Hello,

John brought up some legitimate concerns about the ability of
the Vanagon gearbox in stock form adequately handling the
torque of the 5 cyl TDIs and other alternate powerplants.  I'm
sorry that my reply will be brief to his involved questions but I've
have several transaxles that *must* be finished for shipment on
Monday morning!

Why go to the extreme of retrofitting another make of gearbox
into the Vanagon at all?  With minor internal modifications that
would be less expensive than a transplant, the 091-1 gearbox
could be strengthened to absorb just about whatever you care
to dish out.  Gear ratio selection is fairly broad so you could tailor
your transaxle to the engine specifications of whatever you choose
to install.    Michael Sullivan is contemplating running a TDI in his
Syncro and we have discussed how to change 3rd and 4th to
better suit that powerplant's output.  (No answer yet, Michael, about
3rd gears ETA but expect within the next couple of weeks)   The
same could be done for whatever engine you decide to install.  The
ease of not having to fabricate some sort of shift linkage, hangers,
etc. more than outweighs- IMO- any potential benefit of swapping in
another mfg.'s stock gearbox.  I can build the 091-1 anyway you like
and I am sure that the other transaxle builders out there could do
the same.

Back to the workbench!!

-Todd Hill
 VolksWerks Transaxles
 Olympia, WA
 360-412-0948