Hiya Jim,

Aye, I don't know if my 82 aircooled trans is rebuildable at all. As I said
in my post, I've been driving it for five years since the first time it
popped out of 4th on highway. I figured out that letting off the gas in 4th
gear was what caused it to *pop* out so I don't do that. It has maybe
popped out 5X in the last five years. I don't take it on highway that much,
except a few drives down to NYC (400 miles) and one round trip to Nova
Scotia (1,200 miles)

(someone on this site told me that I may have permanently damaged the case
by piling on the miles in its present condition)

I wish I had the van back in L.A. to do this project... In Montreal I have
no place to lay it up, whereas in Hollywood I have a big driveway, shade,
tools... and another car to get around.

Modifying engine mount and shiftter/linkage scares me... My van is nice,
but it's not like super-slick. Kind of an old-school workhorse. I'm
inclining to a rebuilt air-cooled trans from AA in Seattle. From his site
he appears to have them ready to ship. So it's grip-and-go as we say in
studio parlance.

As an aside, California DMV is now insisting that I bring the van in to
pass smog - for the last five years I've been getting away with filing a
STATEMENT OF FACT form in place of a smog certificate... I promise not to
drive it in CA and they give me tags. But that loophole has closed. Either
I change my residence to Quebec where I'm mostly staying now, or register
in South dakota and stay off-grid.

This is a lot to consider... The van may be off-line for quite awhile if I
go to 83 or later transaxle.

On Wed, Jul 23, 2014 at 3:40 PM, SDF ( aka ;jim lahey' - Scott ) <
scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:

>  no one commented so far it appears.
>
> first issue is your trans even rebuildable at all.
> next issue is shortage of cores.
>
> it's a 'minor conversion' but you'd be miles ahead to convert to the 83
> and later 2WD transaxle and shift linkage..
> ( from the shift knob all the way back )
>
> if your DK trans is in it's stock lacation, it actually sits 2 inches
> further forward than the 83 and later trans ..so some modification to
> engine mounting, or whatever.
>
> start considering that , upgrade to 83 and later trans, either the common
> 4 speed, or the oddball and rare  5 speed ( it's not a normal close ratio 5
> speed, but it does have an extra low 1st that you try not to use, and nice
> gearing for highway in top gear. )
> Scott
>  On 7/23/2014 7:07 AM, Vincent Dow wrote:
>
> Howdy ramblers,
> (this is my first ever original thread on here)
>
> I'm writing from Montreal, Que, though I'm officially based in Los Angeles
> CA.
>
> I'm finally ready to undertake rebuilding the trans on my 82 westfalia
> (originally air-cooled - now powered by 1995 subaru EJ22.)
>
> I didn't have the money for a long time. Finally I got it together. When I
> reached out to find the legendary transaxle rebuilder up here (M. Laval) I
> learned that he was tragically killed by a vanagon fallen on him. Such a
> bummer. I spoke to him on the phone back in 2010. Nice guy. Very well-liked
> in the community.
>
> I don't know of any other highly reccomended rebuilders up in this part of
> North America.
>
> I'd appreciate any advice on this project. I want to get it right. I'm
> keeping this van. I've been driving it with a bungie-cord to hold it in 4th
> for years now. I've probably done 8,000 miles like that. Only recently I
> learned that I may have (probably have) wasted the case by force-holding it
> in 4th gear.
>
> If anyone has insight they can share, websites that help plan it,
> recomended parts, gear ratios etc, please let me know.
> All the best,
> Vinnie
>
>
>
>