<< In a message dated 1/28/99 7:51:35 AM Pacific Standard Time,
tcarrington@relitech.com writes:

 << Michael:

  You *can* use the existing transmission just like it is. You will have
  incredible acceleration around town, but the egine RPM's are a bit high
  on the highway. Options are to replace the ring & pinion set (AKA as an
  expensive rebuild) or get a gas tranny and swap over the bellhousing.
  The exact steps of the bellhousing swap are on my website. Either way
  will cost you several (many?) of your Ben Franklins ($100 bills).

  You mentioned price is an issue in your original message. The lowest
  cost option is to leave the tranny alone. Your engine can handle the
  rev's, don't worry about it.

  As for engines, I have a 1986-7 1.8L engine with CIS-E injection. If I
  were doing it again, I would get a newer engine with the motronic
  injection, since it does not have the fuel distributor and long high
  pressure lines to deal with. This is what Eurospec is using in their kit
  as well. Check out their web site to see how clean it looks.

  To get your engine, buy the entire car. You will need wiring, "brains",
  relays and stuff that you will miss getting if you just buy the engine
  from a junkyard.

  Good luck! >>

 Thanks for the info! When you say newer engine how much newer are you
suggesting? What cars, years and engine types are you suggesting? On the
transmission it's been suggested to use the vanagon air-cooled as it would use
the same linkage and be an easy switch. Also I have found one for $150 that
has fairly low miles on it and if it goes bad on me I've heard it's a lot
cheaper to rebuild than the water-cooler trans.
 Thanks again,
 Michael Avrea
 82 Diesel (for the moment!) Westy
 Ventura, California

PS. In a pervious post I wrote:
>>Hi all,
         I have decided to make the switch to an inline VW engine in my 82
Diesel Westy. I'm still looking for input on which engine to use (or not use)
and which transmission would make the most sense. A couple of folks have
suggested the Vanagon Air-cooled Tranny.<<

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