Martin Jagersand pointed out that I stated:

<<  Jwilli941@AOL.COM>
 Subject: Re: Diesel transaxle codes-reply

 > It is my understanding that the Diesel Vanagon
 > that was available for one year only here in the
 > States (1982)......... <<

He is correct.  Wrong year there- should be '83.

And he pointed out that:

<< Helmut's tranny chart shows that 91/1's were
used in the Europeean Diesels from Oct 92, and
94's from the inception of 5 speeds.>>

Then that would go along way to explain the nature
of the Diesel only 5-speeds as being a 091-1 gearbox.
The Vanagons switched to watercooled gasoline
power roughly halfway thru the '83 production and
that engine style used the 091-1 gearbox.  Its very
probable that the Black Forest Elves decided to install
the 091-1s in the watercooled Diesels as well while
running the last of the 091s/Aircooled out the door.

Also, looking at Helmut's table you'll see that the
only 5 speeds that came with the desired extra high
5th gear ratio of .77 instead of the regular .82/.85s
were produced before Nov '83.  Since production
dates start in Aug '83 that gives you a roughly 90
day window in which to search for a transaxle that
has the desired 5th.

Food for thought I guess.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Todd Hill
VolksWerks Transaxles
Olympia, WA