My wife says that our "90 Vanagon GL Westphalia is "missing
a gear" i.e. when climbing long steep hill one is either lugging in
3rd or racing in 2nd. We do a lot of mountain driving in California
and Nevada so this is a pain.
        Can we replace our 4 speed with a 5 speed transmission?
How about the one used on the syncro? What would it cost? and what
other changes would be needed? If this is a way to improve hill
climbing maybe we can do that rather than buy a SUV (at great
expense!). Is this a nutty idea?
        We like our van and would like to drive it for a long time
i.e. 250,000 miles or so. What is the story on replacement
engines? What other vehicles use the same engine?