Vince,

There are quite a few of us here in NB ... you should have stopped.  Gunter would have what was needed to get you operational.

(BTW:  There are a few Porches here in Fredericton, even a couple of Ferraris and a Lotus or two).

On 04-Sep-2014, at 01:06, Vincent Dow wrote:

> So I began having this problem of my tranny popping out of 4th on the
> highway five years ago. The first occurrence really shook me up - POp and
> then a tremendous VARRROOOOOMMMM  --(WTF was that???)
> 
> Van is an 82 aircooled, converted to 1995 water-cooled subaru 2.2
> 
> I've limped along these years with the cracked 3/4 solder. Didn't have a
> lot of bread. The van mostly drives around town and up to a country place
> one hour away. I do a lot of construction and use it for light transpo.
> 
> I had gotten the shifting into 4th down pretty well. in 3rd i would get the
> RPMs up to 3800, and then make a nice, decisive shift to 4th, give it mucho
> gas and let off clutch quickly. I could make it hold w/o a bungie cord. But
> I always kept a light hand on the shifter, just to feel the vibe.
> 
> So me and my girl drove it out to Nova Scotia from montreal two weeks ago
> (1,350 kilometers) and I knew I was pushing it this time. On the way out
> east, in Levis, Que - Tranny popped out twice in just five minutes, and
> that really freaked me out, as we had a long way to go. But she made it out
> to Cape Lahave -
> 
> (and of course the Westfalia camper was awesome. We even got the fridge
> working for the first time!)
> 
> But on the way home, near Moncton, New Brunswick, I let my GF drive. I had
> explained my finesse way of shifting. I don't know why i thought this would
> work out... She struggled with clutch action, and timed it badly twice.
> After passing a toll booth, I took the controls back, and it seemed okay
> for a few miles, and then popped out of 4th, and would not stay in 4th
> after. Nothing would make it stay in 4th gear, short of holding the stick
> with two hands until it bent.
> 
> I worried that we were really boned. So i put the hazards on and drove
> along in 3rd gear. It seemed pitifully slow, but we were still moving.
> Ended up driving all the way home like that. Now the van is out front. The
> dog is on the couch, my GF is in bed. We're home.  What a good van he is.
> He's a boy.
> His name is *Modesto.*
> 
> In the first hour of our 3rd gear highway travel, a nice looking vanagon
> came up behind and put his hazards on, followed us for a bit and then
> pulled alongside. It was the first vanagon i'd seen in New Brunswisk (I
> also did not see a single Porsche in the whole province)
> The driver signalled we could pull over, offer assistance. i waved
> friendly, assumed nothing could be done there and then. Waved him on his
> way.
> I found out later there is a veteran German VW guy in Fredricton, only
> works on euro cars. Has a yard full of vanagons. Name is Gunther. I was
> probably driving by his shop when the N.B. vanagon guy engaged with us. How
> stupid of me to assume there was no rear engine community out there in
> L'Acadie.