Tranny re & re pointers needed

David, to be honest I'd rather sell my gearbox locally, and forgo the crating/shipping hassle.  I can't comment on Wright's transmissions, but he doesn't have some good feedback on SAMBA:  http://www.thesamba.com/vw/for...=wright+transmission

$75 shipping to NY is a steal.  Shipping across Canada would be expensive.  Hell, shipping anywhere in Canada is expensive.

Just thought I'd give the opportunity for you to unload yours quickly, Ron. I'd gladly pay for the shipping...all you'd have to do is bag it and throw it on a Greyhound bus. Have it your way, Amigo. Thanks for the heads up on the Samba. I'll check it out.

RonO, that transaxle weighs short of a hundred lbs...Grayhound-able

For shipping: Simply barrel tape half inch by four inch x length slats to four sides, then wrap it, wrap it, wrap it, in that sticky plastic wrapping stuff so it looks like a cocoon...tape that up tight...Magic Marker consignee, contact info, and the destination terminal. Bingo... Done

Dave: what I'm doing: hardened keys, welded 3rd & 4th, super diff, stronger side cover and a 3.44 r&p to pull the highway rpms down and making first gear into suited to something other than climbing a cliff face. Far as I know, other than the r&p, that's your standard +1 transmission for HP builds in Bugs and buggies.

The Gene Berg front mount works something like a traction bar to keep the gear box from twisting under load. Like you I'm not planning on a lot of race action, but I'll probably spring for one anyway, since everyone puts their foot in it every so often and a lever-action trans mount saver like that would appear to have no downside.

Anyone running one? Anyone know better? 

David- The Berg mount is a great piece; it doesn't take that much to tear up the front mount with a bigger motor. Stay away from the urethane mounts- I once upon a time tried the red ones and they didn't last long at all. There are firmer rear trans mounts from VW (sorry, I don't have a part # or source) that work well if you can find them. I've heard of Wright Transmissions (I think they've been around awhile) but don't remember anything good or bad. The upgrades (what Ed's talking about and anything else that Rick Wright recommends) are worth it. That's all I can think of right now; it's been a long day. Al

Thanks for that, Lads. Now I'm looking into what it takes to get the old tranny out and then getting a new one in. Mine is a swing axle and there's a shyt load of troublesome things to mess with just getting the tranny out. Wheels, brakes, axles inside tubes etc. I can't seem to get my back seat out either and I don't even know if there is an access hole underneath it to get at the inspection port to access the top of the shift coupler. I'm going to try to get the seat out tomorrow and we'll go from there. Have any of you lads pulled a swing axle tranny and put one back in ? Quite the PITA or am I just getting lazy ? Thanks....

David-

If you don't want to tackle this, pay somebody to do it. You want to do this now-- once you put the engine back in there'll be a million reasons you don't want to do it next winter.

I'd recommend jut getting a Rancho transaxle and be done with it. Since you are a long-haul trucker, stock gears and a 3.44 has your name written all over it. Get the pro-street upgrades, and you're looking at about $2K, delivered to your door, with their core.

It only hurts the one time.

I'm sure you're right, Stan. I often find myself guilty of trying to do everything myself....Like Ry Cooder said once, " I'm sick and tired of trying to be number one".

And for me...doing it myself gives me great satisfaction but I need to start looking at my limits / options a bit more closely and moreover, what really makes better sense, time vs $$$ outlay. Dirty Debbie used to tell me to loosen up a bit and Crazy Mary used to say...David ! get over it already !...just do it ! Hmmm 

Those two were old friends of my Ex...and yes I did. Hey...it's Saturday night, eh?

Just about getting ready to pull mine out, Dave. IRS. I was surprised to see I have to pull the rear wheels apart to do it. I don't recall ever having taken those drums off.

Once those are done, it's just those six little allen head bolts on the CV. I happen to know where my shift coupler is, since I put it in. I'd be very surprised if you could not manage yours.

Starter out. Clutch cable removed...

Put a jack under it (bonus points for an actual transmission jack. Alas, I gave mine away 10 years ago).

Then the front mount--two bolts is it? Then those two big bolts holding the rear mount to the ends of the frame horns. Et voila!

People say Rancho makes a nice transmission. Cory Drake says Jim Sartwell makes an excellent transmission. He is in mid PA. The company he works for ships things world-wide. Give him a call.

Ed- If yours is irs then just unbolt the cv's at the trans; no need to take the wheels apart. With a swingaxle, pull the drums and backing plates, undo the springplate bolts and pull the trans with the axles and tubes.

