz@GMX.NET>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Monday, May 24, 2010 4:02 PM
> Subject: 81 Manual Transmission
>
>
>> Dear Vanagon Friends,
>>
>> as I am new to this community at first a little introduction:
>>
>> My name is Johannes and I grew up in Germany only a few kilometers
>> away from the Westfalia production site. I recently bought a 81 2.0l
>> AC T3 (fuel injection, manual transmission)  in Vancouver and drove
>> this baby all the way to Montreal. Epic drive in beautiful spring
>> weather! On the road I picked up a couple of problems, as I had no
>> time to conduct a full overhaul before I left.
>> I really appreciate this mailing list and am astonished by the
>> enthusiasm you guys help each other!
>>
>> To start with the most urgent problem. At Lake Superior my 4th gear
>> stopped its duty. When I bought the van the 4th gear already popped
>> out whenever I shifted it. Long term thinking, I got myself an
>> elastic and fixated the gear shift handle with it when in 4th gear.
>> Worked fine for the first 3000km. However now the 4th gear pops even
>> with the elastic. Apparently the rest of the gear got grind away by
>> the constant friction. Going with 60kmh on the single lane highways
>> was neither a pleasure for me nor for everybody else on the road...
>>
>> Therefore I definitely have to address this problem first. Do you
>> guys know, if I can just get another 4th gear and apply it or do I
>> need to replace the whole transmission? Do you know where I can get a
>> new gear or respectively a new transmission? Do you have a
>> recommendation for a good mechanic in montreal who can help me with
>> that?
>>
>> Thank you guys already. Looking forward to your replies!
>>
>> Cheers, Johannes