About 12 years ago(before I knew of Dary8l and AA trans), I had Weddle rebuild my tranny and put a 4.57 rear end in it and a slightly taller 4th gear.  Don't think it was the .77, maybe the next notch up.  I had and still am driving a Boston Bob"modified" 2.1(ported heads and bigger valves) so I thought it could handle the longer gearing.  Things are fine for the most part, but there is a 1400 RPM drop from the stock 3rd to the longer 4th and that does involve more shifting on hills.  In hindsight, I should have put in a longer 3rd gear too;  something that would get me to the power band of the engine at 50-65 mph for passing folks slower than me on 2 lane roads.  With an impending(read less than 10 years down the road) Subaru implant, I will change things or else graft the subie trans to the Vanagon and bite the bullet once.  IT is a bit slower off the stop as well, but I don't care about that.  Same clutch for the last 14 years, so it's not eating that up.......YMMV

DM&FS

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan N" <dn92610@GMAIL.COM>
To: "vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM" <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, September 3, 2015 1:35:05 PM
Subject: regearing a manual trans

hi all,

I understand the concept of regearing the trans with a stronger engine,
more HP (conversions etc..)

but what about regearing the trans and using the plain old 2.1 WBX? any
benefit?

any idea?

thanks

dan