Ed, if you could give me Sartwell's number I'll sure give him a call. I think you've got my email address.

Al, ....then remove the tranny with the axles, then remove the axles from the tranny right ? But,  is there anything critical in the reinstall of the components ? I know there is some mic work for the axles where they feed into the tranny ...anything crazy or worse to look out for ?  Thanks.

David- Once the trans is on the ground, unbolt the retaining plate to pull the axle tube off (if you're reinstalling this transaxle, note how many paper gaskets are there). IIrc there is a snapring holding the axle spade ends in the side gears; don't lose the half crescent spacers that go on each side of the spade ends. When installing the axles make sure the spacers are in place before the snap ring goes in. Use the same number of paper gaskets under the tube retaining plates; when you can move the axle tube up and down with a little bit of drag (don't forget the plastic piece) it's adjusted right. Too tight- add gaskets and too loose remove a couple. It sounds more difficult than it is. Al

AL!! Thanks! You probably just save me hours of frustration.

Ed- It would be a good idea to look it up, as I haven't actually pulled a swing trans in years (20?). I'm just remembering the highlights...Al

I searched    vw swing axle   on Utube and it gave up several videos on the procedure. It's just fear of the unknown for me right now. Guess I'll just get back into the learning curve thing again, starting with the back seat. Muir's book gets into it too.

Don't worry David, once you've done it you'll wonder what the big deal was about. I still remember avoiding changing the points and condenser in a distributor for the first time. Al

Damned, David--you are amazing.  You and Lane will tackle anything!

Trans out. Did not need to pull the drums. The Muir book seemed to say I did, but it's a bit confusing there.

Easy job getting it out & it weighs much less than I thought it would--maybe 75 pounds, I guess. 

Gave myself a new worry though measuring things again: It does not appear as though the existing back end bodywork will contain the EJ22’s cam belt covers. Measuring, tentatively, it looks like I’m going to come up beteen 3/4 of and inch and 1.5 inches short, necessitating radical surgery on my “gas tank” ends and possibly some re-working of the tubular spare tire cover as well. 

Or I could try to move the whole drivetrain forward a like amount.

Weirdly, it appears that option is more feasible, as it would require just a bit of fabrication on the transmission mounts, plus a concomitant shortening of the shift rod. The worst part of the job would be getting said shift rod out and back into the tunnel.

Anyone here ever found an extra inch pushing the transaxle forward on an IRS pan?

IIRC, once you get the original transmission back in, there's about 1-1/2" between the nose cone and the pan that is usually filled by that bellows-like, seal-thingie.

Moving it forward ( by reworking the front mount ) and messing around with the seal might be pretty easy.

"Batman!  This calls for a BMFH!"

Ed- The way you've been talking I thought you were dealing with a swing axle, and it's irs- that made it a lot easier! And where John Muir got the idea that you needed to pull the drums on an irs, I don't know...

I don't think you'll be able to push the trans forward an inch; I think rearranging the tubing in the back to fit is the way. I see Gordon seems to think it's possible, so I could be wrong (my wife will attest to it not being the first time).

David- You'll find that as you're balancing the trans/axle assembly on the jack (on the way out from under the car) it's just a little awkward, but still manageable. A couple of old hubcaps will work well for under the open axle ends so trans oil that's in the tubes doesn't leak all over the floor. 

Have fun guys! Al

Tough luck on the space, Ed. If you moved everything forward how would it affect the look of the rear wheel position in the wheel well ? Don't forget that the crank pulley sticks out aft about 2" more than the timing belt cover....but all that stuff is pretty short bottom to top wise.

Looks can be deceiving and it'd sure be worth the time to get the engine under the rear of the car jacked right up into it's intended position before considering alternative solutions. You might just get a pleasant surprise or see some attractive alternatives.

Thanks, guys.

Yeah, it's IRS. Dave: that means the wheels stay put if I move the trans a little, the CV joints can make up for it.

But right. It might fit as is. I know I have enough room in the middle (where the crank pulley is). We shall see, and then decide how to proceed. Fingers crossed.

Good news: for sure the new engine will only hang an inch or so lower than the old. The Small Car shortened pan is pretty good like that.

Give Henry Reisner at IM a call, Ed.  They move the engine/transaxle assembly forward on their cars to improve the weight balance.  He might have a few pointers.

