Trans. Swap

I'd thought I'd pass on a few tidbits for you wrenchturners who don't mind getting knee deep in $hit.
I'm swapping in a 73 VW factory flyer into my 72 pan based Speedster.

Firstly they changed a few things 72-73.
I went to bolt on the front urethane mount and no go. The '73 mount has three holes..mine has two. So a no brainer....swap nosecones right? They look identical. WRONG!

Secondly for 73 they changed the rear bearing setup at the nosecone end. This called for an altered nosecone.

If you look in the picture, the 73 nose cone(right) has a shelf milled out of the circular hole a bit to accommodate the newer bearing.
When I tried to swap nose cones, mine(w/out the milled part) pushed against the bearing, locking up the trans.
Sooooo.....Fortunately I had a bit for the die grinder and milled a like shelf into my nose cone and VOILA, it worked and got the tranny hung this morning. Geesh talk about pulling teeth!

~WB

It's like I've always said....

EVERYTHING has to be custom-made for a CMC...even tranny parts!!

Does CMC stand for Custom-Made Components?

I was really hoping to have it all done today, but at least I got that far. Lawn work the rest of the day.
Our local VW club's big show/flea mkt. is Sat. Gonna peruse the parts before I throw the motor back in. Ya never know I may come across a wild motor to hang.

~WB

Boy, this would have saved me a whole lot of trouble!
Now I see it....DOH! But I did save $30.
http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C26%2D311%2D216

Speaking of urethane motor mounts, I have had very bad experiences with them. As the engine gets hot the mounts become very pliable and tend to rip apart. I have ruined at least 2 sets before I went back to VW German rubber type II mounts, which have worked fine for 2+ years with about 200 hp from the engine.

Personally speaking, no more red plastic mounts.
I threw a new set away a few days ago that had lingered around here since I installed the German rubber mounts....

Wow! That's some sweet work with a die grinder, VERY SWEET ! ! !

Minor hijack alert, but has anyone else had a problem with the urethane mounts? Was gonna use them throughout, but now . . . maybe not.

Thanx, TC. I was a bit worried before the "operation" but it turned out pretty well.

Jim, thanx for the heads up. I'll keep an eye on them, but with only about 80 at the wheels I don't think I can strain them as much as you could. Boy, do I wish I could, though.

Tom:

I've used Urethane tranny, rear torsion bar and diagonal arm bushings in my '57 Oval sedan and found them to be really tight....so much so that you could drive over a Bobby Pin in the road and it felt like a golf ball. Eventually pulled them out and went back to German Rubber bushings and the ride improved immediately.

On the other hand, I have Urethane bushings in the front end (Torsion bar to trailing arm) and they seem to be fine.

gn

And so we catch up with "Wild Bill", fresh from his transmission upgrade as he wanders through the local VW Club's Saturday Flea Market. He has already spied several items that, had he bought them before he made his swap, would have saved countless minutes, knuckles and swears as he had to custom-mount his new gearbox under his beloved "Blackie".

Suddenly, he spies a box, covered in greasy fingerprints and slightly chewed on the corners, as if some small, woodland creature had been trying to use it as a potential Winter condominium. On the side of the box he reads the following words:

"Kennedy Engineered Products - 1974 VW transmission to Subaru 1.8 Engine Conversion Kit"

Eyes wide with anticipation, his fingers tremble as he pries open the top of the box. "Everything's still in there - we never used it!" cries the guy in the stall. Bill looks into the box as he thinks that his wife might not miss her Subaru engine for a few days while he "borrows" it for Carlisle. "I could put it back before she notices, I bet!" he thinks to himself as he reaches for his wallet......

Thanks Gordon, I'll run with German instead then. The coupe's turning out to be an ultra light anyway, the stiffer mounts would probably make for an impossible long distance driver.

Hmmmm....Could be! We parked 5 rows 100 yds. long last year.
It amazes me how many people have these parts ferreted away.