pdooley@GTE.NET writes:

<<  Yup.  Just concerned about the helical gears.  The strait
cut reverse gear  could care less which way it turns, but I think
helical gears are  directional.  Any thoughts on this?  >>

Well, the split window Bus ran the ring gear on the opposite
side of the pinion gear due to the reduction gear set up.  I
haven't seen any unusual problem with thrust being applied
to the 'coast' side of that gear.  Also, helical gears are not
directional, just cut at an 'angle' vs. the straight cut of the
reverse idler.  I'm no engineer but there shouldn't be any
problems there.

Before someone tries to reinvent the wheel I am aware of
a trans specialist that has machined up a way to mid-ship
mount a 091 gearbox right side up.  I have never seen it but
understand that it combines Audi and VW transaxle parts
and some creative machine work.  Again, I have not seen it
in person but would suspect that some of the same technology
would also apply to adapting an Audi transaxle (or components)
to work in a Vanagon application.  Problem is  that once you
start trying to fabricate something it usually ends up costing
more than what the semi-rare factory stuff does.  I'll see what
I can turn up over the next few days or so.

-Todd Hill
 VolksWerks Transaxles
 Olympia, WA