While it sounds impressive to drop 1,000 rpm the Diesel is geared low for
good reason. You need the RPM to get the horsepower. Also the air cooled
tranny is a weaker box overall. A number of parts are smaller and thus
weaker. A turbo engine especially a turbo diesel should have no problem
tearing up the air cooled tranny.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
ralph meyermann
Sent: Monday, August 13, 2012 9:36 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Transmission upgrade

Hi Vanagoneers! On this years camping trip Velma developed 2 issues. On the
way to Okaboji she started pop out of 4 th gear and an oil leak that I can
only pin point to rear main seal. My local and biggest parts guys A.C.E air
cooled express are gonna help me out since they have a shop that sure beats
shade tree repairs in the yard and have been very helpful in restoring
Velma. They've got an air cooled tranny for me with happier hwy ratios when
I find my turbo motor but will have to suffer for now. And there's no better
time to replace rear main seal is when the tranny is out and have a new pan
and valve cover set too. I would love a tdi but the availibility and
simplicity of an aaz may be my my best bet. From the tranny ratio charts
info I should be dropping approx 1k rpm at 60mph so it should also help mpg
when driven wisely.

Velma 82diesel 1.6 na westy