The let off the throttle revs I hear at 60mph suck! But with the wimpy
diesel I can understand. I need tranny work so Im trying to do my upgrade
now so I don't have to pay twice the$  and do it twice either,just only
want to do it once with little to no issues when I upgrade the engine.

Velma 82diesel 1.6 na westy

On Aug 15, 2012 7:45 AM, "Don Hanson" <dhanson928@gmail.com> wrote:

  Boy, I swear by the 5sp in my inline VW van.   It's never given me any
problems at all in about 100k miles now.   I love having the very low 1st
gear for rough and steep slow driving.  The spread between 5th and 4th was
just right for my original 1.8 liter inline motor (similar hp to a WBX)
With my 'new' 93 2.0 liter block I don't have to keep it wound up for hills
so much, but dropping back to 4th from 5th at about 65mph is an option.
I rarely  get slowed up for the steepest longest grades, and makes passing
a lot quicker and safer..  I'll usually shift down if I anticipate a long
climb might take my rpms below 3000 in my 5th gear.   If I have to
accelerate on a long climb  I will usually just go up to about 65mph in 4th
and leave it there until I top the hill to avoid 'lugging' the motor...
   The gearing is just right for me and I haven't seen any "Oh, that 5 sp?
They are weak...." action in my 3+ years and lots of loaded mountain travel.

On Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 4:27 AM, ralph meyermann <ralphmeyermann@gmail.com>
wrote:
>
> I don't pla...