In a message dated 24/05/2010 9:10:50 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes:

        Johannes, welcome to  Vanagon Land !  You cannot just insert a 4th
gear.  The tranny must be  rebuilt and there are no good re-builders on the
East Coast.  The very best  is AA Transaxle, _AA Transaxle - Home  Page_
(http://www.aatransaxle.com/) , in Duval Washington.  You may have some success
in finding a  "GOOD" used one but remember the tranny on the Air-Cooled
Vanagon is a three  year only tranny and there may not be a lot of them around.
 I have none  here.  So next is to contact Ben Huot of BJP Restauration,
St-Hubert  (Montreal), QC, 450-676-0714, cell - 514-823-4865,
_www.benplace.com_ (http://www.benplace.com)     He should  be able to help you.  You could
also call VW Restorations in Manotick, ON,  613-692-2431, ask for Ron or
Cory, they may have one or be able to help.   Meanwhile my website is
_www.frankcondelli.com_ (http://www.frankcondelli.com)  and you should be  come
familiar with it also.  Then you had better show up at BusFusion over  here in
Almonte, ON, June 10 ~ 13,  see _www.BusFusion.com_ (http://www.BusFusion.com)
 for all the details  !  Big swap meet and there may be parts there you
need.  Hope to meet  you soon.

>>>>>>>>>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<<<<<<<<

Cheers,

Frank  Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
'87 Westy & Lionel Trains (_Collection for sale_
(http://frankcondelli.com/trainsal.htm) )
_Frank Condelli &  Associates_ (http://frankcondelli.com/busindex.html)  -
Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
_Vanagon Stainless Steel Exhaust  Systems_
(http://frankcondelli.com/exhaust.htm)
_BusFusion_ (http://www.busfusion.com/)  a VW Camper  camping event,
Almonte, ON, June 10 ~ 13,  2010