I thought of henry at first, but his frames are fabricated with the repositioning of the tranny built in.  My thought is that you'll end up having to fabricate new hanger brackets for BOTH the nose cone and the horn ends to make everything move to where you want it.

Without getting under there to look at it, it sounds quite do-able, but I'm wondering if notching the frame at the rear might be easier.......

No rear frame notching will be needed. My issue--IF I have an issue--is with fiberglass stuff that's shaped to look like a gas tank, but isn't. I could easily cut that stuff all up and throw it away and the car will go fine. But I like the way it looks and the shaping of all those glass pieces is pretty detailed and intricate, so re-doing it all a little bigger would present a technical challenge.

But: I was under the car yesterday and the transmission would appear to have an inch to an inch-and-a-half of leeway between it and the tunnel entrance, and it and the torsion tube. Just a matter of either eliminating the rubber  from the front mount, or cutting the front mount and re-doing it an inch-and-some forward, and doing the same with the rear mount, which would incidentally bring the rear of the trans just about even with my crossmember back there, and maybe make it even easier to weld some tabs to said crossmember such that the stock Suby motor mounts could come into play. 

I'll put the trans back in with the new engine on the back and the adapter plate between them, then try to put my fiberglass stuff back on and see what's what. 

Well, test-fit the engine today and, for sure, just a little too big in the corners. Thinking I'll do the forward-push of the whole set-up. Still pondering though. If I do this I'll have to pull the shift rod and shorten it an inch. I really hated putting the shift rod in when I did the bushings four years ago.

Here's the story & more pics.

Nice progress, Ed. You probably are aware but it's fair ball to remove the topside coolant manifold and re-install it backwards. That way your hot coolant is already heading forward. May work to your advantage depending on existing body and frame situation. I found that with the crank pulley removed the engine became short enough that I didn't have to mess with the long bolts around the Kennedy adapter. I also had to trim the mounts very slightly.

I would think that moving the engine forward would be a LOT more work than modifying the fiberglass engine cover.  Either way, I'm looking forward to a ride in the newly invigorated TD.  I enjoyed the trip to the restaurant when I was in the DC area a couple of years back.

Whoa!  I just had a thought - remarkable enough in its own right.  Could you get a real TD radiator and mount it behind your real TD grill?  I would that that'd be a great way to cool the Subi.

Ha, Lane! Thought of that. Many dineros and--this is important--the VW Beam eats up the bottom six inches or so. It wouldn't fit.

I chose a Civic radiator & have fingers crossed that, with that big grill in front of it, a Suby fan behind it and a shroud directing airlflow down and out behind that, it'll work.

As for moving the drivetrain, I know. It'll be work. But I don't want to cut up the ass-end of the car so much it shows. If I push the drivetrain forward an inch, it'll all fit. 

And besides shortening the shift rod (or installing same) it doesn't actually look like all that much work. (He said, imagining how much he's going to regret that statement).

Dave: I've seen a "reversed coolant manifold" on one of the Suby-to-bus sites. It's money and looks to be a pretty substantial fab job. You're not saying I could just flip the thing with no mods, are you?

Yup, flip it anytime you want for free, Ed. My manifold is off the engine right now and I could show you a couple of pics if you'd like to see it. The manifold is dead symmetrical so it flips just fine. The only thing is, the heater tube will now be heading out towards the back....totally reversed. If your frame and body work allows, it may be something for you to consider. Also, you may have a couple of hot coolant bypass tubes that head up into your intake manifold and a few adjustments are needed to keep feeding that stuff. Tom Sheils' website shows many options. Your rad setup looks ideal.

Ed, are you going to add any weight in the front to make it more stable with the extra horsepower?  I would think that he handling would benefit from a little better balance, and since you're more than doubling the power, you can stand it.

You can also flip the water distribution tube 180 degree's so it points towards the flywheel.  

Lane: yes. There will be a radiator and fan added to the front, plus the water in the rad. Plus the piping to the rad. 

I might add some 1.5-inch C channel along the length of the bottom too.

No sandbags though. 

I was thinking bricks, actually 

Ed, if the Subie fan doesn't fit/work with the Honda rad I'd recommend a Spal fan.  I mounted a couple of these behind my V8 Miata and worked great.

thanks. Will keep that in mind.

And I've got a Honda rad in the basement with a nice fan on it. You could have it for the price of the mail. Could send pics. In fact I could mail the entire rad if you like...no use for it here. I mounted two Spal fans on my Saab rad.

Thanks, Dave. If what I have doesn't work I'll give you a call.